INSTITUCIONAIS E A INFLUÊNCIA POLÍTICA ALLOCATION OF FEDERAL PUBLIC RESOURCES IN TOURISM INFRASTRUCTURE BY THE MINISTRY OF TOURISM - MTUR: RELATIONS BETWEEN THE INSTITUTIONAL CRITERIA AND POLITICAL INFLUENCE

Abstract:

In Brazil, it is not uncommon to observe that political interests overlap with technical and scientific aspects. This picture increases when it comes to the allocation of public resources. This article analyzes whether the allocation of public resources in tourist infrastructure, carried out by the Ministry of Tourism - MTur, meets institutional criteria or is impacted by political influence. As a theoretical basis, it was studied about political influence, public governance in tourism and the Agency Theory. As an object of study, the investments made in the period from 2008 to 2018, in the 65 Inductive Destinations, at the time, were defined. Investments were mapped, categorized, and verified to understand how and how they were allocated. To analyze whether the allocation of resources met the criteria established by the national tourism policy (the Categorization and the Competitiveness Index, at that time), the Structural Equation Modeling was adopted. From the construction of the path diagram of the causal relationship, the verification of data consistency, and the tests of hypotheses, their results confirmed that the investments in tourism infrastructure carried out by the MTur are still moderated by political influence, but they adopted, in part, the criteria indicated in the national tourism policy guidelines.

Keywords:
Political influence; Governance in tourism; Performance evaluation in tourism; Resource allocation criteria; Tourism infrastructure