Competitiveness Factors of Tourist Train Operator in Brazil

Abstract

The Rail transport in Brazil, due to the priority given to the road modal, is concentrated in the movement of cargoes and the transfer of people in large urban centre. This condition leads to the rise of tourist trains, which, more than transporting people, are themselves tourist attractions. In this article, we propose to investigate the operators of the tourist trains, under the prism of competitiveness, a theme not yet treated from this perspective in the national literature, since the studies focus on the rail modal as an instrument of urban mobility. Thus, this study aims to understand which are the competitive factors that stand out in the tourist trains of Brazil. Through an exploratory research and qualitative approach, it was possible to raise a set of factors of competitiveness of rail tourism. The data were collected from bibliographical and documentary sources, complemented by an interview with the president of the Brazilian Association of Operators of Tourist and Cultural Trains. As a result, it was verified that, among the aspects pointed out in the literature, those that stand out in the Brazilian railroad tourism are mainly related to: singular aspects of the trains, of unpublished products, entrepreneurship of the operators and the relation with the competitors and innovation. This suggests that for such ventures specifically, competitiveness depends on comparative advantages of locations rather than strategies aimed at interacting proactively with the market.