1For this purpose, we use studies by researchers of this theme, among them the work of Guerra et al (2006). Also important were data from some demographic censuses made available through IBGE – Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics[], especially the one from 2000 and some further updates of IBGE and Atlas of Human Development in Brazil []. It is important to note that 2010 census has not yet been updated with research data on the middle class, so that we have to work with demographic information already provided.

2From the use of these data it was possible to organize arguments and to map some phenomena related to the Brazilian middle class.

Current concepts and methodologies of research in Brazil

3The notion of middle class in Brazil has always been related to two definitive parameters : level of income and pattern of consumption. For this reason, it has been the target audience of several economic and strategic plans of development. However, nowadays there are different definitive parameters of the Brazilian population average social strata. The so-called “new middle class” is still to be conceptualized in a satisfactory manner and, therefore, studied in detail.

4For Neri et al (2008), middle class can be conceptualized in a variety of ways. He quotes the methodology used by the Brazilian Institute of Economy of Getúlio Vargas Foundation that classifies the country’s population into different categories (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D and E) according to the analysis of items such as income, consumption attitudes and expectations, among others (Table1).

Table1 : Social stratificationof Brazil : Average of family income in 2010

Stratum	Values in Reals
Stratum A1	R$ 12,926
Stratum A2	R$ 8,418
Stratum B1	R$ 4,418
Stratum B2	R$ 2,565
Stratum C1	R$ 1,541
Stratum C2	R$ 1,024
Stratum D	R$ 714
Stratum E	R$ 477

ABEP. Available at http://www.abep.org/​novo/​Default.aspx. Accessed on February 17th 2013. - Org : Portuguez (2013).

5Statistical data are generated from direct consultations with consumers and in general the Institute has observed that over the last 20 years Brazilians have improved their access to consumption, thus expanding the middle class. Judging from this methodology, the governmental reports that nowadays Brazil is rapidly getting close to 104 million individuals in the middle class, which corresponds to 53 % of the total of 194 million inhabitants (estimated for December 2012). Thus, if the Brazilian middle class were an independent country, it would have the twelfth largest population in the world [].

6In fact there has been a considerable improvement in social indicators of Brazil since the 90’s. Authors like Moraes and Franco (2010) state that during this decade many were the factors that caused an outbreak of economic prosperity to the country. They mention, for instance, the exchange rate unification of several dollar quotations in 1993 and “Plano Real“ that stabilized the national currency and inflation from 1994 on. However, one must consider that the methodology used to identify class C is based on indicators that are appropriate for the Brazilian peoples’ standard of living, so that this social stratum is not like the European and/or North American middle class strata. Comparatively, class C would be rather modest if compared with main capitalist countries equivalent stratum.

7Nevertheless, the scenario is characteristic of a situation of social mobility, where families rise from one social stratum to higher one. Neri et al (2008) estimated that class C increased 22.8 % from April 2004 to April 2008. During this same period, classes A and B also showed impressive growth (36.6 %). For these authors, even considering class C to be less fortunate than developed countries middle class average income, one should take into consideration the income enhancement occurred among the country’s elite stratum. This growth has been reflected in tourism sector statistics, according to monthly researches that Getúlio Vargas Foundation has carried out for the Ministry of Tourism :

[…] in December 2011 34 % of Brazilian families responded affirmatively to the Consumer’s Intention to Travel Survey. In 2010, the rate had been lower : 29.7 % of respondents said they intended to get to know other places. One conclusion of the study is that tourism market, if well explored, can ensure the success of those who invest on this niche. From 2007 to 2010, the segment registered an increase of 16 %, with 50 million Brazilian travelling in the period. Positive numbers excite the hospitality industry, travel agents and operators who have taken advantage of the Brazilian economy as a good moment to attract class C. For the Brazilian Association of Tourism Operators’ (Braztoa) director of communication Luiz Filipe Fortunato […] it is on class C that the sector should focus to achieve the 10 % growth estimated for this year [2012]. Although it is a lower forecast compared to 2011 – when expansion reached 20 % – Fortunato points out that the market will keep on being driven by the new class C C.[]

8Another argument often used by the federal government to exalt social mobility verified in Brazil is the improvement of the Human Development Index (HDI), which is a comparative measure used to classify countries by their development grade using criteria related to extra-economic factors. According to the United Nations Development Programme [], the body responsible for calculating the HDI, in the period between 1997 and 2004 there was a positive impact in Brazil’s position that currently presents an HDI value between medium and high, adding 0.718 points on a scale that goes from zero to 1. Therefore, it is ranked 84th among the 187 nations evaluated (PNUD/Brasil, 2011).

