Programa de Parcerias de InvestimentosPPI

Created by Decree No. 86,060 of June 2, 1981, the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park covers an area of ​​156,608 hectares inserted in the eastern coast region of Maranhão, has a regular coastline and has part of its extension covered by a vast area of ​​sand dunes. It is located in three municipalities of Maranhão, which have structure for reception and driving visitors: Barreirinhas, Santo Amaro and Primeira Cruz.

The National Park has been growing in recent years as a tourist attraction, from 16,800 visitors in 2006 to 126,454 in 2018. The municipality of Barreirinhas is today the main gateway for ecotourism in the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. The municipality of Santo Amaro do Maranhão has been considered an alternative route to the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park and has been of increasing importance, especially with regard to adventure tourism. With the recent asphalting of this access, Santo Amaro will become the bordering location of the Park with the easiest access from São Luís, the capital of Maranhão, and a large increase in visitation through the Santo Amaro Portal is expected. The municipality of Primeira Cruz, although it is outside the tourism development associated with the Park, has potential related to the structuring of nautical activities, which in the future will have a strategic function to increase the permanence of tourists at the pole.

The region of Lençóis Maranhenses has been widely published in national and international itineraries. The promotion of the region as a tourist destination has been made by the federal, state and municipal governments that see tourism as a viable economic alternative for the region.

The qualification of the Park in the PPI, made by the Council through Resolution nº 79 of August 21st, 2019, has the objective of making the concession of the public service to support visitation, as well as services to support the conservation, protection and management of the conservation unit.