Estrada Real da Bahia, "o caminho dos geoparques"

Abstract

In Bahia, one of the routes related to the Estrada Real is located in a stretch between Rio de Contas and Jacobina along the Espinhaço Range. This region has a set of environmental-ecosystemic, historical-cultural attributes, in addition to three proposed geoparks (Alto Rio de Contas, Serra do Sincorá and Morro do Chapéu). Given this scenario, this study sought to better identify and understand this important route of penetration, occupation and territorial planning of the State of Bahia, through the development of a spatial model of the potential of geotourism attractiveness, associated with the structuring of a circuit with the three main geopark proposals for the State and the municipalities that have stretches of the Estrada Real. The multicriteria analysis methodology in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment was used to develop the model. In the analysis process, the criteria for geotourism attractiveness were natural physical aspects, tourist infrastructure and the location of tourist and geotourism sites in the territory of all the municipalities involved. The importance of the criteria for tourist attractiveness were weighted using the AHP method - Analytical Hierarchy Process. In the aggregation of multiple criteria, the Weighted Linear Combination was used, which generated the map with the spatial distribution of the geotourism potential for the study area. The results showed that 52% of the area presented high to very high attractiveness (34% and 18% respectively) and only 3% of the area has very low attractiveness. The Alto Rio de Contas Geopark presented greater attractiveness in almost all of its extension, due to having a smaller territory, records of the Estrada Real and a relative tourist infrastructure. The Serra do Sincorá Geopark, because it has the largest infrastructure and is already internationally consolidated as the main tourist destination in the interior of Bahia, presented in a large part of its territory between very high and high attractiveness, but because there are no records of the Estrada Real, its attractiveness was restricted to the most rugged areas, with part of its territory considered to have medium attractiveness. For the Morro do Chapéu geopark, its greatest attraction was concentrated near the headquarters of Morro do Chapéu and Jacobina. In general, the methodology applied was efficient, confirming areas that already have a well-established tourism, areas with a representative potential to be planned, areas that can be better investigated for their vocation, thus demonstrating the possibility of defining integrative itineraries between the three proposed geoparks integrated into Estrada Real.