9Academic research has frequently recorded a series of difficulties scholars face as they tackle the theme “middle class” : reliability of official data, lack of support for current studies, conceptual complexity, among others. However, very interesting studies have appeared, bringing advancements in the understanding of the issue.

10In this paper we have adopted as statistical reference the studies of Guerra et al (2006) from which we elaborated some maps to represent middle class spatial distribution and also to link this location to the development of tourist activity in the countryside. As they elaborated in the first Atlas of Brazil’s social stratification, Guerra et al (2006, p. 16) they conceptualized middle class as “a demographic set that, although not very properly, is distinguished by high and intermediary positions, both in social-occupational structure and personal distribution of income and wealth”. Therefore, for these authors, middle class could be perceived as a social stratum with authority, buying power and social status.

11With this assumption, the authors considered that this demographic segment could not be taken as homogenous, once it is made up of individuals with different sources of income and earnings. They posited the existence of a high middle class, an intermediary middle class and a low middle class. To elaborate the study that gave rise to the Atlas, the authors turned to historical and demographic data and organized them from three basic premises : a) functional definition and social-occupational structure ; b) Demographic stratum located between the highest 40 % of national wealth distribution (6.5 to 72.7 national minimum wage) and c) intermediary segment of the national consumption structure.

12These authors carried out a more comprehensive study that those done in Brazil, once they took into consideration elements that go beyond income (which characterizes the already conceptualized class C). However, it becomes clear that even by broadening the scope of variables for the study of middle class, the authors were not able to break with the economic approaches to the issue.

13The Brazilian academy is still expecting a methodology of analysis also based on subjective and cultural elements, not only economic ones. The economic approach is in fact very practical, applicable and with data collection more easily facilitated. However, there are other factors defining the middle class that could be taken into consideration. Hence the need, for instance, for broadening quality of life analyses that include non-objective elements for its comprehension.

Brazilian middle class spatial distribution

14According to data from the 2000 Demographic Census analyzed by Guerra et al (2006), and further updating of the IBGE database [], the majority of cities with high concentration of middle class families are located in South and Southeast regions of Brazil, that together comprise 57 % of the country’s middle class families (figure 4).

15Only the State of São Paulo concentrates 33.8 % of all national middle class families while States like Acre, Amapá and Roraima have very low rates, around 0.2 % each. These extremes were presented in figure 1 and clearly show the heterogeneous and unequal character of middle class spatial concentration.

16This chart is reflected in Brazilian domestic tourism movements. By studying the profile of trips made due to real demand of national domestic tourism in 2011, the Ministry of Tourism concluded :

17The four Southeastern States are those who send and receive the largest number of visitors in the country. The region participates with 40.8 % of emissive and 36.5 % receptive visits out of a total of 191 million domestic trips made in 2011. Data are provided by the Study of Domestic Tourist Demand in Brazil, carried out by the Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the Economic Researches Institute Foundation (Fipe). Tourists from the Southeast have as favorite destination the States of the region. São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo receive 29 % of local visitors. The second region of destination for this group is the Northeast that receives 5.2 % of the flow, followed by the South with 3.4 %. The mid-west, with 2.8 %, and the North, with 0.4 %, are those that receive the least tourists from the Southeast region. “The research shows that in the universe of domestic trips, short-distance ones predominate”, explains the Ministry of Tourism director of Studies and Researches, José Francisco Salles Lopes. According to him, 73 % of flows occur within the regions themselves, and 51 % within the States [].

