The right to leisure and the city: the experience of a social tourism project in Brazil.

Abstract

A University Outreach project provided tourist experiences for special needs students/staff of Fluminense Federal University. This article is the result of research into how the tours influenced the daily life of the people who participated in them. It is an exploratory qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with the tourists who visited some tourist spots. The relevance of the study is its demonstration that access to tourism can bring physical, mental and emotional benefits, such as different perceptions of places visited previously, changes in habits, and the positive possibility of contemplative experiences affording relief from everyday problems. The results show that access to the different tourist attractions and cultural facilities offered different contributions and perspectives. Subject to the stress of academic routine, the practice of touristic leisure helps them escape from their emotional/physical exhaustion while improving their sense of belonging, in relation to the university and the places visited.

Keywords

• Social tourism
• Leisure
• Cultural citizenship
• Right to the city
• Social rights