english / portugues
   
 
  Dafine Rodrigues (Nos do Cinema)
   
 

Account of my experience at the World Tourism Forum.
 
 
I was invited to participate in an event about sustainable tourism, something that I had never heard of before. For me it was very interesting as where I live there is no investment in tourism. I had never really thought about this issue, even though it is part of our everyday lives. The event opened my eyes and it inspired me to think about developing tourism in the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro. It is a relatively unexplored area, but it does have a variety of places that could be included on the tourist trail.
 
 

The speeches at the Forum allowed me to see that sustainable tourism provides stability to the regions in which it is implemented by, amongst other things, protecting biodiversity. The development of tourism also creates jobs, as well as making the local community more knowledgeable about their area, and could inspire the creation of projects that will develop the area and make life better in that community. I think that the government should continue to look at the situation in the Favelas (slums) but it should also not forget other areas, such as the Baixada, which have already suffered from a lot of careless treatment. Therefore, sustainable tourism would give a new face to life in the area and the negative image that people have would decrease. One good example of the various beautiful, charming and welcoming attractions that we have is the Novo Iguaçu volcano. The problem is the lack of knowledge of the area, and this means people go to other places that are more developed to receive people.
 
 
I would like to launch ´The Baixada Project´ which requires the stabilising of the above issues. I would create a tourist route in the Baixada, which could be incorporated with the other tourist routes in Rio de Janeiro. This would attract investment into the local area and the adjacent communities, providing an improved infrastructure such as basic sanitation, clean streets and paving the roads. Youngsters could be trained to be paid tourist guides, and the guides could be accompanied by written guides explaining each point on the tour and showing that the Baixada area is a nice place!