Limitations and challengesof tourism concessions in Latin America protected areas.

Authors

  • Paula Normandia Moreira Brumatti Instituto Federal de Educação de Pernambuco, Canguaretama, RN
  • Kerlei Eniele Sonaglio Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, DF

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34024/rbecotur.2023.v16.15154

Keywords:

Protected Areas, concessions, Latin America, fragilities, challenges

Abstract

The frequent inconsistencies related to tourism as a vector of local development and as an instrument of protected areas (PA) conservation, by different institutional arrangements, leads this study to point out fundamental issues that emerge from the policies of tourist concessions in Latin America PA, arising from their fragilities and limitations. The descriptive and exploratory research is based on a qualitative data approach, by a bibliographical and documentary review, to identify cases of tourism concessions in Latin American countries and their implications, in addition to verify the policy and regulatory instruments. The historical and political context of those concessions, in the 10 countries analyzed, reveals fundamental and convergent weaknesses that interferes in the performance of these institutional arrangements. Consequently, a series of limitations associated with programs and processes were identified, with emphasis on social exclusion and the worsening of territorial conflicts; monopolies consolidation; lack of private environmental responsibility; week control over socio-environmental impacts; and the infeasibility of projects. The main challenges of these arrangements are related to the fulfillment of the fundamental objectives in promoting tourism in PAs, such as the effective generation and distribution of socioeconomic opportunities, the engagement of local people, the ability to control impacts and the development of the transparency and accountability, considering the principles of sustainability.

References

AVALLANEDA TORRES, L. M.; ROJAS, E. T.; SICARD, T. E. L. Alternativas ante el conflicto entre autoridades ambientales y habitantes de áreas protegidas en páramos colombianos. Mundo Agrario, La Plata, v. 16, n. 31, 2015.

BALMFORD, A., GREEN, J. M. H., ANDERSON, M., BERESFORD, J., HUANG, C., NAIDOO, R. et al. Walk on the Wild Side: Estimating the Global Magnitude of Visits to Protected Areas. PLoS Biology, v. 13, n. 2: e1002074, 2015.

BENITEZ, P.S. Visitor Use Fees and Concession Systems in Protected Areas: Galapagos National Park Case Study. The Nature Conservancy Report Series Number 3. Arlington, VA, USA: The Nature Conservancy. 2001.

BOTELHO, E. S.; RODRIGUES, C. G. O. Inserção das iniciativas de base comunitária no desenvolvimento do turismo em parques nacionais. Caderno Virtual de Turismo, Rio de Janeiro, v. 16, n. 2, p. 280-295, 2016.

BOVARNICK, A.; FERNANDEZ-BACA, J.; GALINDO, J.; NEGRET, H. Financial sustainability of protected areas in latin america and the caribbean: investment policy guidance. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC), 2010. Disponível em: http://www.undp.org. Acesso em: dez. 2019.

BROCKINGTON, D; DUFFY, R. Capitalism and conservation: The production and reproduction of biodiversity conservation. Antipode, v. 42, n. 3, p. 469-484, 2010.

BRUMATTI, P. N. M. O espelho das concessões turísticas em Parques Nacionais do Brasil: uma perspectiva sobre vulnerabilidades. 2020. 297f.: il. Tese (doutorado). Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, 2020.

BRUMATTI, P. N. M.; Rozendo, C. Parques Nacionais, turismo e governança: Reflexões acerca das concessões dos serviços turísticos no Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Turismo, v. 15, n. 3, e-2119, 2021.

BRYANT, K. Concessions causing detrimental impacts on the original vision of national parks. Kentucky Law Journal Online. 107, 2019.

BUCKLEY, R. Evaluating the net effects of ecotourism on the environment: a framework, first assessment and future research. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, v. 17, n. 6, p. 643-672, 2009.

BÜSCHER, B.; DRESSLER, W. Commodity conservation: The restructuring of community conservation in South Africa and the Philippines. Geoforum, v. 43, n. 3, p. 367-376, 2012.

CHAPE, S.; SPALDING, M.; JENKINS, M. The world’s protected areas: Status, Value and Prospects in the 21st Century. UNEP/ World Conservation Monitoring Centre. University of California Press. Berkeley, USA, 2008.

COLÔMBIA. Esquema de concesiones para la prestación de servicios ecoturísticos em Parques Nacionales Naturales de Colombia. Subdireccíon de Sostenibilidad y Negocios Ambientales. Bogotá: MINAMBIENTE, 2017.

COVER, A. R. Neoliberalism and territorialization at las baulas marine national park, Costa Rica. 2011. Doctoral thesis. International Institute for Social Studies, Development Research (DRES), 2011.

DINICA, V. Tourism concessions in national parks: Neo-liberal governance experiments for a conservation economy in New Zealand. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, v. 25, n. 12, p. 1811-1829, 2018.

DUFFY, R. Neoliberalising nature: Global networks and ecotourism development in Madagasgar. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, v. 16, n. 3, p.327-344, 2008.

