Tourism and Territory in the Municipality of Maragogi-AL, Brazil: Process of Social Participation and Local Development

Abstract

The development process occurs when economic growth is linked to the improvement of quality of life and the expansion of freedoms. This includes the participation of the population in public policy discussions, as well as the relevance of social welfare in the form of access to public goods and services. The municipality of Maragogi, in the state of Alagoas, has become an appropriate territory for mass tourism from government actions through Prodetur Nordeste, receiving the impacts resulting from such actions. Thus, this study aims to discuss the socioeconomic implications of public tourism policies in the municipality of Maragogi-AL. The results indicate that the inequality present in the Brazilian socioeconomic and political dynamics, although not strictly correlated with tourism, has been accentuated through the establishment of development models that question participation. Decentralization of the decision-making force is observed, but not deconcentrating, that is, the redistribution of income in the form of social welfare. Inequalities based on sugarcane culture are perpetuated.