Anatolia

Cultural actors in place-based tourism: A focus on rural areas and small cities

This Special Issue invites academic research on the roles of cultural agents/actors in tourism and aims to explore the intricacies of how tourism, cultural/creative development strategies and joint actions can contribute to sustainability goals, local regenerative dynamics, and community resilience. Whilst there is ambiguity surrounding the term, cultural actors are viewed here as social actors who, via their engagement in cultural and artistic pursuits, aim to promote quality of life, the arts, collective capacity building, economic growth and social cohesion through engaging citizens (Isar & Triandafyllidou, 2021; Marx, 2020).

Among the ways cultural actors are involved in the tourism sphere, the field of creative tourism can serve as an example and inspiration. Creative tourism is defined as “a creative-centred activity encouraging personal self-expression and interaction between visitors and local residents, inspired by local endogenous resources (place and people), and designed and implemented by local residents for community benefit” (Duxbury et al., 2021, p. 1). These initiatives can generate inclusive spaces to co-design, develop, and offer locally engaged creative experiences inspired by place-specific cultural and natural resources (Papadaki et al, forthcoming.a). More widely, cultural agents can draw from traditions and create value from imaginatively working with place-specificities, both tangible and intangible resources of a place, which can derive new imaginaries and lend further appeal to particular regions and their offers.

However, despite their potential in tourism development, fostering intercultural exchange, and place-identity formation, connections between cultural agents and tourists are often lacking. With creative tourism approaches as a touchstone, this Special Issue aims to examine how joint actions of tourism and cultural actors can be fostered for local benefit, especially in smaller communities. In some cases, these connections are facilitated by ‘entrepreneur mediators’ (Bakas et al., 2019), social entrepreneurs with virilocal ties who co-create place-based tourism experiences with local cultural actors. In some situations, local cultural actors may be the provocateur, instigating new activities and products that attract local residents and visitors (Papadaki et al, forthcoming.b), and building collaborative community networks that can strengthen and help propel local actions in engaged and sustainable ways (Duxbury et al., forthcoming). Given the multifaceted nature of the cultural sector, knowledge about cultural actor’s involvement in tourism is fractured and when researched is often viewed only from a tourism perspective than as a relationship and site for collaborative and generative action.

How are cultural actors actively connecting with tourism actors? How are cultural actors directly relating with travellers/tourists/visitors – for example, by offering creative experiences and spaces of interaction (e.g., artistic residencies and creative tourism workshops/camps) among other initiatives? And how do/can these activities contribute to local regenerative dynamics, community resilience, and sustainability?

We invite academic articles that explore the roles of cultural actors who contribute to place-based tourism experiences, in terms of their perspectives, needs, how they successfully bridge the cultural and tourism spheres, and what intermediaries and programmes may exist to facilitate connections between cultural actors and tourists. We invite research on cultural actors contributing to local communities through tourism-related initiatives in marginalised areas, like small cities and rural places.

This Special Issue invites contributions from tourism, culture and associated fields that critically reflect on the multifaceted nexus of tourism and culture research and practice:

• Cultural actors’ roles in tourism within marginalised areas

• Creative tourism trends and innovations in small cities and rural areas

• Diverse ways in which cultural actors connect with tourists

• Leading practices and cases of place-based tourism and culture collaborations

• Improving the relationship between tourism and cultural actors

• The impacts of tourism-focused cultural activities on local communities

• Contribution of tourism and culture to local regenerative dynamics, community resilience, and sustainability

References

Bakas, F. E., Duxbury, N., & Vinagre de Castro, T. (2019). Creative tourism: Catalysing artisan entrepreneur networks in rural Portugal. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Research, 25(4). https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-03-2018-0177

Duxbury, N., Vinagre de Castro, T., and Silva, S. (forthcoming in 2025). Culture⎯tourism entanglements: Moving from grassroots practices to regenerative cultural policies in smaller communities. International Journal of Cultural Policy.

Duxbury, N., Bakas, F., Vinagre de Castro, T., & Silva, S. (2021). Creative tourism development models towards sustainable and regenerative tourism. Sustainability, 13(1), 2.

Isar, Y. R., & Triandafyllidou, A. (2021). Introduction to this special issue: Cultural diplomacy: what role for cities and civil society actors? International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 34, 393–402.

Marx, L. (2020). Who governs culture? Actors, federalism and expertise in Swiss regional cultural policy. International Journal of Cultural Policy, 26(3), 365–382. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2018.1518977

Papadaki, E., Papadopoulou, P., Gournis, G., Plakou, H., & Apostolakis, A. (forthcoming.a) Creative industries, creative tourism and sustainability perspectives: The case study of traditional pottery making in Crete, in Salvador, E. and Pappalepore, I. Responsible consumption and production in the cultural and creative Industries. Actions, policies and strategies for a sustainable future. Research in the Creative and Cultural Industries series. London: Routledge

Papadaki, E., Apladas, G., & Kouros, A. (forthcoming.b). Traditional crafts, community engagement and creative tourism. ASTI Proceedings series, Springer Nature.