The elements that characterized the Tourism Cluster in Balneario Camboriu, Santa Catarina, Brazil

Abstract

Tourism for its growth potential and for being a product that can only be consumed on-site promotes regional development which can be boosted by the formation of clusters. The tourism clusters are composed of institutions and organizations in the same geographic region that aim to improve their competitiveness. The analytical perspective of tourism clusters is gaining increasing importance in the debate on regional development. The city of Balneário Camboriú is recognized as the Santa Catarina Capital of Tourism due to the importance achieved by the sector. Given this context, the research aims to describe and analyze the elements that characterize the establishment of a tourist cluster in Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina, Brazil. For the identification of the cluster elements was carried out an exploratory research, bibliographic and documental. The theoretical model of maturity analysis adopted was proposed by Cunha (2003), this model was chosen because it incorporates criteria used by EURADA in their research for classification and evaluation of the performance of productive clusters in the European Union. Through the methodology applied, Balneário Camboriú (SC) is considered a tourist cluster that promotes through cooperation between actors collective gains and the development of the sector in the region.