Planning of Public Use in Lençóis Maranhenses National Park: Application of IAT and ROVUC Methodologies

Abstract

The Lençóis Maranhenses National Park is one of the most relevant touristic destinations in Brazil. The increased visitation combined with the demand for higher quality services requires appropriate public use planning and management in the protected area. This paper aims to evaluate the park’s context of public use and to show how the institutional tools contribute to the planning of visitation attractions and diversification of experiences. It was employed two methodologies the Spectrum of Visiting Opportunities in Federal Protected Areas (ROVUC, portuguese acronym), an adaptation of the Recreation Opportunity Spectrum (ROS), and the Touristic Attractiveness Index (IAT, portuguese acronym). It was verified that the park has an extensive attractiveness, where the internal environment has a higher score than the external, indicating that possible investments in the protected area surroundings would be important to equalize the development potential of the touristic destination. It was also verified that it offers diversified opportunities with public use areas classified in the three possible ROVUC classes for integral protection protected areas, with a predominance of Natural experiences. From the collected information it was possible to plan the park’s public use and to define management actions to minimize impacts, maximize quality experiences and achieve conservation established goals.