The importance of garbage management for tourism in Porto de Galinhas (PE, Brazil)

Abstract

Tourism, as one of the most productive activities in the world, should take into account the number of people attending a certain destination for proper planning. When this planning is lacking, and a given destination has an increased demand, the tendency is that, among other things, there will be a high level of environmental degradation and waste generation. The objective of this work was to understand the waste management carried out by the municipal authorities, to identify the initiatives of the lodging enterprises on the theme, to evaluate the perception of tourists and to suggest an environmental education campaign on the regular disposal and collection of waste on the beach of Porto de Galinhas (PE, Brazil), considered one of the main destinations for the so-called Sun and Sea tourism in Northeast Brazil. To do this, we compared what the municipal management does and what the experts say on the topic; Information was collected from the means of accommodation to find out what initiatives they carry out and whether there are incentives offered by the government. Finally, some tourists were interviewed in order to understand the profile of those who frequent the beach and their perception about the disposal of garbage on the spot. The results showed that the management of the city of Ipojuca intends to work with tourism in a sustainable way, even demonstrating incipient initiatives. As for the means of accommodation, most already have the habit of sustainable practices with several actions and say they do not receive many incentives from public managers. Regarding tourists, most were not able to perceive enough trash bins, especially selective collection to meet the demand and that the means of accommodation and commerce do not seem to be so concerned with sustainability.