The Council of Tourism of the State of São Paulo: challenges to democratize public policy process in the field of tourism of the State of São Paulo in Brazil

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to answer the following question: to what extent the Tourism Council of the State of São Paulo – CONTURESP influences the public policy process in the field of tourism, thus helping to democratize the tourism agenda of the State of São Paulo? We relied on a qualitative approach (case study) and used content analysis techniques. Firstly, several laws and minutes of meetings related to this locus were collected and analysed. Based on the examination of such documents, questions emerged and semistructured interviews were conducted, as well as some CONTURESP meetings were monitored, aiming at shedding light on certain issues. Although the results of this research cannot be considered conclusive, they suggest the little influence CONTURESP has on public policy process within the tourism sector, in the state of São Paulo. Such reduced influence can be related to several factors, like its advisory status and also due to the disregard of the state government towards this arena, which could be evidenced by the loss of many of its documents, as well as the frequent transfers of this council to the jurisdiction of various agencies.