Building Bridges between Indigenous Peoples and Geotourism Activity: The case of the Raposa Ethnoregion in Roraima, Brazil

Abstract

The state of Roraima in Brazil registers a significant number of Indigenous People (IP), distributed throughout a diversity of ethnoregions. Among them, the municipalities of Amajari, located near the region of the riverbed of Baixo Cotingo, and in the upper Ajarani River, stand out. These IP include the ethnic groups of Macuxi, Ingaricó, Taurepang and Wapixanas, which together aggregate a culturally well-developed contingent. In the municipality of Mucajaí lives another IP community, the Yanomami, recognized as the most isolated IP from South America. These communities live in two regions with potential for geotourism activity: the Extreme North Tourist Region of Brazil, covering an environment which is extremely rich in diversity of landforms, such as hills, plateaus, and valleys, and the Roraima Tourist Region in the Amazon Savanna forests. The objective of this research is to present the Macuxi and Yanomami communities in the region, which are engaged with ethnic tourism activities, highlighting their skills in promoting sustainable tourism management, namely geotourism. The methodology is qualitative exploratory, based on literature and document research in the division of ecotourism in the Mucajaí State Department for Planning. This review work was carried out from June to August 2021. Among the distinct realities relating to the environment, the results indicate that the IP from the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land feel the need for training to better understand how to welcome the tourist, and, thus, attend the requirements of the Normative Instruction n. 03/2015, which establishes norms and guidelines regarding visitation activities for tourism purposes in indigenous lands (IL). The Yanomami indigenous community also seeks partnership with institutions, either under the form of events, workshops or meetings to conceptualize and carry out strategies allowing to structure the geotourism activity. Accordingly, tourism workshops were implemented, aiming to attend the planning and development of indigenous community tourism to offer a unique tourist experience, thus contributing to build bridges between the indigenous communities and the geotourism activity, in a broader context of the concept of sustainable development.