A Imagem da Amazônia: estudo a respeito da percepção dos turistas estrangeiros sobre a Amazônia

Abstract

The image of the tourist destination is present in the entire consumption experience linked to a trip; it is projected in the tourist's mind before the realization, passes through satisfaction during the stay and lasts after the tourist's return. The image of tourist destinations is a strong ingredient in the decision-making process for choosing trips, and it changes between before and after the trip. In this sense, the image of a tourist destination has a trajectory, it is not stagnant, it is in constant movement. The main objective of the present study is to verify what image the foreign tourist has about the Amazon at the time of their visit, and if it undergoes changes compared to the previous image. To achieve this objective, exploratory-descriptive research was carried out with a predominantly quantitative bias. Data collection took place through a questionnaire, applied to a sample of 504 foreign tourists who visited the cities of Belém and Manaus from June 2019 to February 2020. These two cities are the main entrances to the Amazon for foreigners. In the first city, tourists who arrived there by air were surveyed, and in the case of the second, those who reached Manaus by river. These foreigners came mainly from the United States, England, Germany, and France. The first and important conclusion is that the image perceived by the visitors in relation to the Amazon improves during the trip. The second is that the improvement of the image is associated, above all, with the beauty of the landscape, with the physical and natural aspects of the region, which is surprising for its conservation; to the affective reception of the local population and its culture, including the gastronomy, a factor that exceeded expectations. It was also verified that the image perceived by the tourist undergoes modification depending on the experiences that the tourist has during the trip. And in Belém, as the researched sample spent most of their stay in the capital of Pará, the image was marked by issues related to the city such as security, cleanliness, and social inequalities. On the other hand, the tourists interviewed in the city of Manaus, in their entirety, cruisers who arrived at the city's port in transatlantic liners that went up the Amazon River, have an image of the Amazon that is more focused on what they enjoyed during the trip, such as the riverside people's way of life and the daily life of the communities that live along the route.