Ilhéus, a terra da Gabriela cravo e canela: de espaço do cacau a espaço do turismo

This work analyses the sociospatial changes in the city called Ilheus starting in the 1990’s when there was a serious crisis in the regional productive sector based on cacao crops and, coincidentaly, the valorization of the touristic activity in Brazil, key reason of a visible reframing of tourism all over the cacao region. As a main objective, this work intends to understand the various processes that guided Ilheus, city that was developed linked to the fields, to change from cacao space to touristic site. To reach our goal, interviews and documentary researches were made. The text begins with a historic degression about the process of production and sociospatial reproduction of Ilheus, dating the 18th century, when the first samplings of cacao got to Ilheus. This research revealed that in face of the crisis and the unsuccessful attempts to revitalize cacao plantations, the tourism, activity so far left as a second option, started its journey as an item of interest of private businesses and public power. That due to the necessity of rebuilding regional economy.