In addition to forests, rivers, lakes, waterfalls and streams, which make up the region's most characteristic landscapes, the Brazilian Amazon offers a vast choice of enchanting landscapes and destinations, such as dunes, mangroves and the sea coast. Not only the natural beauty attracts tourists, but also the opportunity to experience the populations’ different ways of life. This is what the Community-Based Tourism (CBT) proposes to foster sustainable development, enhance and value the communities in the region.

In exclusive interview with the Liberal Group, the Minister of Tourism, Celso Sabino, highlighted that the so-called CBT plays a fundamental role for the Amazonian people, besides having a significant impact on the national scenario. "Tourism is a vital source of income for many regions, contributing to the creation of jobs and boosting the local economy. Furthermore, it has the power to promote cultural, historical and environmental preservation", he explains.

The Amazon, assures the minister, is one of the priorities for the office in terms of CBT. "We are developing the project entitled ‘Experiences of Original Brazil’ aiming to expand and diversify the Brazilian touristic offer, by means of developing memorable experiences offered to tourists by indigenous peoples and quilombola communities in their territories", he highlights.

CHALLENGES
 

However, if on the one hand there are positive prospects for the future of this model, working with CBT in the Amazon also represents overcoming challenges. At Ilha dos Lençóis, in the state of Maranhão, Fernando Gonçalves was a pioneer in the lodging segment. He built the first guesthouse on the island 26 years ago and, since then, he has been overcoming daily difficulties such as logistics, high cost of raw materials and the need for constant maintenance to overcome the damage caused by nature.

Located 150 kilometers away from São Luís, the capital of Maranhão (in straight line route), the island is part of the municipality of Cururupu. The city hall does not have official data regarding the number of inhabitants, but an estimate of 365 people living on the island. Many people confuse Ilha dos Lençóis with the famous Lençóis Maranhenses, a desert-scenery national park formed by sand dunes and natural lakes. But the two places are located in distinct parts of the state territory.

Island in Maranhão lacks infrastructure

It’s a long journey until one gets to Ilha dos Lençóis, Maranhão. The natural environment made up of dunes, mangroves and palm trees makes “a hidden gem”. A team from the Liberal Group travelled around six hours to reach it departing from the capital of Maranhão. Besides  crossing in a ferry boat, the team went on a road with unpaved sections to reach the municipality of Apicum-Açu. There, a “hitchhike” on a fisherman’s boat is necessary to finally head towards Ilha dos Lençóis. The fact is that there is no regular river line between the island and the city of Apicum-Açu.

When Fernando Gonçalves receives a guest at his inn, he provides food and items that the visitor will need and, often, accompanies them on their journey from the capital. "We don't have basic sanitation and domestic waste collection network. In my case, after my stay, I collect the waste produced at the inn and take it to the 'continent' (Apicum-Açu). In the case of recyclables, I transport to São Luís", explains the businessman. He says that the first step, when building the project, was to guarantee its own sewage system. "But residents here only have a septic tank", he points out.

DAMAGES

This is the second time Fernando invests in the lodging business. His first inn suffered a lot of damage from the winds that bring sand from the dunes and with the rise in sea levels. "There were six houses on the seafront, which were literally 'taken away' by the waters. My family didn't want me to reopen the inn", he explains.

Ilha dos Lençóis is located within an extractive reserve and has little urban presence. You have to get around on foot and there are almost no shops or restaurants. The majority of the population lives from fishing. Today, those who visit the island most are tourists from the South and Southeast of Brazil and also Europeans. Besides accommodation in the inn, Fernando offers boat trips, tours to the dunes and to the lighthouse, shrimp harvesting observation and guará flights contemplation. 

Living in the middle of the Amazon rainforest

In the Mamirauá extractive reserve, in the State of Amazonas, the tourists’ profile is quite the same. While Ilha dos Lençóis exhibits a view of white dunes, the extractive reserve shows a landscape of rivers and dense forest. Still by the end of the 1990s, the tourist potential of the place could already be seen and today the reserve has the “Uacari” guesthouse – or, as it is more recently called, the “Uakari Lodge”.