EAGLES, P. F.; MCCOOL, S. F.; HAYNES, C. D. Sustainable tourism in protected areas: Guidelines for planning and management. IUCN: Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK, 2002.

EAGLES, P. F. Governance of recreation and tourism partnerships in parks and protected areas. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, v. 17, n. 2, p. 231-248, 2009.

EPLER, B. Tourism, the economy, population growth, and conservation in Galapagos. Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Islands. Ecuador: Charles Darwin Foundation, 2007.

ESTIMA, D.; VENTURA, M.; RABINOVICI, A.; MARTINS, F. Concession in tourism services and partnerships in the marine national park of Fernando de Noronha, Brazil. Journal of Integrated Coastal Zone Management, v. 14, n. 2, p. 215-232, 2014.

FLORES, M.; RIVERO, G.; LEÓN, F.; CHAN, G. Financial planning for national systems of protected areas: Guidelines and early lessons. Arlington, Virginia: The Nature Conservancy, 2008.

FONT, X.; COCHRANE, J.; TAPPER, R. Tourism for protected area financing: Understanding tourism revenues for effective management plans. World Wild Fund – WWF, Leeds Metropolitan University, 2004.

FUNDACÍON SENDERO DEL CHILE. Modelo de cooperación público privado para el desarrollo del turismo sustentable en áreas silvestres protegidas del estado y sus entornos, 2017. Disponível em: <https://transformaturismo.cl/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/informe_final_modelo_de_cooperacion_asp.pdf>. Acesso em 31 de maio de 2023.

GUDYNAS, E. La privatización de la vida: América latina ante las nuevas políticas ambientales neoliberales. Pasos, v. 81, 1999.

GUERRERO, E.; SGUERRA, S. Protected areas and development in latin america: From santa marta 1997 to bariloche 2007 and perspectives for a new decade. Bogotá: IUCN, Colombian Committee, Parques Nacionales Naturales Colombia and Fundación Natura. Guerrero, E. & S. Sguerra (editors). 64 p, 2009.

HONEY, M.; VARGAS, E.; DURHAM, W. Impact of tourism related development on the pacific coast of costa rica: summary report. Center for Responsible Travel. 2010.

IGOE, J.; BROCKINGTON, D. Neoliberal conservation: a brief introduction. Conservation and Society, v. 5, n. 4, p. 432-449, 2007.

KERVRAN, D. D.; GROS, C. Conflictos de inversiones en territorios indígenas: el turismo en la comarca kuna yala de panamá. In: GROS, C.; FOYER, F. ¿Desarollo con identidad? Gobernancia economica en Pueblos indígenas: siete estudios de caso. IFEA-FLACSO-CEMCA, 2010, p. 235-277.

KIRKBY, C. A.; GIUDICE, R.; DAY, B.; TURNER, K.; SOARES-FILHO, B. S.; OLIVEIRA-RODRIGUES, H.; YU, D. W. Closing the ecotourism-conservation loop in the peruvian amazon. Environmental Conservation, v. 38, n. 1, p. 6-17, 2011.

MACIEL, G. G. Mercantilização da cidade do rio de janeiro e suas implicações na gestão de unidades de conservação: um estudo sobre a concessão do setor paineras/corcovado (Parque Nacional da Tijuca—RJ) e os efeitos sobre os moradores das favelas do Cerro corá e do Guararapes. 2015. Dissertação de Mestrado. Serviço Social, Rio de Janeiro: PUC-Rio, 2015.

MBAIWA, J. E.; NGWENYA, B. N.; KGATHI, D. L. Contending with unequal and privileged access to natural resources and land in the Okavango delta, Botswana. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, v. 29, n. 2, p. 155-172, 2008.

MORO, C. C.; DE OMENA, M. T. RN; MAGRO-LINDENKAMP, T. C. Discutindo as Concessões de Uso Público em Unidades de Conservação Brasileiras. Biodiversidade Brasileira-BioBrasil, n. 3, p. 224-233, 2022.

MOWFORTH, M.; MUNT, I. Tourism and sustainability: new tourism in the Third World. London: Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

NAÇÕES UNIDAS. Transformando nosso mundo: A agenda 2030 para o desenvolvimento sustentável. 2015. Disponível em: <https://nacoesunidas.org/pos2015/agenda2030/>. Acesso em: março de 2020.

NGWAKWE, C. C.; MOKGALONG, N. M. Revenue and conservation implication of South African National Parks' commercialization. Tourism: An International Interdisciplinary Journal, v. 64, n. 3, p. 295-310, 2016.

NYAHUNZVI, D. K. The changing nature of national parks under neoliberalization. In: MOSEDALE, J. (Ed). Neoliberalism and the political economy of tourism. London/New York: Routledge, p. 111-128, 2016.

OCAMPO, C. A. O.; VARGAS, J. E. B. Evaluación de la sustentabilidad de los prestadores de servicios turísticos del Parque Nacional Tayrona en el departamento de Magdalena, Colombia. Cuadernos De Geografía: Revista Colombiana De Geografía, v. 27, n. 1, p. 100-117, 2018.