18In this sense, percentages related to tourists’ spatial movement resemble those established by Guerra et al (2006) for Brazilian middle class regional distribution (figure 1).

19However, these data are wide, general, and do not show in detail what truly happens within each State. To get an idea of it in detail, we elaborated figure 2, the continuation that shows the location of 415 Brazilian cities with larger concentration of middle class compared to their population. It is important to clarify that cities located in regions west of axis A_B of figure 2. have large territorial dimensions, but the majority of their population is located in urban areas.

20The coastline and countryside larger concentration was one of the fragmentation factors of the South, Southeast and Northeast States in most cities. Obviously this factor must not be considered the most important one, nor even taken in isolation to justify the existence of smaller cities in the country’s east zone. However, along with economic and political issues, population high density contributed to transformation of many city districts into new towns politically independent.

21Organization : Portuguez (2012).

22Nowadays, Brazil has 5,566 cities, so, 415 of them correspond to 7.45 % of all Brazilian cities. The majority of the mapped set plays an important role in regional and/or national economic dynamics, and is linked to the most diverse productive activities : agriculture, industry, commerce, specialized services, mining and many others, including tourism.

23Some important points for analysis arise here. To start with, it is important to say that Brazil’s coastline has always been historically the most populated area in the country. And mass tourism specializes in the coastal region as well as in cities located in areas close to the sea (up to approximately 200 km from the coast). The State capitals are also important tourist centres, particularly those of Northeast-Southeast-South axis. However, with the migration of middle class individuals to the countryside, a new series of social demands arises, imposing on the State the duty of investing in infrastructure, as well as incentives to the business sector.

24However, against this logic, some indicators reveal that public and private investments have not been followed by countryside middle class growth, focusing still today on the perception of development territorially concentrated on the coastline. It is, for instance, the case of airports for civilian use in Brazil. Figure 3 shows that airports of greater investment in 2011 still follow the logic of spatial distribution based on a high concentration of users in States capitals and coastal regions of influence.

25While bus terminals are more “democratic”, existing in almost all cities in the country and serving all social strata, airports are used by a specific profile of users : those of middle and high class. However, over the last ten years, as the Brazilian middle class has increased, the aviation industry has been under enormous pressure and airports are in a constant crisis of overcrowding due to the fact they were built to attend to an inferior demand.

26It is believed that in a near future, if this current scenario of social mobility remains, the airport infrastructure will be forced to open up to the market and to provide facilities in countryside cities, particularly those of tourist value.

The process of population and middle class internalisation and its consequences on tourism

27As we have seen, there is in Brazil a significant number of non-coastal cities included among those that have sizable numbers of middle class families. But this movement of hinterland middle class growth is not an isolated event in our historical-territorial context. As any social phenomenon of geographic importance, it is based on historical processes that contextualize their logic.

28Since the 1980s, Brazil’s countryside has been through very significant transformations reflecting directly on the formation of a new population profile. Evidently the pace of intensification of countryside cities on the national scale is very heterogeneous. While some grow rapidly, others take more time and their technical complexities are more fragile and less articulated. However, for purposes of this paper, the national scale will be considered as a whole, which takes the focus off specifics in favour of a global view of the national territory.

29According to Neri et al (2008), besides the reduction of economic inequalities already described, it is worth mentioning that over the last decade there has been considerable rise in the availability of jobs, so that currently the economic active population unemployment rate oscillates between 5.5 and 6 %. Informal work has evolved towards greater formalization and these factors combined with distribution of income public policies has created a larger consumer mass comprised by families which ascended to class C.

30Recent studies carried out by Portuguez and Pelisson (2012) show that the job availability is an essential factor for the understanding of Brazil’s countryside tourism dynamism. The highest occupancy rate has been reflected not only on the number of trips to regional destinations, but also has allowed greater expenses of families with parties, nightlife, entertainment and recreational use. For these authors, this possibility of inclusion in domestic tourism has been expanding remarkably, even to the stratum D of Brazilian population.

31Contradictorily, more jobs do not mean good jobs. In most of the country wages are still very low, there is lack of labour specialization, working conditions are poor and families’ debt levels are quite high.

