Turismo e meio ambiente: o esgotamento sanitário no município de Maragogi, Alagoas

Abstract

Regarded as an important and dynamic socio-economic activity, tourism has been adopted as a development alternative by governments of many countries, states and municipalities. However, in addition to its positive impacts this activity can cause serious problems for ecological systems, landscapes and communities that make up the destinations. Therefore, it is important to adopt a long-term planning strategy that includes, among other things, environmental sanitation, as a central component of sustainable development. For this to happen, it is important that sanitation projects are well sized and that there is adequate popular participation as residents know the local territory. The objective of this study is to analyze the implementation and operation of the Maragogi´s sewage project, in the north coast of Alagoas. Maragogi is the second largest tourist destination of Alagoas, with 4,000 beds, in addition to being considered by the Ministry of Tourism as one of the country´s 65 tourism attractor projects (Projeto Destinos Indutores). To achieve the objective of this work, it was considered important to analyze the views of: a) planners working for the municipal government; b) residents, entrepreneurs and local leaders; and c) tourists. Therefore, the study used a qualitative approach and adopted the followings data-collection instruments: open interviews, semi-structured interviews, photographic survey, direct observation, and examination of remote images (Google Earth). The study identified that the sanitation project did not include the entire territory of the municipality of Maragogi, leaving several sources of sewage out of the project´s reach. Serious sanitation-related environmental problems continue to occur, despite the local government continue to use as one of their marketing strategies the message that the municipality is 100% sanitized.