Fernando de Noronha: limit to tourists generates criticism – 01/05/2023 – Tourism

The limitation on the number of visitors, provided for in the new shared management agreement for Fernando de Noronha, has generated criticism from owners of inns and hotels. The new cooperation format of the federal and Pernambuco governments, however, should not bring practical impacts on tourist access, except for capacity.

The agreement, in effect since approval in March, is currently being regulated by the federal and state governments.

One of the points that could have an impact on tourism is the limitation to 11,000 tourists per month and 132,000 per year for visiting the archipelago. This part of the agreement generates criticism from hotel and inn owners.

In 2022, Fernando de Noronha received 149,800 people, a record. São Paulo was the champion with 30,532 tourists, followed by Pernambuco, with 10,199, and Rio de Janeiro, with 9,302 visitors. The Marine National Park received a total of 129,000 people.

Residents of Fernando de Noronha heard by the Sheetthe majority under reservation, say they were sidelined in the elaboration of the new shared management agreement for the archipelago, which replaces the previous agreement, from 2002, in which the Union ceded to Pernambuco the task of managing Fernando de Noronha.

The approval put an end to a plot started in March 2022 by then-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL). At the time, the Advocacy General of the Union filed a request with the STF to give the Union control of the archipelago on the grounds that the state management had failed to comply with the terms of the agreement in vogue.

The 1988 Constitution provides that Fernando de Noronha belongs to the state of Pernambuco.

Hotel and inn owners criticize the rule for limiting tourists until a capacity study with sustainability indicators is carried out. For them, in more demanding months, such as the summer period, there could be greater flexibility.

The argument is that the equal distribution penalizes periods of greater presence of tourists and increases idle vacancies in moments without massive presence of outsiders.

Innkeeper Dora Costa believes that the recommended number was taken based on the potential number of daily tourists in Noronha, around 360, due to the available beds. “We don’t know where that number came from.”

Hayrton Almeida, president of the Tourism Council of Noronha, complained, in an audience at the Legislative Assembly, about the distribution of the number of visitors. For him, “seasonality was not taken into account”.

“There are periods of low season on the island, as is happening in the month of April, when inns are less than 30% occupied. Some of these establishments have closed,” he said, according to shorthand notes from the Legislative Assembly.

The state secretary for the Environment and Fernando de Noronha, Ana Luiza Ferreira, argues that the limitation prioritizes environmental sustainability, not economic factors. “It was a technical and environmental analysis carried out by the ICMBio team of what Noronha holds without compromising sustainability.”

A Sheet it also found that there are no changes on the radar in relation to the fee paid for access to the archipelago. The amount is currently R$ 92.89 per day and can be paid online. To access the Marine National Park, by the way, you have to shell out another R$ 179.

The docking of cruises has not changed and continues without government signaling for it to be released. Fernando de Noronha has not received tourist ships since 2013, after 23 consecutive years of release. The change happened because the place needs to follow strict criteria for environmental preservation.

“I was disappointed because the government [federal] didn’t even come here to listen to us. I should have come here sooner. Now they are trying to explain what the deal is. The population is upset”, says Caco Valença, owner of a restaurant on the island.

Ana Luiza Ferreira, the secretary, says that popular listening is not possible in the initial phase of the agreement, but with the elaboration of the management plan, which will regulate the guidelines according to the attribution of each entity involved.

State deputy Waldemar Borges (PSB), one of the authors of the request for a public hearing on the new agreement last month, believes that the federal and state governments were wrong. “The freezing of the island’s urban area would need a previous study to back it up. The population grows vegetatively, so this seems like a mistake”, he says.

Under the responsibility of the government of Pernambuco is one of the points of concern for visitors and residents of Noronha: the airport. The terminal has been subject to restrictions for jet aircraft since October 2022. Thus, commercial operations have been carried out by propeller planes.

Anac (National Civil Aviation Agency) imposed the measure alleging degradation of the quality level of the runway at the airport terminal.

The work was estimated to take 12 months to complete, when it started in December 2022. Secretary Ana Luiza Ferreira believes in the deadline being brought forward, but says that there is difficulty in transporting the material for the requalification of the runway.

Fernando de Noronha airport is managed by a company via a state concession. In the new agreement, this format follows. In addition, the management of the urban and historic-cultural zone and the port also rests with the state government.

The report contacted ICMBio, but the agency did not appoint a professional from the Noronha National Park to attend to the request. Sheet.