Tourism development: sustainable or sustained? Intercultural reflections on the case of Praia do Forte-Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

This article adopts qualitative exploratory research, undertaken by means of a single-case study on Praia do Forte, a tourism destination located on the Brazilian coast. Use was made of second- ary data and in-depth interviews with local residents, to answer the research question of how this desti- nation could follow a path of tourism development in a way that differentiates it from similar ones; and, as secondary objective if the degree of current development can still be seen as sustainable. Based on a systematic perspective of tourism, we seek to extend the vision of development so as to include soci- ocultural and environmental dimensions of sustainability based on Sachs' (1986) model. The results indicate that three factors seem to answer the question.

Keywords

• Tourism
• Entrepreneurship
• Tourism destination
• Sustainability
• Communities