Third sector in Tourism business: a case study on the Chamber of Tourism of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)

Abstract

This article summarizes a descriptive survey aimed to record the emergence, consolidation and the contribution of the Chamber of Tourism of Rio Grande do Sul to the development of tourism in the State and the challenges he faced as a pioneer of the third sector organizations in tourism in Brazil. This is a documentary research, which also utilized procedures of oral history and participant observation and which is based on new theories about the role of government and private initiative in tourism´s planning and managing. At the same time is intended to stimulate reflection on the importance of nonprofit organizations can have on tourism development in other states because it is a model widely used by other countries in Latin America.