32As for internal migrations, mid-sized cities of the Brazilian countryside have proved attractive to many families by offering lower cost of living than metropolitan regions, particularly the coastal ones. The factors that lead people to live in the countryside are many and mentioning them all is a hard task. However, some of them deserve to be mentioned, only as examples : less real-estate pressure, lower violence rates, less chaotic traffic ; better environmental quality, expansion of jobs, and investment on public services, among others. It is noteworthy that, no matter how much the countryside may appear attractive to families who aspire a quieter life with more quality, it is the job offer that has been producing population settlement in countryside mid-sized cities.

33The first decade of the twentieth century was marked by a significant restructuring in public to services, including all levels : municipal, state and federal. Through tenders, many jobs were offered for several positions and government levels. With this, more technically qualified personnel envisaged in the countryside the possibility of living better and having work stability. As a one-off example, one can mention the expansion of vacancies offer for study and qualification in Universities and Federal Institutes of Technical and Higher Education (IFES and Ifetes). This caused a significant number of professors, researchers, administrative staff and students to settle in countryside cities, both in new institutions headquarters and towns where advanced campi were created.

34The highest level of education verified over the last demographic censuses has contributed to capital’s internalization. This is a complex process that is self-powered : a more effective presence of companies in the countryside increases job offer. And this offer increases population’s income that, in turn, to more consumption. Moraes and Franco (2010) remember that with industrial decentralization of some metropolitan regions (São Paulo is the most emblematic case) part of industrial plants moved to the State countryside and other corners of the country. The same has happened with the installation of new producing units in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and the northeast of Brazil. With this, part of the Brazilian population had to reorganize itself in order to reach the marketplace, accelerating the migration process all over the country.

35Part of it explains the emergence of mid-sized cities and/or with regional sub-centrality functions. For several types of economic sectors, it is difficult to insert production into global or even national market due to Brazil’s large territorial extension. Thus, local and regional markets can be important for less pretentious entrepreneurs, and the middle class stands as a possibility of reaching the market.

36Countryside tourism can also benefit from this movement. A clear example refers to event and business tourism, whose demand is strongly related to scientific production and market dynamics. Consolidated tourist cities such as Foz do Iguaçu (PR), for instance, and even some less developed ones such as those from São Paulo countryside and Minas Triangle, are attracting important events and trade flows, which allows them to boost hotel, gastronomic, leisure and nightlife, among others.

37In a report entitled “IBGE data appoint that the country’s population increases towards the countryside”, Folha de São Paulo newspaper, one of the most respected mass medias in Brazil, stated on August 31st 2012 that :

38Data [from IBGE] show that cities that mostly grew over the last three measurement periods (2000-2012) were those with populations between 100 thousand and 500 thousand inhabitants. According to the Institute, these data reveal “that Brazil’s population dynamism keeps on following new routes, particularly towards the countryside” (Folha de São Paulo)[].

39As one can observe in table 2, small-sized cities (less than 20 thousand inhabitants) had demographic loss or maintained a stable number of inhabitants. On the other hand, mid-sized cities (from 50 to 500 thousand inhabitants) presented significant growth.

Table 2 : Annual growth rates of Brazilian cities between 2000 and 2012

Population density	Percentage of growth
< 10000	-0.677%
10001 a 20000	0.0%
20001 a 50000	0.873%
50001 a 100000	0.689%
100001 a 200000	1.786%
200001 a 500000	2.081%
500001 a 1000000	1.606%
> 1000000	1.648%

Adapted from Folha de São Paulo. Available at http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/​cotidiano/​1146250-dados-do-ibge-apontam-que-populacao-do-pais-cresce-rumo-ao-interior.shtml. Accessedon February 17th 2013. Org. : Portuguez (2013).

40In other words, Brazilian middle class, besides being eminently urban, has been concentrating in cities with over 50 thousand inhabitants, particularly those better structured, with job offer and consumption and leisure opportunities, access to education and other services.

