Potential Target Markets
You should make a research to validate the efforts for branding your city or place for creative tourism, like you would do with any other form of tourism, product or service. Does your destination have an already established brand and presence on the potential target markets to justify development towards creative tourism? If not, you first should work on the brand positioning as cultural tourism destination on these markets.
Strategy and Institutional Involvement
Many local governments are way behind the latest trends in theoretical research and buzz words in the travel industry. Do yours (municipality, regional and central government) understand the need of shifting gears towards creative tourism? Or they are pleased with the success of the cultural tourism to their destination and don’t care to step to the next level?
Sustainability
Now everybody is speaking of sustainability of cultural tourism, eco-tourism, rural tourism. Emerging destinations have the chance to start on the right foot with their sustainability programs and creative tourism can help a lot. Are you ready to adopt such a program?
The money
All this is nice, but is there an additional investment required and from where the money should come, would ask the been-counters, who will approve/disapprove your “creative tourism” strategy. So, be prepared to answer tough questions and keep in mind, that if your strategy is right, all these programs should pay for themselves. If your destination is stuck in financial difficulties, creative tourism could be the way out. Although it might be the opposite: the economic challenges can “contaminate” your plans to convert it in a proper place for creative tourism.
Photo: Chiprovtzi, Bulgaria, carpet weaving. There are more than 12 guest houses and hotels in a village of 2000 people who offer not only lodging, but classes in carpet weaving. In the dead tourist season, carpet weaving is enough to finance the hotel part. Photo: Rossitza Ohridska-Olson
