Three moments in tourist urbanization: policies, market and regional development in Brazil’s northeast, 1997-2007

Abstract

In the last ten years, the economic structuring of tourist cities of Brazil’s Northeast has gradually been conformed by the increase of the activities within the “real estate-tourist” sector. This relationship has produced impacts in the urban space, in the local community and in the environment of the seashore. There are three phases to characterize this period: the first one, connected to the policies and to the building of the infrastructure oriented for tourism; the second one, the modification of the strategies of the real-estate market by the entrance of international capital; and the last one, marked by a attempt of State control on the production of territory, where the regional plans are argued once again. This paper intends to analyze the economic and social conditions involved in the three phases, the international capital and its territorial impacts and, at last, emphasize, in the present time, the risks and opportunities of the regional plans.