Jericoacoara's rustic charm is real, and 1.3 million visitors are a warning

What happens to a "secret village" when 1.3 million people have the secret? Jericoacoara, in Ceará, is finding out. Its rustic architecture, its beaches and its migrating dunes, reached by unpaved tracks, are exactly the picture that sells it, and exactly what is at risk.

The numbers are in. According to Trends CE, Jericoacoara National Park received 1.3 million tourists in 2025. The year before, the municipality of Jijoca de Jericoacoara celebrated that the park had more than 1.2 million visits, making it the third most visited national park in Brazil, according to ICMBio. The local government framed that as a historic achievement.

Big numbers are not a victory when the village can't grow

We would not pop the champagne. The village sits surrounded by the national park, which, as the site Entre Parques notes, means it cannot expand. A fixed footprint with rising visitors is simple arithmetic: something gives. Usually it is the thing people came for.

An academic study offers the sharpest evidence. A paper in the journal Mercator, by D. P. de Paula, estimates the village's carrying capacity using conditions from 2019. Its conclusion is blunt: current visitation exceeds the real and effective capacity, even in a hypothetical scenario with a 20% cut in tourist flow. That last detail matters. Trimming a fifth is not enough, by the author's own model. Carrying-capacity methods are estimates and can be debated, but when the optimistic scenario still fails, the direction is hard to argue with.

The charm is physical, and physical things wear out

Rustic charm feels like a design choice, but it is really a fragile condition. The study lists groundwater pollution, advancing dunes and changes to the village's physical and human character as problems often caused by demand beyond its physical capacity. Another paper points to disorderly flows of people and vehicles inside the park, which it ties to a lack of monitoring and control of visits.

Nature has already sent a signal. According to Entre Parques, car and buggy traffic along the shoreline drove sea turtles away, and they reappeared in 2020 and 2021, when visitation was restricted during the pandemic. In our view, that is the most persuasive argument for limits anyone could make. Turtles came back when we left them alone. Jericoacoara evokes the sea turtle's burrow, according to the same source.

It also sits uneasily with the municipality's claim that the destination promotes sustainable tourism. Perhaps it intends to. But intention is not a cap.

Cap it, charge it, and spend the money where the damage is

So what should happen? Our recommendation has three parts.

First, set a visitor ceiling based on a proper carrying-capacity study, updated beyond 2019 data, and enforce it. Researchers conclude that the village needs coordination among government, the local community and the tourism sector. We agree, and we would add that someone must hold the pen on a single number.

Second, follow the money. Entre Parques reports that entry to the village is controlled and charged, but that not even a small share reaches ICMBio for conservation. If that still holds after that 2022 report, it is a design flaw, not a detail. Fees should fund the agency doing trail repair and conservation. A concession consortium, Urbia Cataratas Jericoacoara, presents itself as the park's operator and says its mission is to turn the park into a model of sustainable tourism. That is a promise, and we will judge it by results, not brochures.

Third, shift the experience. Walking the beach at low tide, climbing to the Serrote lighthouse, or cycling the dunes shows travelers things a vehicle skips, as Entre Parques points out about motorized trips. We think it also leaves a lighter footprint. Slower, smaller and guided is not a sacrifice. It is a better trip.

What travelers should do

Go, but go thoughtfully. Choose shoulder moments over peak ones, skip the shoreline buggy rush, check the tides, and treat the dunes like the monument they are. The "secret village" stopped being secret years ago. Whether it stays special depends on whether Ceará decides that 1.3 million is a ceiling to respect rather than a milestone to beat.