Entrepreneurship and sustainable tourism: The case of Jardim das Esculturas - a tourist attraction in southern Brazil

Abstract

This study deals with entrepreneurship in tourism from the perspective of sustainability and regional development and aims to analyze whether the enterprise Jardim das Esculturas, located in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, meets the indicators of sustainable tourism development in four dimensions: social, economic, cultural and environmental. Methodologically, the research is of descriptive nature, characterized by the study carried out in the enterprise Jardim das Esculturas, located in the central region of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. As a result, it can be observed that the Jardim das Esculturas is focused on the conservation and preservation of biodiversity (fauna and flora), as it presents a high score (83.33%) in the environmental dimension. The socio-economic dimension and the sustainable management dimension consecutively reach second (62.5%) and third (60%) place in the score. The dimension with the lowest score is related to cultural heritage, with only 25% of the indicators analysed. To sum up, it was identified that the resort has a singular environmental concern and carries out important work to promote sustainable tourism, although it could expand its actions to seek sustainable tourism development, especially with regard to cultural heritage.