Quality in the provision of support visitors services in national parks: the case of the concession in the Itatiaia National Park

Abstract

The tourism concession in areas for public use in national parks is being encouraged by the government as a way to improve the quality of services provided and contribute to expanding the experience of visitors in parks, in addition to allowing a better relationship between public and private interests. Given this panorama, the objective of this article is to analyze the current context of concessions in national parks, from the perspective of quality in the provision of services, observing the case of the tourism concession in the public use area of ​​the Itatiaia National Park (PNI), located in the Mantiqueira mountain, on the border between the states of Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. This is an exploratory and descriptive research, with the presence of a theoretical-conceptual framework on the context of concessions in national parks and on the provision of support services for visitation in parks based on a bibliographic and documentary survey, and semi-structured interviews carried out with public actors who work in the PNI. The article highlights that the concession processes were encouraged so that the partner companies could act in a way to increase the quality of service provision, but this was not the reality presented in the opinion of the respondents in the PNI. In this initial concession period, greater flexibility in investments and a greater range of services with improved quality of provision were expected, expanding the experience of visitors to the park. Despite the great progress made on the site, with improved explanations about the attractions, availability of maps, the possibility of buying tickets online and the ease of payment via debit/credit card, however, the negative aspects prevail over the positive ones. As a conclusion for new concessions, the processes should be participatory, with the involvement of local actors, and that the objectives of the partnerships consider local demands.