What is Creative Tourism? Why should creative cities worldwide, and specifically those in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, collaborate about Creative Tourism? How can Creative Tourism be best organized to enhance economic benefits to cities and provinces and countries globally?
These questions were among those discussed in September 2008 during the first International Creative Tourism Conference, sponsored by the city of Santa Fe and other members of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network, including Aswan, Egypt; Bologna, Italy; Berlin, Germany; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montreal, Canada; Popayan, Colombia; and Seville, Spain. At this conference delegates from 16 countries around the world convened to discuss emerging issues and best practices in the use of Creative Tourism as a powerful economic development tool for cities, provinces, states, and countries. Countries represented included Nigeria, the Bahamas, Spain, the People’s Republic of China, Japan, England, Mexico, Canada, Pakistan, Russia, Scotland, Australia, France, Egypt, Germany, Italy, and the United States. Conference participants interacted with some of the world’s renowned leaders in creativity, geo-tourism and cultural entrepreneurship.
