Creative tourism

Spirituality is a universal and human phenomenon which is not restricted to any religions or religious groups. In fact, spiritual experiences are thought of as special human experiences which give meaning to life. Such enlightening experiences make man connect to a higher being. Therefore, spiritual tourism is a journey on which a traveller achieves a perception of spiritual experiences. Such experiences can be gained on a long walk with a group of sympathetic fellow travelers towards religious destinations. They may also be achieved while watching a pristine view of the nature which enables the viewer to understand the creator of the scene and reach deep meanings through a creative insight. Creative tourism is mostly manifested as a form of inner expression and discovery, a tool of improvement in identity and distinction or a search for the expansion of capabilities and experiences as well as an ability to reflect the life purposefully. This type of tourism belongs to self-actualizing individuals. In fact, they are educated people who seek to give meaning to life. Therefore, the creative tourism theory is the closest approach to tourism combined with spirituality. These two categories overlap with each other significantly. In this qualitative study, the two-stage Delphi technique and desk research method were used to verify this hypothesis. Creative tourism can be thought of as a new paradigm of tourism or the third generation after coastal tourism and cultural tourism. It can also be considered an evolved type of cultural tourism which pays more attention to the intangible heritage rather than the tangible one. In either case, it is a form of network tourism in which values are created collectively through available relationships and the flow of social relationships and capital in networks. Therefore, its new management models and strategies should be identified and applied. In the current study, the desk research method was used to identify such models. Then the two-stage Delphi technique was employed to verify them.

The main motivations behind creative tourism, as a new form of tourism in the postmodern world, consist in achieving a new understanding of the “self” and the pursuit of “meaning,” “identity,” and “authenticity,” which have transformed the paradigm of tourism. With the development of the phenomenon of “spiritualism” in our time in which people turn away from the religion as a predetermined and organized phenomenon, in these new styles, the criterion is not to discover the religious other; it is to discover the self in the other. In this paper, we introduce the essential difference between creative tourism as an instance of postmodern tourism and cultural tourism, and we will examine the component of spirituality in creative tourism, and then elaborate the former as an opportunity for the development and understanding of religious beliefs and a ground for the creativity of the religious culture. Using historical-hermeneutical approach, this paper examines the concept of "spirituality" in lived travel experience of a creative tourists and argues that when discussing spirituality of tourism, one potential avenue is flourishment of religious creativity. A key objective of this paper therefore, is to provide an initial mapping of, and insights into this territory.

By producing the paradigm of creative tourism, the knowledge increasing discipline of tourism invites tourists to visit and interact with the unique and live culture of societies instead of just sightseeing in museums and ancient monuments. In this paradigm, tourists engage all of their senses in the creation of their unique experience and improving their relations with local people from seller/buyer to a master/apprentice level. Not only the cultural capital but also the social capital would be increased from this interaction. The main goal of this research is to show that, contrary to what appears at first, the creative domain of gastronomy is a spiritual one and flourishing local communities and creative tourism based on this paradigm can evolve the wellbeing and material life of inhabitants and tourists as well. Moreover, this includes significant spiritual endowments both for guests and hosts in the creative gastronomic destinations. Creative tourism based on gastronomy regards new looks to local communities as the first step in creating unique and added value experiences including economic, human, and social values. In creative tourism, locals and tourists will open their eyes on the destination in completely new ways, so that they could see better in creating new and valuable experiences. This definition is closely related to the Quranic command of “The man must consider what he eats”. In this research, using thematic analysis and Delphi method, it is shown that the components of spiritual perception have significant overlaps with the components of gastronomic creative tourism. Factors such as “comfort and satisfaction”, “Giving meaning to life”, “interaction with others”, “friendship with nature and environment”, and “surrender and thanksgiving “, as the components of the spiritual understanding, showed common and undeniable spaces with the components of creative tourism. These components include “authentic experiences “, “active participation “, “learning”, “self-esteem and self-awareness”, “new products and processes”, and “new spaces”. Based on our results, each of these components has their own proprietary domains and non-negligible common spaces, and even in some cases are subsets of each other.

