Tourism Councils as a voice institution in Brazil

Abstract

In Brazil, after the Federal Constitution of 1988, with the redemocratization process, municipal councils, including those of tourism, promote social participation in decisions about public policies. Thus, this work aims to analyze the institutionalization of voice in the legal norms and in the development of the activities of municipal tourism councils of state capitals of Brazil and the Federal District. It was identified that interaction in municipal tourism councils is characterized by the predominant presence of business associations and the public sector. With regard to policy formulation, the councils show a certain passivity, leaving the public sector in charge. There is little debate about plan evaluation and ways to improve implemented actions. The councils' debates revolve, above all, around infrastructure and event promotion actions to improve the destination's economic competitiveness. It was also found a low average participation in the meetings of representatives of the Legislative Branch and other bodies of the Executive Branch, despite the legal provision. We conclude that the use of a more active voice can be achieved with the recognition, by the councilors, of the COMTURs' function as spaces to use their voices and to influence the directions of tourism policies. And Hirschman's (1973) approach on the choices between voice, exit and loyalty, although still little used among researchers in the field, allows us to advance in the understanding of tourism public policies.