A percepção autóctone sobre os ambientes naturais com potencial ecoturístico em Luminárias (MG): dinâmica e consequências

Abstract

Ecotourism is considered an activity of low environmental impact that generates social benefits, and obviously depends on the existence of natural attraction. But how do autochthonous individuals perceive this activity, and how they relate themselves to their natural areas? The aim of this study was to analyze in what level native individuals get involved with natural environments with ecotourism potential and how they perceive the development of ecotourism practices in inicial phase, as also the dynamics of this involvement and perception through the young people eyes in two periods with a nine-year interval. In order to do so, it was used iconography with the presentation of ten photographs of environments with ecotourism potential from the locality of Luminárias (MG, Brazil) for high school students, with the subsequent application of a semistructured questionnaire, in the years 2007 and 2016. The participant observation technique was also used. As a result, the natural environments with ecotourism potential were recognized at different levels and considered as high attractiveness however, the touristic use among the autochthonous individuals is still low. The results also demonstrated that, in the difficulty of a continuous mobilization that reaches the population, the school grounds are shown as facilitating spaces for the process of awareness and social insertion in ecotourism planning.