A constituição de roteiros turísticos religiosos: um estudo de caso no caminho Padre João Schiavo (Caxias do Sul - RS)

Abstract

This paper is aimed at the area of religious tourism. Specifically, to better make one acquainted with the officially created tour in the city of Caxias do Sul, in the Brazilian State of Rio Grande do Sul, in the year of 2016: The Father João Schiavo Route, henceforth identified by the acronym CPJS in Portuguese. This paper is qualitative in nature, it includes a real-life case and starts off with the following question: `How has CPJS come into being as a result of the established relations of the concerned social parties??. The script, from its inception until its touristic implementation in the city of Caxias do Sul has counted on the participation and involvement of the local government, the community, the religious congregation and the touristic sector. The main goal was to analyze the participation of social players and the relations established by them throughout the process of creating the CPJS touristic route as a boost for religious tourism in the city of Caxias do Sul. The theoretical framework includes religious tourism, touristic routes, stakeholders, planning and governance in tourism. The investigation encompassed documental and bibliographic research, as well as the use of questionaires with the stakeholders. The theoretical references have served as the reference for data analysis so as to understand how the social players acted to conceive the route and how relevant they were to the canonical process. Throughout this process, and in face of the performed analyses, it has been observed that Father Schiavo´s trajectory ended up serving as the reference point to create the tour. Based on the data collected from the questionaries, it has become obvious the importance of creating a governmental structure to better foster the participation of the main social parties in order to strengthen the administration, planning and implemetation of CPJS. As a result, tourism will grow, thus inceasing the potential of worshipping the religious figure, who, may soon be sanctified. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]