Os desafios do uso qualificado da informação em turismo: o caso da pesquisa de demanda turística real de Diamantina/MG

Abstract

Tourism is an activity resulting from peoples attraction by certain locations where they are taken to, are hosted and have their needs and desires met. Therefore, tourism activities need a set of information the touristic information to support the use of tourists activities for commercial means, as well as information to help reaching such target by providing data describing the activities of tourism actors: information about tourism, which includes data about tourists; these data give statistical support to research about touristic demands. Diamantina/MG is a colonial town, with the status of World Heritage Site, that presents singular touristic potential. The research Pesquisa de Demanda Turística Real em Diamantina e Região (PDTD), about touristic demand, was performed in this city by researchers from the Tourism Course of Federal University of Jequitinhonha and Mucuri Valleys (Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri - UFVJM), between 2009 and 2014. Their research resulted in an informational database about tourists, which can show ways to develop the local tourism. The availability of this database does not assure its use by potential users, tourism actors. Thus, the aim of the current study is to explore the fundamentals of information organization in order to promote the use of data about the real touristic demand in Diamantina and in its surroundings by the tourism actors to support local tourism development. With regard to methodology, the association of two Applied Social Sciences fields, Information Sciences and Tourism, throughout the conduction of the present research, was feasible due to a case study. I started from an exploratory study to characterize a descriptive design. The thesis was divided in five chapters: Introduction, which presents the elements methodologically drawing, justifying and approaching the thesis; The study about the touristic phenomenon, which highlights the touristic demand and information about tourism; Information organization in mediation perspective, which addresses language as the fundamental element to produce sense to the public; The research about the real touristic demand in Diamantina and in its surroundings, which approaches contexts, users and possibilities, including a qualitative survey involving tourism actors in Diamantina; and, finally, Final Considerations, which states that tourism actors were not properly identified as the target public of PDTD during its conduction. Such fact was evidenced by the technical language used in the reports and by the lack of proximity between university and community. These limitations did not generate a favorable context to the use of PDTD by part of the actors in question; thus, the research did not lead to the expected initial effect on the potential users of the collected data.