Creative Tourism
The growth of creative tourism in some ways marks a shift towards a
more general approach to creativity in tourism, and is found both in
rural and urban environments. Maturing approaches to creative tourism
are marked by the development of specific development strategies,
such as those found in Nelson, New Zealand (www.creativetourism.co.nz)
and Barcelona (www.barcelonacreativa.info), which have
been operating for a number of years. In the case of Creative Tourism
New Zealand, the creative tourism offer is built around a series of
courses and workshops offered by local artisans. In Barcelona the approach
is related to the development of artistic links with other cities,
offering artists the opportunity to meet and collaborate with Barcelona-based
colleagues. The idea is that this form of creative exchange
not only generates incoming tourism activity, but also strengthens the
creative vitality and international image of Barcelona. For this reason
the program is supported by the economic development division of
the city government. In the City of Santa Fe in New Mexico, a comprehensive
range of creative tourism experiences has been developed
(www.santafecreativetourism.org). This initiative sprang out of the
UNESCO Creative Cities program, which also organized an international
conference on creative tourism in the city in 2008 (Wurzburger
et al., 2010). Creative tourism strategies have also been applied in more
conventional tourism destinations, such as the Algarve region of Portugal
(Ferreira & Costa, 2006; Rodrigues Gonc¸alves, 2008).