41Countryside middle class growth and its spatial distribution were factors taken into consideration by the Federal Government as it designed many public policies through Mintur – the Ministry of Tourism, once one of its goals during the last decade was to expand the number of trips through incentives given to domestic tourist demand. A good example of these policies was the implementation of the Tourism Regionalization Programme – Brazil’s Tours by-then President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva [] during the last period of his term (2007-2010).

42All Federative Units carried out a complex mapping of their cities, capable of creating tourist zones within which tours would be created to promote and stimulate this sector. At a national scale, 276 tourist regions were created, from all 27 Federative Units. According to Portuguez and Oliveira (2011, pg. 240) the Programme included 3,635 cities, which might be questionable from a market point of view, since there is not enough demand to ensure sustainable flow for such a number of destinations. Figure 4. shows spatial distribution of Brazilian tourist regions.

43Indeed, middle class internalization has not been enough to ensure consumption demand for all cities that comprised the tourist regions suggested. This is due to several factors ; one of them, notably, is that the majority of domestic tourism potential demand (with capacity for long commuting) still prefers the country coastline as destination for vacations and trips. Brazilians prefer travelling to specific destinations so that these circuits that integrate many cities have not satisfactorily developed[].

44The growth of alternative tourism, (place-based, endogenous, etc.) that came in the wake of the sustainability discourse that emerged in the 1990s can also be mentioned as factor that influenced capital’s internalization, State actions, population settlement and attraction for middle class individuals and families. The city of Bonito (MS) studied by Mariani (2004) and the central mountain region of the State of Espírito Santo studied by Portuguez (1999), are two good examples of countryside destinations emerging at that time. Serra Gaúcha, in my opinion, is one of the best examples, configuring even a regional cluster (Beni, 2012).

45In Bonito, ecotourism was the city’s engine of development and even for neighbouring cities, such as Jardim and Bodoquena. In Espírito Santo, during the 1990s, the Agrotourism State Programme became the most effective public policy of that State, invigorating several countryside and (at that time little known) cities.

The Middle class and local/regional dynamics

46As already mentioned, the middle class is the social stratum upon which capitalism’s economic framework is built – in wide sense – and tourism– in a strict sense. Commonly, when one speaks about tourist demand, it refers to the middle class, once the planning of this activity to an average stratum of public consumer (potential) allows some offer simplification in order to meet the needs of less fortunate profiles, as well as the sophistication of services, in order to serve more demanding ones.

47In a previous study (Portuguez, 2001) we already stated that the Brazilian middle class presents an interesting data when compared to the demographic area equivalent in other countries of the central (or developed) world. Traditionally, European and North-American middle classes have in fact buying power. In Brazil, however, since the economic stabilization provided by Plano Real in the 1990s, the weak buying power has been to a large extent offset by the expansion of the availability of personal credit.

48Even paying stratospheric interest rates, the Brazilian consumer, by having easier access to credit, consumes a wide variety of goods and services, paying the expenses in monthly instalments and thus having access to several products that, if it were not for this mechanism, would be unreachable for his/her level of income. Tourism has benefited from the development of this credit system that allows payment in many instalments (8, 10, 12 months), therefore influencing the growth in number of trips.

49According to Beni (2007), studies of potential demand usually take into consideration the type of tourist who could get interested in the product that is represented and offered. In this sense, although the target audience of certain recreation and tourist activities has very specific characteristics, two aspects are always common : financial (or credit) availability and availability of free time to travel. From this perspective, the middle class is always mentioned as target audience of promotion campaigns for destination attractions.

50In the Brazilian case, recent studies show that regional destinations are the most popular ones, both because they are cheap and make trips to be more profitable for those who have little free time.

51At universities, the conclusion of several studies also point to the consolidation of short and economical trips. The increase of the middle class in the countryside of Brazilian territory, both through social mobility and migration processes has triggered a series of consumer strongholds which, over time, convert themselves in potential demand for regional opportunities, especially for modalities of tourism related to rural areas, recreational fishing, religious tourism, ecotourism and others. Thus, this social stratum has made possible the consolidation of both tourist destinations of big business, and small cities, where flows are small, but represent increasing income in the local scale.

