Analysis of the tourist perceptions towards the impact degree of interventions in the coastal landscape in the state of

Abstract

The tourism is an important economic activity in the coast of Ceará, Brazil, and that depends on the quality of the amenities and coastal landscapes. These environmental services are under pressure from the economic growth in the coastal zone that could affect negatively the quality of the tourism experience in this region. This paper aims to assess the perception of the domestic tourist towards the impact level of changes in the coastal landscape caused by human interventions in the Ceará coast. To do that, we applied 117 questionnaires to tourists who were visiting the Canoa Quebrada and Jericoacoara beaches, Ceará. Two generalized ordered logit models were estimated in order to explain the impact degree of interventions on the coastal landscape. Among the four groups of interventions considered, the energy/mobile telephony group was perceived as the one causing the highest impact upon the coastal landscape.