The Jericoacoara National Park in Ceará was granted to private enterprise for R$ 61 million in an auction held on Friday (26) in São Paulo. The winner was the Dunas Consortium, with a fixed concession offer of R$ 61 million ($ 12 million) and a premium of 716.32%. The group is composed of the company Cataratas, which already manages the parks of Iguazu Falls and Fernando de Noronha, and also Construcap, in the civil construction sector. Structured by BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), the notice with details of the concession was published in October 2023 by ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation), amid questions from environmentalists and local residents. Jericoacoara is 370 km from the capital Fortaleza.
The concession guarantees free access to the park for people enrolled in CadÚnico, following a request by the government of Ceará in 2023. The new concession contract establishes the maximum amount to be charged from visitors per day, ranging from R$ 50 in the first year to R$ 120 from the fifth year of the concession. The entrance fee will only be charged to visitors to the Jericoacoara National Park. Residents, regular visitors, and workers in the region, children up to six years old, students and teachers for environmental education activities, researchers, public security officers, tourist guides, and registered visitor guides will be exempt from paying the fee.
Currently, park visits are free. However, tourists from the region pay the so-called Sustainable Tourism Tax, collected by the Municipality of Jijoca de Jericoacoara. Each visitor must pay R$ 41.50 to stay for up to ten days. With the concession, tourists entering Jijoca de Jericoacoara will need to pay for both the municipal tax and the park entrance fee.