PUBLIC POLICY FOR INTERIORIZATION OF TOURISM IN THE POTIGUAR SEMI-ARID: MARTINS AND PORTALEGRE IN FOCUS
Semi-arid, Tourism, Interiorization, Public Policies.
In the society in which we are inserted, a conjuncture of world politics is perceptible in a movement that seeks to decentralize the decision-making power of the State to instances of governance in the perception of consolidating even more democratic ties and government actions with authenticity, efficiency and cooperation. In the Brazilian territory, this tendency is defended by the Federal Constitution of 1988, intending this decentralization as a presupposition for the elaboration of public policies. In this context, the Ministry of Tourism (Mtur) in 2003 elaborated a policy for the tourism sector, creating the National Tourism Plan (PNT) and within this plan the Tourism Regionalization Program (PRT), specifically to promote the organization of regional councils based on the management of tourist activity to meet the demands of internalizing tourism, as well as enabling collaborative work between public authorities, private initiative and civil society, with the main objective of internalizing tourism in Brazilian territory. This dissertation aims to analyze the public policy of tourism with a focus on the interiorization of tourism in the semiarid region of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), taking as an empirical reference the municipalities of Martins and Portalegre. The research is based on the dialectical method, in which we understand the contradictions of the researched activity. This work assumes an analytical character supported by the ideas of authors such as Cruz (2000, 2001, 2007), Beni (2000), Fonseca (2005), Santos and Silveira (2006), Santos (2004), Moraes (2005) and among others. The dissertation also assumes a predominant qualitative character, based on the technique of collecting primary data (interviews). Secondary data were obtained through a discussion related to the PRT and data provided by the Mtur. The main conclusions are that Martins and Portalegre located in the Semiarid Potiguar have tourist potential, but lack of an effective policy for the sector and make these municipalities are inserted in tourist destinations in RN and even in the Northeast. It is noticeable that the lack of information about the tourist potential of Martins and Portalegre becomes an obstacle to the internalization of tourism. We evidenced a weakness in the data provided by the Mtur, as well as in the interviews and also in the PRT main source for internalization, in which it did not contribute significantly to the development of tourism in the territories of Martins and Portalegre, which is the reality of other municipalities. with tourist potential in the interior of the northeastern semi-arid region.