IMAGINÁRIO SOCIAL NORDESTINO E POLÍTICAS DE DESENVOLVIMENTO DO TURISMO NO NORDESTE BRASILEIRO

Abstract

Touristic activity has received special attention within the development policies led by Northeastern States of Brazil since the end of the 1980’s. In the centre of the PRODETUR-NE, a project of regional scope, public policies of a local character occurring within the State sphere have been stimulated, and tourism has been evidenced as an economic activity associated with the development aims set to the region. The intent of this paper is to apprehend the motivating factors behind the transformation of a non-touristic region into a region with a touristic “vocation”. The essence of the analysis lies in the association between the adoption or not of certain public policies towards development and the collective representations of local society in relation to the semi-arid. In this way, the explanation for the understanding of such a transformation will be found in the Northeastern social imaginary along time, with emphasis on its redefinition over the last years, thanks to the association of the semi-arid as a place of virtue instead of one characterized by images that are usually related to droughts, misery, hunger…This transformation of a symbolic nature will make possible a situation that is both political (constitutional reform) and economic (in terms of “city marketing”) which will give way to the action of turning the Northeast region into a touristic region, especially as regards the State of Ceará.