Public Funding to Tourism Business: operation profile and spatial distribution of three brazilian funds

Abstract

This study analyzes the profile and the spatial distribution of credit operations to tourism companies through public funds. The tools used in this exploratory research were thematic cartography and descriptive and inferential statistics. Non-parametric tests, such as Chi-Square, Spearman-Rho, and Kendall’s W, were afforded to consider 16 propositions about the position of funds in financing Tourism Characteristic Activities (TCAs). The investigated datasets are the Brazilian National Development Bank’s indirect operations (2002 to 2020), the Brazilian Northeast Constitutional Fund (2010 to 2019), and the Brazilian Tourism Fund (2018 to 2020). To our knowledge, all are still new to tourism literature. The funds have different purposes. The study stresses the importance of examining the relationships and complementarities of transversal instruments to stimulate economic and territorial development compared with those to drive a particular sector. Another highlight is the focus on evaluating tourism financing directed to the private sector. Despite its importance, we found little empirical research on the topic. An original feature of the present work is the assessment of a large nationwide non-European country dataset with multiple TCAs from a cross-temporal perspective. The paper also contributes with a methodology for conducting this type of exploratory analysis. Suggestions for policymakers are discussed.