Turismo Responsável: contribuições para uma reflexão conceitual

Abstract

The lack of tourism planning can negatively affect the environment in which it develops, whether in the use of natural resources, or in social and cultural aspects of a people, causing problems such as environmental degradation, loss of quality of social life and disrespect for the traditional way of life. For tourism to have positive impacts, whether in the environmental, economic, or social sphere, new perspectives of tourism planning have emerged, known as alternative tourism models, which have as their premise the respect and dialogue between the natural environment and the social relations that are established in a certain location. Among these forms of planning, responsible tourism has been gaining notoriety, since it can be understood as a tourism innovation through which local residents are offered social and economic benefits, as well as the protection of natural resources. In order for this concept to offer better proposals both in the academic and practical spheres, it is necessary to have a theoretical production to discuss this subject. In this context, this work aims to present a conceptual overview of how the term responsible tourism has been treated in national and international literature, in order to obtain theoretical constructs that allow the understanding of the object under study. To reach the proposed objective, we chose to carry out a theoretical essay, based on electronic research in which articles, dissertations, and theses available on electronic search sites such as Capes journals, Scopus, and Capes catalog of dissertations and theses were consulted. The results showed that responsible tourism is linked to terms such as sustainability, development, environment and behavior, presenting a multiplicity of the concept that encompasses the parties involved in the tourism trade. It suggests that further work should be done, focusing on the responsible behavior of tourists and companies.