RESPONSIBLE TOURISM DEVELOPMENT: BUILDING TOURIST ROUTES FOR THE ASPIRANT SERIDÓ GEOPARK, NORTHEAST OF BRAZIL
Tourist routes. Responsible Tourism. Geoparks. Geotourism.
The purpose of this study is to develop itineraries for the Aspirant Seridó Geopark, promoting the development of responsible tourism in the territory and analyzing how the community is affected in the economic and conservation aspects of places of tourist interest. The search for the construction of regional development through tourism involves the elaboration of innumerable stages that together result in the promotion of tourist activity. The development of itineraries, one of these stages, meets the needs of tourists and presents the regional identity of the locality, resulting in the encouragement of regionalization of tourism, where the territory is analyzed as a social transformer, and not only identified as a territorial space. Responsible Tourism is understood as a tourism practice capable of minimizing losses and providing development in communities, and its concept has been spreading widely since the turn of the century, as well as debates about the concepts of Geotourism and Geoparks. Regarding methodological procedures, this is an exploratory study with a qualitative approach. Interviews will be carried out with players working in the Responsible Tourism segment in Brazil and members of UNESCO World Geoparks, in addition to the use of bibliographic review and research in scientific articles, dissertations, thesis and books on the subject. Thereby it comes a close epistemological relationship between Responsible Tourism and Geotourism has been reached, with objectives clear in common regarding the conservation of environmental and social aspects of communities and the generation of sustainable development. The creation of the itineraries is expected to provide a better social insertion of the community in tourist activities taking into account the existing cultural diversity and the possibility of increasing local revenue in a sustainable and responsible manner.