COMMUNITY-BASED TOURISM IN THE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF PEDRA DA SAL COMMUNITY IN PARNAIBA - PIAUI

The main objective of this paper is to assess the social and economic conditions of Pedra do Sal community focusing on the enhancing of community-based Tourism, aiming at better life conditions to the inhabitants of that place. In order to do so, we proposed to perform a social characterization of the area in study, as well as to contextualize the touristic activity in general and specifically in the area, and analyze the reality experienced by the native population. The methodological procedures were bibliographical and documentary research in books and Internet websites, direct contact through quantitative-descriptive field research with probabilistic sample, and a non-directive interview with the President of the Association of inhabitants and fishermen of Pedra do Sal, Norma Sueli Nascimento de Souza. The results indicate favorable situation to the adoption of community-based tourism as a new cost-effective alternative to the locality. However, we could also notice the difficulty in implementing this type of tourism due to lack of knowledge about the thread, lack of educational subsidies from the inhabitants and the difficult relationship among existing associations, which generates conflicts and contributes to the organizational slack, preventing its sustainable development. Therefore, the participatory tourism planning in the community is a fundamental tool to the implementation of the activity on the locality and it is expected to improve the indexes of life quality of the indigenous population.