Tourism as vector of local development: analysis of the tourist structure in the Municipality of São José do Barreiro – SP

Abstract

Tourism presents itself as a vector of local and regional development, when the tourism structure considers the endogenous potential of the municipality, converges with the interests of local actors and generates employment and income reverted to the local population. The objective of this article was to verify how the São José do Barreiro - SP municipality organizes and structures its tourist activity for local development. The municipality has the status of a tourist resort, belongs to the Metropolitan region of the Paraíba Paulista Valley and North Coast and had the economic dimension classified as low development in the Firjan Index of Municipal Development 2013. The research, with descriptive character and qualitative-quantitative approach, triangulated the methods of observation of the tourist attractions; interview with the municipal public manager; and questionnaire application to the population. It was identified that the municipality has tourist potential, but it needs effective public management in the area of tourism, as well as investment in infrastructure, tourism planning and dissemination of the existing attractions.