TOURISM AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN COASTAL AREAS: AN ANALYSIS BASED ON THE ARTICULATION OF LOCAL ACTORS IN THE DESTINATION OF PIPA, TIBAU DO SUL/RN
Tourism. Crisis. Crisis Management. Local stakeholders. Pipa/RN.
Crises are intrinsic elements of global environments related to life in society, which are becoming more intense and notable every day. Having a plural, cross-border and interdisciplinary nature, these are expressed in tourism through critical events and situations that threaten and redefine the dynamic logic of destinations, imposing on the different actors involved the task of assuming positions and strategies that consider social and political action focused on specific management processes. Based on these aspects, and in light of the assumptions of Complexity Theory, this thesis focused on understanding how the actors involved in the context of tourism articulate themselves in the face of the development and occurrence of crises. Having as the universe of investigation the tourist destination of Pipa, Tibau do Sul (RN), and the analysis strand in the socio-environmental field, the methodological approach of the research was based on the following set of qualitative methods: 1) Bibliographic review (Proknow-c technique); 2) Secondary data research (survey of news on the tourism and environmental context, with the time frame from 2000 to 2023, also applied in stage 3); 3) Documentary research (local public policies, projects and social initiatives); and 4) Semi-structured and in-depth interviews (focused on four distinct groups of participants, i.e. residents, local government, private sector and third sector). The analysis of the information obtained was based on content analysis, using the Atlas Ti (versions 23 and 24) and Gephi (version 0.10) software, as well as descriptive analysis. The research results show the following interconnected scenarios: Pipa has lost its essence and original identity, so that the management of the destination is disproportionate to its growth. There is a strong lack of understanding of the complexity of local problems, an aspect that reinforces the continuous and excessive exploitation of the space, sidelining the needs of the destination and its stakeholders. The genesis of local crises is directly correlated with their historical process, with 12 types of internal crises being identified, both gradual and sudden in nature. The articulation/collaboration between the groups investigated is still significantly limited, exposing weaknesses in tourism governance in crisis contexts. Finally, it was found that despite specific preventive actions, the way in which the destination deals with crises in tourism constitutes a considerably reactive approach. A model for classifying tourism crises was presented as a product of the thesis, as a tool that can assist in the development of crisis management processes in the destination of Pipa.