Celebrations and local development in Cachoeira, Bahia

Abstract: Cachoeira, a historic town among the most culturally expressive cities of the Recôncavo da Bahia, it is also known for the many celebrations it holds every year. This city makes celebrations to promote the cultural tourism, realize its potentialities and stimulate its economy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the local development of Cachoeira, which is also promoted with the celebrations. This study adopts a procedural approach to the history and the social and economic reality of Cachoeira, in addition to participant observation in its daily life and, above all, June celebrations in the last four years (2016-2019). It was verified that Cachoeira is experiencing a new economic dynamism, with significant social advances, with less dependence on external resources and a growing local capacity to promote investments based on own resources. It is concluded that cultural tourism, based on the promotion of festive events, has been one of the most important bases of local development in Cachoeira.