Cultural tourism and interpretation of heritage in the city of Diamantina-Minas Gerais/Brazil

Abstract

The city of Diamantina in Minas Gerais/Brazil had its architectural complex registered by the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute (IPHAN) in 1938 and in 1999 received the title of Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Evidently after this recognition new challenges arose from the relation between heritage and tourism in order to fulfill the objective of cultural tourism that is to promote the encounter between the tourist and the cultural heritage. The objective of this research was to address the importance of interpretation of heritage, identifying the existing strategies that facilitate the proximity of the tourist to the local heritage, taking as a case study the city of Diamantina. To this end, besides a bibliographical review on the relation between tourism and heritage, tourism demand research was carried out to identify the degree of tourist satisfaction in the monuments visited. The research is quantitative-descriptive with a qualitative approach.