Turismo em áreas balneares: uma análise da interaçãoentre residentes e visitantes na Praia do Tofo, Moçambique

Abstract

ourism is a contemporary way of resource utilization that has been described as being positive and negative at the same time. In this sense, this activity can at the same time provide positive negative to the territory where it occurs and also be the driving force for the degradation of the same territory. Though, tourism development relies on the specificities of each region and can only be viable when there are enough resources to provide tourism vocation, resources that can be natural, human, historic and cultural. The economic usage of these resources requires that basic conditions be secured with focus on economic and sociocultural infrastructures. Among all segments of tourism, coastal tourism has been one of the most developing, deserving, actually, special attention due to the fragility of the ecosystem and the relative isolation of native people living in these areas. In this context, while tourism activity has its essence in human interactions especially in relationships that are established between populations (residents and visitors), since admittedly tourism generates many impacts on places where it happens, what causes its recognition as an activity that exists for the good and bad of tourist destinations. Praia do Tofo represents a suitable space for understanding the impacts that tourism can cause, as well as to understand how residents and visitors inter-act in the same environment, in that it is a mass tourist destination considered priority area for development of tourism by already present some degree of tourist development and offer some support infrastructure. Thus, the interest in the subject of this article is å need to reflect about social tourism relations, with emphasis on the contact between residents and visitors, communities seeking to build a base of knowledge that can contribute to the improvement of management processes of beaches so that they ensure the satisfaction of those who attend. Given these assumptions, the article attempts to identify the degree of satisfaction of holidaymakers compared their recreational experience the satisfaction of holidaymakers toward some features from the beach, the degree of acceptance of different levels of human settlement and the perception thereof in relation to the occurrence of different patterns of behaviour. To achieve these objectives, the methodology was applied based on social carry-ing capacity assessment and in the implementation of interviews to various users of the beach by following three key proced-ures, namely (i) application of questionnaires to realize aspects linked to previous visits, activities involved and meeting with other groups; (ii) assessment of the degree of satisfaction in relation to recreational experience and importance and satisfac-tion regarding some features from the beach; and (iii) evaluation of the perception of vacationers in relation to patterns of behaviour displayed by other users at the beach. The results indicate that the overall satisfaction of both groups in relation to their recreational experience was positive, both groups share the same feeling about the degree of human settlement on the beach (ranging from 78 to 312 people/182 x 457m) and not yet occur, on the beach, negative behaviours on the part of its users. These results suggest that both groups (residents and visitors) coexist peacefully at Praia do Tofo and that management institutions should introduce mechanisms to prevent negative behaviour patterns, as a way to maintain the stable equilibrium existing between groups currently.