Challenges and dilemmas of creative tourism in the 21st century: How can we preserve it from the massive offer?

Although there are not data to attest to the growth of various Creative Tourism experiences worldwide, the expectation of their increase is consistent with the strength of the nowadays markets and the strategies and changes needed to sustain this growth at the twenty-first century. So, it will be relevant to follow the new trends, changes and challenges that will shape the future path of Creative Tourism. In the context of the European Union, economic prosperity and well-being should respond to twin digital and green transitions that should prepare society to mitigate problems that arise from pandemic situations, such as the recent COVID-19. How do we follow new and future experiences, and how can institutions be positioned without jeopardising the massification of this segment? As with cultural tourism, this segment of creative initiatives can and should develop ways to avoid these possible mass derivations and adjust the preservation of its sustainability in the future. What strategy needs to be adapted so that future risks of vulgarisation will be avoided even within the possible new trends? What will be the role of the Southern European countries? This final chapter envisages promoting critical thinking about the role of Creative Tourism for local and regional development. The discussion focuses on how to prevent massification and how to respond to new challenges and saturated formulas and in accordance with the digital area of the twenty-first century. Also, it promotes some solutions based on short-term strategies to be outlined and on a TIN (Think, Integrate and Network) model, which can be replicated in many countries in Europe and in the rest of the world. © 2022 Paula Remoaldo, Vitor Ribeiro, Juliana Alves, Elaine Borges Scalabrini and Helder Lopes. All rights reserved.

Creative tourism: What is the role of urban and rural territories?

This chapter explores the role of Creative Tourism in territorial development, highlighting the differences between urban and rural territories. The dynamics of creative development and tourism must be assumed as an advantage for rural territories in times of exhaustion of the growth model of large cities, climate change and COVID-19 disease. This is a new scenario that these territories must profit from, as they continue to face challenges to capture investment, tourists and to offer sustainable models. Urban studies of creative industries and initiatives have been taking place in big cities for several decades now, marginalising small cities and, more specifically, rural areas. Some examples at an international level are highlighted in this chapter, with Southern Europe specifically in focus. Therefore, Creative Tourism appears as a key development option for distinct reasons and aims. First, it answers to the need for tourism to reinvent itself as well as to the need for destinations to do something different in a saturated market. It can also meet the desire of tourists for more fulfilling and meaningful experiences. However, which role can each type of territory play in the present, and how can these territories reach development through Creative Tourism? © 2022 Paula Remoaldo and Daniela Angelina Jelincic. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of the resident of Santiago de Compostela regarding tourism: effects on hospitality

Santiago de Compostela is one of the best-known pilgrimage routes globally, and it connects many countries in Europe. Its historic center was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. This article aims to assess the types and quality of social interaction among residents and visitors (city users) of this particular World Heritage City. Many studies were conducted prior to this one about Santiago. However, most of them have missed some recent approaches to the overtourism phase. The "overtourism" is a phase, which was notorious until 2019. The primary sourcing was assessed by a quantitative study accompanied by a questionnaire responded by 588 residents. The results confirmed that those more exposed to tourism were the most critical of their relationship with the visitor. Thus, we confirm a direct relationship between the intensity of contact with the visitor and the negative perception of tourism. The results are helpful for local and regional planners to implement more collaborative and democratic planning in the tourism sector. This is more relevant to destinations recognized as UNESCO and revealed an overtourism scenario. This new approach is urgent and must be prepared in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and a short and long-term perspective.