52Those who live in mid-sized cities have ensured the profitability of little known and little publicized destinations in national scale, but there are important possibilities of recreation and short length tours, especially on weekends and holidays. As examples of studies that point to this finding, include Santos (2010), Pelisson and Portuguez (2012) and Geraldo (2012). However, it is important to highlight that each case has localized specifics and the reality lived by a certain destination may not be reproduced in another for there are local and regional factors that influence middle class consumption and recreation habits. The existence of good traffic conditions and access can be mentioned as a good example.

53But it is not only external middle class that sustains the tourist opportunities of a certain destination. In the case of some more structured touristic cities, usually those with over 100 thousand inhabitants, consumption and leisure offers of most destinations depend largely on the existence of a local middle class that assures local companies make profits, so that they may serve tourists during the busiest seasons.

54In other words, the high seasonality that is usually seen in Brazilian tourist dynamics also affects countryside cities. Therefore, it is not a typical coastal phenomenon ; it is a characteristic of Brazilian tourism as a whole, and most tourism worldwide (Rodrigues, 1997).

55And it is within this scenario that the existence of an equivalent (or superior) consumer class can make much difference, especially in destinations still being structured and consolidated.

56In the case of cities with very small middle class numbers, such as Cachexia Dourada de Minas, one can observe that during high season, business services find themselves open and fully functioning, but they close during times of the year with lower presence of visitors. This occurs with ice-cream parlours, beverage distributors, restaurants, snack bars and other kinds of business ventures (Pelisson and Portuguez, 2012).

57However, when local consumer class is larger, these ventures can be kept open, once there is a minimum frequency capable of ensuring profitability in local commerce. Figure 5, the continuation, shows preferential clientele of sectors directly and indirectly related to tourism.

58Figure 5 shows that consumer classes, besides tourists, consumes services of several ventures related to the tourist trade, especially shopping centres, restaurants, cinemas, nightclubs, theatres and others[]. Once these services and trades remain open throughout the year, there is the possibility of actions to reduce seasonality, for a municipality would not take the risk of attracting visitors for the low season without having the wherewithal to feed them, accommodate them properly and without counting on entertainment opportunities.

59In other words, what is very clear is that although there are mature destinations that really live on financial help from tourists, this is not the case of most touristic cities located in countryside areas of Brazil. In the majority of little-known destinations, a shopping centre cannot depend basically on tourists to operate. It is necessary to have a sufficient local consumer mass, capable of promoting economic development so that the venture keeps going under profitable conditions. If these conditions exist, tourists will be able to enjoy this kind of offer during their visits.

Conclusion

60As a result of the scenario exposed and discussed in this paper, we conclude that the concept “middle class” is quite complex and usually coined from two very remarkable positions : sociological and economic ones. From a sociological point of view, the notion of middle class is present in a wide range of studies related both to social inequalities and the constitution of the so-called society of classes. From an economic point of view, middle class has been studied from a series of statistical data, often related to income, level of insertion into the marketplace, consumption and access to credit.

61In Brazil, official data related to middle class studies follow mainly an economic bias, especially from the elaboration of the country’s level of income current stratification, which raises a large intermediary social class between poorer and richer strata of the Brazilian population. Obviously there is no comparison between the Brazilian middle class and those of core countries of capitalism, for in developed nations criteria of analysis are quite different from those created in Brazil.

62We observe that Brazil’s economic history has historical-procedural data that explain the large concentration of Brazilian population on the country’s coastline and in areas of the territory close to it. However, over time, a significant number of mid-sized cities are emerging in the countryside and, since the 90’s, they have received an influx of middle class families due to domestic migration flows and social mobility.

63Lastly, it should be pointed that this larger concentration of middle class families in the countryside has contributed to the growth and consolidation of very important tourist destinations for regional economies, although they are host centres little-known by the market and by big business. With the current trend of Brazilian middle class consolidation and its gradual internalization, regional tourism may be one of the sectors benefited, for its economic reproduction depends largely on this social stratum.