The Public Agenda of Tourism in Brazil

Despite discussions about Brazilian public policies of tourism (PPoT), their evolution and impacts in this country are still little known. By assimilating various roles over the last century, Brazilian governments could establish goals and provide different expectations about PPoT. This study aims to analyze the institutionalization process of Brazilian PPoT, from their born, in the very beginning of the last century (1930), to the first decade in the actual century (2010). To reach this objective, the Brazilian public agenda of tourism was reconstituted, in a retroductive way. The specialized literature –about public policies, in general, and PPoT, in particular– was mad in order to produce an analytical framework to support the empirical analysis. The historical, longitudinal, ex post facto, research was empirically landed by the data collection of normative acts did by the Brazilian Federal Government. These acts were considered as public policies and they were collected through the historical archive of the House of Representatives. They were analyzed, in a quantitative and qualitative manner, by the content analysis technique. The results allow us to recognize five major periods guiding the PPoT in Brazil agenda, each one having it proper organizing principle, modus operandi as well its expected effects. As conclusion, we can sustain the existence of recurrent institutional inconsistency; increased investments and changing expectations over the PPoT along of the last century. There was also recent change in the profile of these policies, seeking to conform them to the international standard.