- 2015
- Research / Study
- Global
This paper has been extracted from a thesis research proposing a new tourism model for rural communities: Community-Based Creative Tourism. It includes a review of the existing literature concerning Community Tourism and Creative Tourism.
Without compromising the identity, tourism provides an important impulse of enhancing culture and creating income which can support and strengthen cultural heritage, cultural production, and creativity. By increasing the residents´ sense of efficiency and stimulating creativity, culture can be preserved in ways that help strengthen communities, protect natural environments while creating linkages between residents and visitors.
The main motivation of this paper is to propose strategies to reduce the poverty percentage through a Community-Based Creative Tourism Strategy. If any community wants to prosper, it will need to create a new future, ensuring more job opportunities and preventing depopulation.
Usually in underdeveloped communities there is a need to support the economy by fostering the strengths of the area, promoting activities that engage young people, but also reinforcing culture and creativity that induce community participation, and build social connection between people of different backgrounds, capacities, and ages. Creative tourism has its origin in individual creativity, skill, and talent. It has the potential for job creation while visitors take part in dedicated workshops sharing knowledge and experience.
Although there are many similarities, community-based tourism is largely but not exclusively focused on developing communities (Ateljevic & Milne, 2001), while creative tourism is applied both by developed countries and also in emerging communities as presented in the Creative Economy Report 2013 (UNESCO & UNDP, 2013).
In accordance with the purpose of this study, the research will focus on a proposal for poverty alleviation based on a touristic strategy. Combining the two models might bring a new perspective applicable to small poor communities.
