Abstract:
Although Community Based Tourism (CBT), which is practiced in Brazil, is recognized as an important strategy for local development, it presents problems. Its basic composition resembles that of cluster of companies. Knowledge about forms of organization such as clusters could be used for the study and analysis of CBT, helping to resolve their problems, and favoring their development in the Brazilian territory. Porter's (1998) cluster model may be useful for analyzing CBT projects as it involves variables common to both forms of organization, such as geographic location, cooperation, and resource sharing. This paper studies how the cluster analysis approach could contribute to CBT in Florianópolis in the state of Santa Catarina. For this, a brief literature review was conducted on the subject, followed by a discussion, based on Porter, of two CBT Projects that exist in this municipality. Based on this analysis, the main needs identified are: the formation of partnerships with tourism agencies, the structuring of endogenous governance, the participation of public entities besides those already involved in the projects, and the training of community members for entrepreneurship. The biggest challenge to be overcome, meanwhile, is the individualist local culture.
Key words:
Community based tourism; Cluster; Development
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