A visão da população de Mostardas e Tavares - RS sobre a contribuição do turismo no Parque Nacional da Lagoa do Peixe ao desenvolvimento local

Abstract

The National Park of Lagoa do Peixe is a protected area that is located between Mostardas and Tavares cities, at middle and south coast of the estate of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 230km from Porto Alegre. The region where it is inserted has an economy based on agriculture, mainly of the onion and the rice, livestock and fishing. Also the plantations of pinus is the activity that causes the strongest environmental impact for the region, because it is a species that spreads easily to other areas. The general objective of the research was to evaluate the role of the National Park, in the process of developing tourism in the cities of Tavares and Mostardas, to check its relation with the improvements in quality of life. The hypothesis used was that due to the increase of visitors in the cities, the population would understand the improvements made to serve them and enjoy the benefits of tourism activity. For this study, was used an exploratory-descriptive search with focus qualitative and quantitative. For data collection, was used the interview, made with three different groups in the both cities: the businessmen, the population born after 1970 and the population born before 1970. The results showed that exist, among the cities surveyed, a greater perception about the benefits brought for the National Park in Mostardas. The fact that Tavares have much of its territory in the surroundings of the Park, carries more restrictions on land use, which creates more conflict. It was also found that there is a tendency of respondents born after 1970 to accept more the benefits of National Park than in those born before the year 1970. On the other hand, both groups did not identify the protected area as a potential generator of revenue, because they only see the point of view in of agricultural activities and not the potential for tourism. Among the businessmen, it was found a big acceptance of the environmental and economic benefits arising from the tourism in the Park. It was found that the preserved ecosystem is the main attraction of the region and that people recognize this potential, however, it is necessary to develop an appropriate type of tourism to the Park, defining the target audience to be reached, so there is better integration between tourism and preservation of natural resources.