Estudo comparado do turismo no espaço rural dos coredes campos de cima da serra e fronteira oeste, Rio Grande do Sul - Brasil

Abstract

With the major changes that have occurred in rural areas, it was necessary to develop new non-agricultural activities to increase rural household incomes. As a parallel activity, tourism in rural areas has been helping rural families in increasing their income and diversifying their activities. Starting from this premise, we conducted a comparative study of tourism in the rural regional development councils (COREDEs) of Campos de Cima da Serra and Fronteira Oeste, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The survey was divided into two stages. The first was exploratory, assessing the number of active farms which received tourists. On the second stage, all these properties were visited for the application of a questionnaire with open and closed questions. Data were collected in 20 rural properties in December 2013 and January 2014. Te aim of this study was to identify and compare the potential of rural properties to the development of tourism in rural space as a cost-effective alternative, differentiate the farms practising agritourism from those practicing rural tourism in both regions, and establish the profile of the generation of employment and income in primary and tertiary sectors. Among the findings, it was identified that 95% of the owners started the tourist activity to increase family incomes. Agritourism is the most practiced in both regions, with 55 of the properties. Tourism-generated jobs are mostly temporary jobs.