Drought affects tourism in the Amazon and makes life difficult for entrepreneurs

Manaus (AM) – The drought in Amazonas has affected all aspects of the lives of Amazonians. In the latest release of the state government’s bulletin, 60 of the 62 municipalities in Amazonas are in an emergency situation and to date, more than 600 thousand people have been affected. And many of them depend on tourism, as an economic and survival base in different ways.

This is the reality of the manager of Pousada Vista do Rio Negro, located in the Santa Helena do Inglés community, in the Rio Negro Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS), Adriana de Siqueira. Her inn was one of the many businesses that had to close their doors due to the severe drought that hit the state.

“The drought had a huge impact on the area of ​​commerce, on the level of tourism, the inn was very damaged, we had to close it and it is expected to remain closed until November, but we will see how this drought will go, probably, if there is no water until the end of November. mid-December, we will remain closed. We can’t open, because many of the things that are attractive are impossible, it’s just mud, we can’t receive tourists. We really had to close our doors and, unfortunately, several families were harmed here in the community, because it was through the inn that they received their livelihood”,

said the entrepreneur.

Adriana is one of the entrepreneurs and families assisted by the Sustainable Amazon Foundation (FAS), a non-profit civil society organization that works for the sustainable development of the Amazon through programs and projects in the areas of education and citizenship, health, empowerment, research and innovation, environmental conservation, community infrastructure, entrepreneurship and income generation.

The Foundation carries out a series of training and promotion actions, such as the “Tourism Laboratory”, in partnership with Accor Hotels, a digital course aimed at entrepreneurs, with classes that cover concepts of ecotourism, itinerary development, entrepreneurial management and journey of the tourist. The creation of business models and the use of digital tools for sales were also developed and, in this time of need, they articulate strategies to help support Amazonian families.

The manager of FAS’s Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Business Program in the Amazon (PENSA), Wildney Mourão, estimates that at least 10% of the inns’ expected revenue for the next few months, from the 12 projects that FAS supports in tourism, will be cancelled. According to the manager, around 320 tourists stopped visiting the communities, a loss of R$200,000 in gross revenue.

“Activities such as tourism, being very relevant in the region close to Manaus, handicrafts, gastronomy, being inherent activities, suffer a great impact. So, we can already anticipate that at least 10% of the revenue expected for the coming months of the inns, of the 12 projects that FAS supports in tourism, have already been canceled. We are talking about a loss of approximately 320 tourists who will stop coming to the communities this October and November. And this will generate around R$200,000 in gross revenue that the enterprises will no longer earn due to tourists no longer coming, due to logistical unfeasibility and the drought in the Amazon”,

says Wildney.

According to the Government of Amazonas, tourism injected more than R$420 million into the Amazonian economy in the first half of 2023. In total, 174 thousand tourists discovered the beauties of Amazonian tourism during this period.

The president of CS Rio Negro, who represents the 19 communities of the Rio Negro reserve, resident of the Saracá community, fisherman Sebastião Brito, reports that the various environmental problems make the 2023 drought worse than the historic one in 2010.

“The 2010 drought was very similar to the 2023 drought, but it has everything it takes to overcome this historic drought. Today, our Rio Negro has many banks of sand and mud, unlike in 2010, I see that nature brings this pile of sand. There is also the issue of fires, which are very worrying and affect the entire state of Amazonas and our communities”,

declares the leader of the communities.

In the period from January this year to October 24, 18 thousand hot spots were recorded in the State, of which 2.5 thousand were in the metropolitan region of Manaus. In October alone, so far, there have been 3,288 hot spots, more than double the same period last year, when 1,335 hot spots were reported.

For geographer Marcos Freitas, a researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), El Niño alone does not explain the situation on the Rio Negro. For him, there is evidence that the drought in Amazonas is related to global warming of the planet. This is because the rain in the Rio Negro region is formed mainly by the displacement of air masses coming not from the Pacific Ocean, but from the Atlantic.

Due to environmental damage, FAS has carried out strategic actions to help families. “In this first moment, our role is to contain the damage. It is largely in humanitarian aid, due to the isolation of communities. The ‘Amazonia Climate Alliance’ was created in partnership with other civil society organizations. The idea is to receive, at this first moment, donations of supplies, food, and other essential items to first carry out containment. And, after the return of the rains, which we believe will happen in December, we have a plan to be able to resume activities. We are now investigating the impacts of losses on tourism businesses to understand how to help them organize a positive agenda to rearrange dates with tourists who had already made prior appointments”, declared Wildney Mourão to In time.

The “Amazon Climate Alliance” is a citizen and collective movement to combat the effects of the climate crisis in the Amazon region. The initiative is mobilizing donations of essential items for those most affected by the drought. Created on October 3rd, the alliance is a FAS creation, which already has the support of 65 socio-environmental organizations and representatives of research centers in the Amazon region.

The initiative is mapping the areas most affected by drought in the Amazon to mobilize resources to provide food, drinking water, medicine, and other essential items for indigenous and traditional communities. Aliança Clima Amazônia has already served 119 families (595 people) in vulnerable situations in the state of Amazonas.

One of FAS’s strategies for entrepreneurs like Adriana de Siqueira is the postponement of appointments with tourists, to alleviate the damage inherent to this period.

“We are advising them not to cancel, but to negotiate with tourists to postpone this date. Make a deal. Those who have a contract, make a term extension agreement and those who have a verbal agreement, with advance payment, we advise that they enter into an agreement to carry out the trip on a date that is most comfortable for the tourist and for entrepreneurs, so that there is no greater loss for entrepreneurs who work in tourism, especially”,

explained Mourão.

Sustainable tourism developed in surrounding communities, rivers and forests is not only profitable for those who work directly in the sector. A chain of auxiliary activities, from transport to crafts and food, is busy, strengthening the local economy.

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