CREATOUR Creative Tourism conference | call for papers

The international conference entitled The State of the Art in Creative Tourism: Leading Research, Advanced Practices, Future Trajectories will be held in Coimbra, Portugal on 1 - 2 June 2017. Academics, artists, creative tourism practitioners, students and others working in tourism and cultural development are invited to propose paper/project presentations, thematic panel sessions or workshops.

This conference is organized within the project CREATOUR: Creative Tourism Destination Development in Small Cities and Rural Areas. The overall objective of CREATOUR is to develop and pilot an integrated approach and research agenda for creative tourism in small cities and rural areas.

This conference has two aims:

to bring together leading creative tourism researchers with creative tourism networks and practitioners to outline "the state of the art" - the main lines of research and key issues in both the research and practice of creative tourism. What is the state of the art within creative tourism research and practice? What are the leading trends and contextualizing influences today? What are the key questions and issues to be addressed going forward?

to inform the development of a creative tourism network - CREATOUR - focusing on small cities and rural areas within the Norte, Centro, Alentejo and Algarve regions of Portugal. The organisers are eager to learn from creative tourism efforts internationally that can advise the network's development and the array of creative tourism practices to be conducted by the pilot initiatives within CREATOUR.

The event is linked to the development of a book with Edward Elgar Publishers, entitled A Research Agenda for Creative Tourism.

Call for papers and proposals

We invite academics, artists, creative tourism practitioners, students, and others working in tourism and cultural development to propose paper/project presentations, thematic panel sessions, or workshops, addressing any of the following themes:

· Leading trends and contextualizing influences in creative tourism today

· Creative tourism in non-metropolitan areas

· Creative tourism experience producers in small cities and rural areas

· Local policies and citizens’ perspectives/involvement in creative tourism development

· Evaluation of impacts of creative tourism experiences

· Creative tourism, co-creation of knowledge, and specificity of place

· Approaches to co-constructing creative experiences with visitors

· Relationships between creative tourism and holistic local development

· Creative tourism and rural development

· Creative tourism and social inclusion

· Creative tourism and cross-cultural exchange

· Creative tourism and cultural sustainability

· Creative tourism experiences and authenticity

· Creative tourism as a vehicle to explore cultural landscapes and heritage

· Understanding place through creative activities and expressions

· Linking creative and environmental tourism

· Linking creative and rural tourism

· The use of technologies in creative tourism

· Artists and ’creatives’ on vacation

· The future of creative tourism

The deadline for submissions is 14 February 2017

CREATOUR

Creative Tourism Destination Development in Small Cities and Rural Areas

Desenvolver Destinos de Turismo Criativo em Cidades de Pequena Dimensão e Áreas Rurais

2016 - 2019
Project 016437, supported by European funds (through COMPETE2020, POR Lisboa, POR Algarve) and by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.
CREATOUR is an incubator/demonstration and multidisciplinary research initiative, supporting collaborative research processes. The three-year project aims to connect the cultural/creative and tourism sectors through the development of an integrated research and application approach to catalyzing creative tourism in small cities and rural areas throughout Portugal. During the project, five research centres will work with a range of cultural/creative organizations and other stakeholders located in small cities across Portugal in the Norte, Centro, Alentejo and Algarve regions.