Desenvolvimento regional no litoral norte do Rio Grande do Sul : o caso do turismo no município de Torres - RS.

Abstract

This research presents a case study in the city of Torres, the northern coast of Rio Grande do Sul, analyzing the role of tourism in urbanization and population mobility in that county during the period of 1970 to 2005. Investigated how the tourism, as social and economic activity, interacts with other society segments, and the consequences of this interaction in the process of development and urbanization in the municipality. For this, special attention was devoted to structural changes taking place in tourism activity in Torres over the past decades, particularly in the transformation of this space in the area of permanent residence by certain social segments. The method of data collection was guided by the case study by conducting semi-structured interviews, field observation, and the search for secondary data available from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE, the state and municipal agencies. What was observed was the heavy investment by the government in road infrastructure in the region, linking the city of Torres to downtown and the state hills region, the state as well, as significant investments by the private sector, creating artificial beaches, theme parks and gated communities in the region, aimed to upper middle class. In the municipality of Torres, in particular, we highlight the strong performance of the building sector, constructing buildings in the eastern part, near the seaside, besides the expansion of the urban area towards the west, toward the Serra Geral, including covering rural areas, which in a few years will be fully integrated into the urban perimeter. In these spaces it is also possible to find irregular occupations in risk areas. Therefore it is necessary a government initiative, not only on a municipal level, but also state and federal levels, where they coordinate and organize this expansion toward the western side of Torres, once in these areas, with lack of infrastructure, poorest residents live, so that the dynamism of the economy generated by tourism activity will also result in quality of life for an increasing number of inhabitants of the city.