Mining tourism in Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto is surrounded by a rich and varied natural
environment with waterfalls, hiking trails and native vegetation
partially protected as state parks. Parts of these resources are
used for tourism. Paradoxically, this ecosystem contrasts with the
human occupation of the region that produced, after centuries, a
rich history and a cultural connection to mining, its oldest
economic activity which triggered occupation. The region has an
unlimited potential for tourism, especially in specific segments
such as mining heritage tourism, in association or not with the
existing ecotourism market. In fact, in Ouro Preto, tourism,
history, geology and mining are often hard to distinguish; such is
the inter-relationship between these segments.
For centuries, a major problem of mining has been the reuse of
the affected areas. Modern mining projects proposed solutions to
this problem right from the initial stages of operation, which did
not happen until recently. As a result, most quarries and other
old mining areas that do not have an appropriate destination
represent serious environmental problems. Mining tourism
utilizing exhausted mines is a source of employment and income.
Tourism activities may even contribute to the recovery of
degraded areas in various ways, such as reforestation for leisure
purposes, or their transformation into history museums where
aspects of local mining are interpreted.
Minas Gerais, and particularly Ouro Preto, provides the strong
and rich cultural and historical content needed for the
transformation of mining remnants into attractive tourism
products, especially when combined with the existing cultural
tourism of the region. Although mining tourism is explored in
various parts of the world in extremely different social, economic,
cultural and natural contexts, in Brazil it is still not a strategy
readily adopted as an alternative for areas affected by mining
activities.
(Lohmann, G. M.; Flecha, A. C.; Knupp, M. E. C. G.; Liccardo, A.
(2011). Mining tourism in Ouro Preto, Brazil: opportunities and
challenges. In: M. V. Conlin; L. Jolliffe (eds). Mining heritage and
tourism: a global synthesis. New York: Routledge, pp. 194-202.)
The problem referred to in “solutions to this problem” (l. 14-15) is:
