So what does creativity have to do with this?
Due to the changes already mentioned, it is obvious that one has to be creative in various ways: firstly by linking culture with tourism in order to find additional sources of financing because of the growing cuts in public expenditure for culture; secondly, by generating tourism income in a rather narrow specialized market of cultural tourists; and thirdly, by enhancing the experience for postmodern tourists, which is one of their main requirements while travelling. It can be argued that the most creative tourism develops out of the need to enhance the experience for travellers by creating a participatory form of cultural tourism.
Raymond (2003) defines creative tourism as a development from cultural tourism, which involves learning a skill on holiday that is part of the culture of the country or community being visited. The link of creative to cultural tourism is visible from definition of cultural tourism by Richards which covers the very activities underlined in the creative tourism definition, for Richards, cultural tourism is ‘not just the consumption of the cultural products of the past, but also of contemporary culture or the way of life of a people or a region’ (Richards 2001:7).
Creative tourism is, according to the definitions, and as the existing theoretical framework and practical examples show, all about participatory experience of a destination; it steps beyond the usual connotations of tourism where a person comes to another place to be a spectator, visitor, basically a consumer:
Creative tourism is travel directed toward an engaged and authentic experience, with participative learning in the arts, heritage, or special character of a place, and it provides a connection with those who reside in this place and create this living culture (UNESCO: Creative Cities Network, 2006:3).