The inn has an average annual revenue of R$400,000. It is all invested in the community benefit. This initiative is provided by the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Institute, a social organization promoted and supervised by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), which implements research programs, natural resource management and social development, mainly in the Médio Solimões region, in Amazonas.

At the beginning of its existence, in 1996, the institute created a management plan and a group of researchers were dedicated to implement economic alternatives for the reserve that bears the same name. One of the solutions was tourism. "It was an activity that didn't exist there at that time and each community was free to decide whether or not they wanted to follow this path", recalls Pedro Nassar, coordinator of the Community Tourism Program at the Mamirauá Institute.
This is the largest floodplain reserve in the world and the majority of the population is composed by riverine people, who live from fishing and the production of manioc flour and other agricultural products. There are around 13 thousand residents and users of the reserve, covering six municipalities, ten communities and one indigenous land.

PARTICIPATION

People interested in working with tourism went through a phase of dialogues and collaborative development to plan the next steps. "This community participation is one of the basic precepts for the definition of Community-Based Tourism. It is not enough to generate jobs for those who live there. The residents themselves must make the decisions and take part on the course of the activity", reinforces Nassar.

"The inn turns 25 years old and is a non-profit business, just like the Mamirauá institute. All the revenue is spent either on covering costs or saving for the inn's financial reserve. Part of it is also given to the communities that work at the inn", explains the coordinator. 

Not only salaries are received by the communities, but also financial resources to strengthen the local economy. The residents themselves founded the Mamirauá Ecotourism Assistants and Guides Association to organize tourism management and strengthen community organization.

Furthermore, the inn's team is established on a rotation system, in which each person works an average of ten days a month and then returns home. The objective is that there is no dependence on tourism and people can continue carrying out their traditional activities. In the last 15 years, the inn has had an average of 100 families yearly working directly on the team. 

Ecotourism keeps the standing forest 

Surrounded by rivers and native forest, “Uakari Lodge” has an ecological concept that ranges from its energy self-sufficiency from solar panels to the options of tours. Tourists can contemplate nature and breathe fresh air to relax and stay distant from the urban rush. They can also go on tours such as hiking and visits to riverside communities. "The lodge also focuses on ecotourism. It is an activity that requires keeping the standing forest", informs Nassar. 

Therefore, hiking rotation rules and control of the maximum number of tourists that can be in each area at the same time are also strictly followed, as a way of mitigating human impacts on the environment.

Nassar states that there are very specific challenges in the Amazon, such as the lack of basic sanitation, for example, which need to be overcome for investment in CBT. Uakari lodge, for example, needed to develop its own water treatment system. "Distances are also hard challenges, particularly in a region where traveling is by boat or plane. It takes longer and is more expensive. It results in higher prices for tourists as well. We must think about new technologies, boats equipped with solar panels, projects like that, or some financial support to help communities", he reinforces.

Thus, Nassar analyzes that investing in CBT in the Amazon also implies improving basic sanitation, health and education levels, to guarantee more comfort and life quality for those ones who live there or are passing through.

DIFFICULTIES

Péricles Carvalho, a technical analyst at the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service in Pará, corroborates this argument. He believes that, although Community-Based Tourism targets people who want to experience the routine of traditional communities, these visitors request minimal infrastructure to have a positive experience. "Tourists arrive already conscious about these difficulties and differences, but they want to have a clean bathroom, drink potable water and have thermal comfort. In order to achieve this, we cannot depend completely on public authorities. The private sector is also important to guarantee basic conditions to receive tourists", he points out.

According to him, CBT depends on the flow of traditional tourism in Pará. "It is very rare today for people to come just for community tourism. Most of the times, tourists go to a more established destination like Alter do Chão, for example, and take advantage of the trip to do some routes to get to know extractive communities", he explains. But Carvalho believes that it is possible to go beyond extractive communities, investing in community tourism that showcases different activities of Amazonian populations.

Sebrae works to identify where this CBT potential exists and helps structuring communities to serve tourists, offering training on customer service, business communication and business management. "Our participation is, initially, to awaken the community to this potential and then to support them in structuring this experience. When we notice that they are ready, we go on to advertising process, to gain more visibility and, thus, attracting visitors", he explains.