OJEDA, D. Green pretexts: Ecotourism, neoliberal conservation and land grabbing in Tayrona National Natural Park, Colombia. Journal of Peasant Studies, v. 39, n. 2, p. 357-375, 2012.

RODRIGUES, C. G. O. (2009). O uso do público nos Parques Nacionais: a relação entre as esferas pública e privada na apropriação da biodiversidade. 2009. Tese (Doutorado). Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, 2009.

RODRIGUES, C. G. O.; ABRUCIO, F. L. Valores públicos e os desafios da responsabilização nas parcerias para o turismo em áreas protegidas: um ensaio teórico. Turismo: Visão e Ação, v. 22, p. 67-86, 2020.

RYTTERI, T.; PUHAKKA, R. The art of neoliberalizing park management: commodification, politics and hotel construction in Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park, Finland. Human Geography, v. 94, n. 3, p. 255-268, 2012.

SALVADOR AYALA, S. E. Las concesiones de operacíon turística em áreas protegidas del Ecuador. Tesis (Pegrado). Quito: Universidad de las Américas. 2014.

SÁNCHEZ-NOGUERA, C.; JIMÉNEZ, C.; CORTÉS, J. (2018). Desarrollo costero y ambientes marino-costeros en Bahía Culebra, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Revista de Biología Tropical, v. 66, n. 1, p. 309-327, 2018.

SANCHO-PIVOTO, A; RODRIGUES, C. G. de O., BOTELHO, E. S. & MARTINS FONSECA, V. O processo de concessão no Parque Estadual do Ibitipoca (MG): questões preliminares sobre controle social das parcerias para o turismo. Revista Brasileira de Ecoturismo, v. 15, n. 4, 2022.

SLOCUM, S. L. Operationalising both sustainability and neo-liberalism in protected areas: implications from the USA's national park service's evolving experiences and challenges. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, v. 25, n. 12, p. 1848-1864, 2017.

SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL PARKS. South African National Parks Annual Report 2016/17. South Africa. 2017. Disponível em: <https://www.sanparks.org/assets/docs/general/annual-report-2017.pdf>. Acesso em: dez 2019.

SPENCELEY, A.; SNYMAN, S.; EAGLES, P. Guidelines for tourism partnerships and concessions for protected areas: generating sustainable revenues for conservation and development. Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and IUCN. 2017.

THAPA, B. The relationship between debt-for-nature swaps and protected area tourism: a plausible strategy for developing countries. In: MCCOOL, S. F.; COLE, D. N.; BORRIE, W. T.; O’LOUGHLIN, J. Wilderness within the context of larger systems,2000.

THOMPSON, A.; MASSYN, P.; PENDRY, J.; PASTORELLI, J. Tourism concessions in protected natural areas: Guidelines for managers. New York, NY: United Nations Development Programme. 2014.

VALVERDE, S.; MARAGLIANO, G.; IMPEMBA, M. Expansionismo turístico, poblaciones indígenas mapuche y territorios en conflicto en Neuquén, Argentina. Pasos. Revista De Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, v. 13, n. 2, p. 395-410, 2015.

VARGAS LUNA, L. M. Viabilidad e impacto económico de las concesiones para ecoturismo en dos áreas naturales protegidas del Perú. 2019. Tesis (Maestría). Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Lima, Peru. 2019.

WOOD, M. E. Best practice for tourism concessions in protected areas: Case studies from Latin America. El Salvador: USAID Improved Management and Conservation of Critical Water, 2010.

WYMAN, M.; BARBORAK, J. R.; INAMDAR, N.; STEIN, T. Best practices for tourism concessions in protected areas: a review of the field. Forests, v. 2, n. 4, p. 913-928, 2011.

Downloads

Published

2023-06-11

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 3 (2023): Dossiê: Desafios e perspectivas das parcerias para o lazer e o turismo em áreas protegidas

Section

Artigo em Dossiês

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Brazilian Journal of Ecotourism

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Brazilian Ecotourism Journal, through the legal entity of the Brazilian Ecotourism Society , will withhold the copyrights of the published works. The rights mentioned to the publication of the work in any part of the world, including the rights to the renewals, expansions and disseminations of the contribution, as well as other subsidiary rights. All the works published electronically could later be published in colections printed under coordination of the Brazilian Ecotourism Society. The authors do not have permission for the publication of the contribution in another way, digital printed matter or, in Portuguese or translation, since that the credits are given to the Brazilian Ecotourism Journal.

How to Cite

BRUMATTI, Paula Normandia Moreira; SONAGLIO, Kerlei Eniele. Limitations and challengesof tourism concessions in Latin America protected areas. Brazilian Journal of Ecotourism, [S. l.], v. 16, n. 3, 2023. DOI: 10.34024/rbecotur.2023.v16.15154. Disponível em: https://periodicos.unifesp.br/index.php/ecoturismo/article/view/15154. Acesso em: 5 dec. 2025.
Received 2023-05-31
Accepted 2023-05-31
Published 2023-06-11