Public policies and development in Marajó Island, Brazil: Participation and exclusion in tourism

Abstract

Tourism has been highlighted as an important socioeconomic activity capable of contributing to the raising of the quality of life of human populations. However, the public policies developed in the activity, based on a neoliberal developmentalist idea, have left a ballast of negative impacts on the natural and cultural environment and have contributed little to improving the lives of the populations involved. In this context, this article, based on bibliographic and documentary data and direct observations on field visits to the tourist municipalities of Marajó Island, discusses exclusionary development models and public policies for tourism on the Island, as a tourism hub of the State of Pará, problematizing them, stressing the need to reformulate these policies with a view to promoting endogenous development, which considers the environmental characteristics and the ability of local actors to promote their own development.