Planejamento e gestão de turismo

1 2 a 14 de abril de 2010 1289 National Policy, this is the first time a tourism demand research takes place in a systematic and thorough way . The article presents, therefore, a study of the actual tourist demand of the destination for which To urism undergraduate students of UFVJM carried a survey (that had been previously tested) with 215 tourists in predetermined spots in the city chosen according to the yearly amount of visitors. The final number of validated forms numbered 185, and compounde d the random sample based on the number of visitor in each chosen site during the period of data collection. The results have been arranged in tables and graphs in order to be compared to future editions targeting the creation of historical data. The main goals of this article were compare theories used on Marketing and Tourism Planning disciplines and increase the participaton of the academy in the local tourism development, based on the research results, thus emphasising the importance of knowing the target consumers in order to develop local tourism in accordance to their carachteristics. The initial results reinforced some foreknown impressions and also brought some new information. It has been confirmed, for instance, that most of Diamantina visitors come from Belo Horizonte, in the weekends, with their families driving their own cars. However, in terms of image, it has been found out that people consider Diamantina as a cultural destination, in …