Alternative Tourism and Environmental Impacts: Perception of Residents of an Extractive Reserve in the Brazilian Amazonia

Heloise Michelle Nunes Medeiros, Quêzia Leandro de Moura Guerreiro, Thiago Almeida Vieira, Sandra Maria Sousa da Silva, Ana Isabel da Silva Aço Renda and José Max Barbosa Oliveira-Junior
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Heloise Michelle Nunes Medeiros: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociedade, Ambiente e Qualidade de Vida (PPGSAQ), Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Rua Vera Paz, s/n (Unidade Tapajós) Bairro Salé, Santarém 68040-255, Brazil
Quêzia Leandro de Moura Guerreiro: Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologia das Águas (ICTA), Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Rua Vera Paz, s/n (Unidade Tapajós) Bairro Salé, Santarém 68040-255, Brazil
Thiago Almeida Vieira: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociedade, Ambiente e Qualidade de Vida (PPGSAQ), Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Rua Vera Paz, s/n (Unidade Tapajós) Bairro Salé, Santarém 68040-255, Brazil
Sandra Maria Sousa da Silva: Centro de Formação Interdisciplinar (CFI), Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Rua Vera Paz, s/n (Unidade Tapajós) Bairro Salé, Santarém 68040-255, Brazil
Ana Isabel da Silva Aço Renda: Escola Superior de Gestão, Hotelaria e Turismo (ESGHT), Universidade do Algarve (UAlg), Campus da Penha, Estrada da Penha, 8000 Faro, Portugal
José Max Barbosa Oliveira-Junior: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Sociedade, Ambiente e Qualidade de Vida (PPGSAQ), Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA), Rua Vera Paz, s/n (Unidade Tapajós) Bairro Salé, Santarém 68040-255, Brazil

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-29

Abstract: Alternative tourism (AT) contributes to conservation, valuing the environment and recipient cultures with minimal impact, especially in protected areas. In this context, this article identified, considering the residents’ perception, the possible environmental impacts resulting from alternative tourism in communities of the Tapajós-Arapiuns Extractive Reserve (RESEX), Brazilian Amazonia. Thus, between February and April 2019 a semi-structured interview was conducted with 122 residents of three communities of RESEX (Anã, Maripá, and São Miguel). The interview script was divided into three groups of questions: (i) interviewee data, (ii) socioeconomic data, and (iii) perception of the concept and environmental impacts of alternative tourism. We used a snowball sampling method, which consists of a form of a non-probabilistic sample. The majority (91.8%) of the informants did not know how to explain the concept of alternative tourism; however, for 87.7% of them, this tourism does not generate negative impacts. Income is the most used expression (53%) by RESEX residents to demonstrate what alternative tourism positively impacts. About 74.6% of respondents reported that tourists do not influence local customs change, and 94.3% do not identify tourism-related violence. Finally, 89.3% say that tourists do not pollute the environments. The research carried out in this Conservation Unit deserves the attention of decision-makers, managers, technicians, and researchers. It provides subsidies for management programs to provide real bases for the analysis, interpretation, and planning of sustainable tourist spaces.

Keywords: Amazonia; ecotourism; environmental impacts; conservation unit; environmental perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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