TOURISM AS A SPACE ANALYSIS TOOL: THE “POTAL DA LUA VIEWPOINT” IN CAPARAÓ, MG (Atena Editora)

Abstract

When thinking about tourism, it is common to relate it to travel and leisure. However, the tourist activity goes beyond these aspects. It is an activity that is directly related to the economy, which can generate great advantages and disadvantages for regions that are included in the list of tourist destinations, generating mass tourism. Alternatives were thought to reduce the negative effects of tourism, with emphasis on ecotourism and community-based tourism. In Brazil and Minas Gerais, at the beginning of the 21st century, there was an increase in tourism and several cities began to try to insert themselves in the Minas Gerais tourist scenario, using their potential and inserting themselves in tourist circuits. One of these locations is the municipality of Caparaó, which has the ''Mirante Portal da Lua'', a place where ecotourism is practiced. Based on this information, the objective of this work is to present and analyze the state of conservation of the ''Portal da Lua Lookout''. For this, the article was divided into two parts: in the first, a bibliographic review was carried out in articles, books, theses and dissertations about tourism and in the second, the observational method was used, through in loco research, with visits and photographic surveys. With this, it was proved that the ''Mirante Portal da Lua'' is in a bad state of conservation and that it is necessary to rethink the relationship of the Caparao community with the place.