Turismo gay e desenvolvimento local: o caso brasileiro da Ilha de Santa Catarina

Abstract

Tourism as an economic activity has been the subject of many debates about the social and worldwide economic development. This study proposes a discussion about the activity of the Island of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil, targeted to the homosexual public, by relating the consumer society and the tourist destination according to the ethnographic method, with participant observation and semi-structured interviews, conducted in a bar and in a nudist beach, between 2010 and 2011. This island stands out in gay tourism development, usually known and referred by national and international tourism media as “gay tourism”. The results showed that the main motivations for practicing this type of tourism are related to sexual freedom, local security and to the anonymity that tourism promotes, allowing the fulfilment of desires of quick sex without commitment, far from everyday social stigmas.