Abstract
The research on creative tourism is mainly focused on developed western economies. Studies about developing countries with a significant percentage of the population living in poverty are still scarce. As such, this study is based on extensive field research and in-depth interviews of four poor communities in two countries (Brazil and Peru). The main goal is to identify a group of factors and their inter-relation as they contribute to the development of poor communities using creative tourism approaches. The results point to a positive response, i.e. it is possible for poor communities to offer interactive experiences. But not directly. Instead, there are a number of requirements that contribute to this accomplishment. First, local development depends on the involvement of external entities. Their role includes not only the achievement of consensus but also the allocation of capital, skills and resources. Second, initial results develop entrepreneurial initiatives with a direct impact on further investments, especially in tourism. Third, tourism-related processes result from other non-tourism activities. However, tourism activities benefit from (1) the gains in popularity of the region and/or its products, traditions and culture; (2) increase in entrepreneurial activity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 509-529 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Funding
The Lagoas community emerged in 1915. In the early years of the 2000s, they didn’t have electricity, schools, access roads, treated water or basic sanitation. In 1994, the community had created an association of producers and begun the process of regularization of the area, but they had faced difficulties in obtaining support because the majority of the inhabitants didn’t even have identification documents. In 2008, the association became a cooperative and received financial support from the National Bank for Economic and Social Development – BNDES to produce vegetables, fruit and poultry. The offer of these products by the inhabitants of the Lagoas community came to enjoy increasing demand derived from the tourism development in the Lençóis Maranhenses Park. Since 2003 the region has become a tourist destination as the result of an extensive marketing campaign.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Bank for Economic and Social Development | |
| Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social |
Keywords
- Creative tourism
- creativity
- entrepreneurship
- poverty reduction
- pro-poor tourism
- rural tourism
