Socio-Spatial Vulnerability in Touristic Territories:

Methodological Proposal for a Local-Scale Comparative Analysis

Abstract

This article presents a proposal to evaluate tourist territories on a local scale through the development of a methodology based on indicators that is approached at two complementary levels: On the one hand, with the selection and application of a system of indicators related to capitals and social assets essential for human development (physical, human and social capital); on the other hand, with the construction of a social vulnerability index designed for tourist communities and elaborated from an empirical analysis carried out, with a vocation for general use. The proposal establishes extrapolatable thresholds that allow identifying the presence (or not) of specific or potential situations of social vulnerability among families and classifying them according to the heterogeneity they present with respect to access, absence or insufficiency of social assets, translating social vulnerability into quantifiable values. To illustrate the methodology, two representative communities of the international tourism scene in Brazil were selected: Jericoacoara / Ceará and Pipa / Rio Grande do Norte. The proposed methodology is a communication tool that can guarantee, on the one hand, a process of raising awareness of families about their condition of social vulnerability and, on the other hand, the availability of dense and quality information for the adequate management of tourism to local scale.