"Essa experiência na Chapada dos Veadeiros transformou minha vida": viajantes em busca espiritual na natureza, estudo sobre Alto Paraíso de Goiás (2021)
Authors: Borges Amanda Alves 
Published: May 2022

Tourism in spiritual search has been considered one of the new trends in travel. An increasing number of people fleeing the urban centers towards nature, as it is believed to stimulate spiritual experiences, and, when in abundance, tends to attract spiritual travelers. However, Spiritual Tourism has little visibility in tourisms academic environment of the area, therefore, the present research aims to contribute to the strengthening of the scientific thinking of this segment, which covers a wide range of motivations. In this context, the research problem emerged: what are the motivations of travelers in spiritual search in nature? For this purpose, a geographic cut was made to delimit the general objective, which was to identify the motivations of spiritual travelers in Alto Paraíso de Goiás, in Chapada dos Veadeiros. This dissertation adopted a qualitative methodology, phenomenological approach, based on bibliographic and exploratory research. Initially, a bibliometric study was carried out with 92 scientific works on the Spiritual Tourism segment, and a survey with 50 Brazilian spiritual travelers through Google Forms. In a second moment, for the case study, fieldwork, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews were carried out with 30 stakeholders and 10 spiritual travelers from Alto Paraíso. To process the information, content analysis was used through the IRAMUTEQ and MAXQDA software. As for the results, through the bibliometric study, 26 countries and 54 places/communities/practices/rituals were detected. In the exploratory research carried out with 50 Brazilian spiritual travelers, 30 countries were identified, 38 specific locations in the world, and 55 locations in Brazil. Among these places, many natural areas were cited, it is concluded that nature sustains spiritual health, while spiritual awareness sustains nature, through sustainable practices and environmental awareness, in this way, Spiritual Tourism has the potential to contribute to the sustainability of destinations. The spiritual territory of Alto Paraíso has many conflicts of interests, mystical legends, and the sacredness of the Cerrado runs through the collective imagination, the myth of untouched nature, an idyllic image of (Alto) Paraíso, of a therapeutic nature, where the occupied territory is consecrated, but not so protected, as agribusiness increasingly wants to invade. In total, 26 motivations of the spiritual travelers of Alto Paraíso were identified, being 17 internal motivations and 9 external motivations. The most mentioned motivations were contact with nature, well-being, peace of mind, transformation, personal growth, mental rest, self-knowledge, psychological balance, and connection with people who transmit knowledge. These travelers feel peace, welcome, and freedom, among other feelings that provide mental, emotional, and physical health in nature. They see God in an amorphous way, they believe that God is nature, that nature is sacred. For them, spirituality is something intrinsic in everyday life, but travel in nature provides teachings and new perspectives, contributing to the awakening of consciousness, a sense of uniqueness, and spiritual connection, connecting them with your interior. In the end, contributions and limitations of this dissertation were listed, as well as suggestions for future research.