THE PROCESS OF CONFIGURING BAHIA’S TOURIST TERRITORY FROM 2004 TO 20019

Abstract

The study analyzes the territorial changes in tourist areas in the state of Bahia based on the federal government's ideology of regionalization of tourism. The Tourism Regionalization Program, launched in 2004 by the newly created Ministry of Tourism, aimed at decentralizing the tourist offer in Brazil, which was centered on some specific locations, using the Brazilian Tourism Map as an instrument. The research is characterized as exploratory and uses the time frame (2004 to 2019) and territorial (tourist municipalities in the state of Bahia) to construct maps in QGIS. Based on the results, it is evident: a 43% increase in the number of tourist municipalities over the period (2004 to 2019); in 2016, there was a drastic reduction in the number of tourist municipalities – comparing 2013 and 2016 there was a negative variation of 24% –; the classification of practically the entire coastline as touristic; and there is an effort to internalize tourist activity in the state, even if slowly and sparsely. It is considered that strengthening the political-institutional apparatus is of vital importance for the development of tourist activity.