Turismo de Base Comunitária na Vila Céu do Mapiá/AM: prospecções para uma gestão comunitária participativa

Abstract

Vila Céu do Mapiá is an intentional community founded in 1983, located in the heart of the Puruse National Forest, the headquarters of Santo Daime. The Vila, influenced by the phenomena of globalization, receives since its foundation a large flow of visitors. Currently, it has been suffering strong economic, environmental and social pressure. How to deal with these phenomena? Interactions related to tourism and visitation with religious motivation are a means of strengthening the community reality and, as this phenomenon happens, several positive and negative impacts are generated. This work considers the possibility of Community Based Tourism to influence this process and seeks to point out in what ways this can happen for the better benefit of the community. It seeks to deepen the phenomena that happen in this community, bringing the focus to the current reality of visitation, the diagnosis of the activity and the possibilities that are already explored or may be in the future. From the local peculiarities, several possibilities arise in the theoretical and practical field. How to mediate this process by strengthening community ties, preserving traditional knowledge and conserving the forest are some of the questions that this research intends to answer. This dissertation carries out a survey that aims to contribute so that the Vila Céu do Mapiá community can idealize practices for the participatory community management of local tourism, a traditional community activity since the community was founded by Sebastião Mota de Melo and his followers.