The State and tourism in Brazil

analysis of public policies in the context of pandemic COVID-19

Abstract

Pandemics mark periods of instability, disruptions, and complex changes in society. Today, the world is facing the pandemic of COVID-19, a disease caused by the new coronavirus. In all social dimensions, the impacts have been significant, mainly because of social isolation, a measure considered efficient to stop the spread of the disease. In Brazil, isolation was established by the government and culminated in the temporary closure of developments that provide non-essential services, in which tourism is contemplated. Therefore, the objective of this article is to discuss the role of the State in mitigating the impacts of the pandemic in the tourism sector, analyzing the public policies adopted and characteristics such as: political sphere, context, scope, content and criteria for effectiveness. It is an exploratory and descriptive research, whose methodological path consisted of searching for keywords on scientific platforms and government websites and sectorial tourism institutions, both in Brazil and worldwide. The information obtained was organized, systematized, and analyzed using the Content Analysis technique. The results show that the public policies formulated by the government are of a structural nature, with a focus on maintaining jobs and income for entrepreneurs and workers in specific segments of the production chain; conjunctural/emergency, therefore, restricted to the pandemic period; and regulatory, standardizing security and prevention protocols for COVID-19 during the economic recovery process. In general, the policies that most benefit the sector do not come from important portfolios for the activity, such as the Ministry of Tourism, but from other spheres of government.