Nowadays, creativity has become a strategy in tourism development; cities and regions that want to increase their attractiveness to the creative class must support creative industries. Intangible cultural heritage (ICH), as a unique advantage in the tourism industry, provides global competitiveness for the community. Sustainable tourism approaches are needed to transition and promote ICH as a sustainable tourism resource successfully. Accordingly, this study investigates the role of women's creativity in developing intangible cultural heritage with a creative tourism approach. The statistical population of this study is women in the Uramanat region and tourists in the area. A sample of 360 people from each community was selected by purposive and available sampling. Creativity with measurement approach and value creation and development of intangible cultural heritage with the dimensions of preserving originality, empowerment, maintaining the meaning of content, emphasizing identity, parallel development of tourism, and heritage protection was measured by a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was assessed using construct validity. Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability were used for instrument reliability, and both were acceptable. The studied model was tested using the least-squares approach. Findings showed that creativity has a significant positive effect on the development of intangible cultural heritage. In many destinations, the development of creative tourism, one of the rapid branches of economic growth, and the development of intangible cultural heritage in the tourism industry are essential.

This study aimed to create an experience-based tourism model for creative cultural  attractions. This research is mixed in terms of methodology. In the qualitative part, the  qualitative content analysis method was used. The statistical population for this part was  experts who were selected by the snowball sampling method. The structural equation  method was used in the quantitative part. The second statistical population included  visitors to Tehran's creative cultural attractions; 384 samples were selected by random  sampling. The model was designed based on the research results. The desired model  consists of three parts before the visit, during the visit, and after the visit. Before the  visit, the individual characteristics, image, motivation, and visitors’ expectations directly  impacted the creative experience. During the visit, the creative experience directly  impacted the experiencescape and the memorable experience process, and the  experiencescape affected visitors’ memorable experience process directly. After the  visit, the visitor's memorable experiences directly influenced satisfaction and lasting  memories. This study's findings lead to creating creative experiences for visitors and  developing creative cultural attractions. The tourism industry policymakers can rank  creative cultural attractions by setting up a registration system for them, awarding  creative certificates to prominent attractions, and providing them with the basis of  progress

Tourist development today, coupled with advancements in information and communication technology, has rendered the traditional tourism value chain inefficient. Certain segments of the chain lack functionality or exhibit very weak functionality, failing to create added value. Among these segments are distribution channels (intermediaries), often comprising tour guides and travel agencies. Today's tourists, within the paradigm of creative tourism, seek more than mere leisure; they aim to discover the unknown and gain unique experiences through interaction with the destination and local people. In this study, conducted using qualitative and ethnographic methods, involving deep interviews and participatory observation by the researcher during a trip to Western Europe organized by the MANZAR Society in 2015, a creative and research-oriented journey was undertaken. The author endeavors to identify the role of intermediaries (tour leaders) in this journey as a theoretical framework within a dynamic and creative unified system. This framework suggests that the role of tour leaders has evolved from its traditional state to encompass a system involving activities before, during, and after the journey. The details of each activity were identified and elucidated in this study. It is worth noting that this framework was validated through a two-stage Delphi method involving experts.

Intangible cultural heritage, a cornerstone of sustainable tourism development, plays a pivotal role in differentiating destinations and attracting visitors. However, its effective preservation and promotion require a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influence its development. This study employs a qualitative research approach, specifically an exploratory design. The target population comprises experts in the field of tourism and cultural heritage, and snowball sampling was utilized to select participants. The study data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed by using the thematic analysis method and MAXQDA software. The method of retesting the interviews has been used to confirm and increase the validity of the interviews’ results. The output obtained from the analysis of the interviews includes 270 open codes and 80 axial codes in the form of 18 sub-themes, which are as following: creative tourists, infrastructure, capitalistic view of heritage, linking heritage with tourism, women's relationship with intangible heritage, destination management, organization, combination of creativity and culture, empowering and augmenting women’s capability, education, motivation, women's role, supporting women, supporting creative tourism, capacity and competitiveness of the destination, characteristics of the destination, handicrafts and festivals. These themes have been embedded in the three main categories of creativity, creative tourism and development of intangible heritage. On the basis of that, a model for the development of intangible cultural heritage was proposed. The findings of this study showed that in many destinations, the development of creative tourism and the creativity of the residential community, especially women, can be one of the branches of tourism development and as an incentive for the development of intangible cultural heritage.