Benefits of Creative Tourism - The Tourist Perspective

8/18/2019 Benefits of Creative Tourism - The Tourist Perspective

1/15

Downloaded by the authors, on September 9th, 2014

99

Chapter 9: Benefits of Creative Tourism The Tourist Perspective

Milica Ilincic

Introduction

All forms of tourism in essence provide experiences. The very desire for experience, or

tourism (Richards, 2011). However, different people seek different kinds of experiences. New

and become more than disconnected observers during their travels. Many of them seek

participative, authentic experiences which allow them to feel the spirit of a place and achieve

a deeper understanding of its specific cultural features (Landry, 2010). Such a trend in tourist

demand encouraged the emergence of new form of cultural tourism, known as creative

tourism. It is described as tourism which allows visitors to develop their creative skills by

taking part in interactive learning activities typical for the destination they are visiting

(Richards and Raymond, 2000). Besides these changes on the consumption side,

professionals from cultural sector and destination managers are also trying to find new

approaches to interact with visitors (Richards, 2010). Destinations are slowly moving from

exploration of high cultural resources, such as monuments and museums, towards utilization

of intangible creative resources, incorporating everyday life and popular culture into tourist

products. Intangible cultural assets are becoming key for achieving uniqueness and

differentiation from other destinations (Richards, 2010, 2011).

The growing importance of the creative sector also stems from the notion of the experienceeconomy, which points to the shift from delivering goods and products towards production of

engaging and memorable experiences. Pine and Gilmore (1999) state that people do not

seek experiences for mere consumption, but what they actually want is to gain something

from them, to be affected and changed by these experiences. The outcomes of tourist

experience are becoming more important than the experience by itself and some authors

(McIntosh, 1999; Sharpley and Stone, 2010) even argue that the beneficial experiences

gained by visitors are in fact the core product of tourism. Thus investigation of tourist

perspectives in order to comprehend the nature of their experience and personal value

attached to it is a fundamental task in the study of tourism (McIntosh, 1999; Chan, 2009).

The nature of creative tourism experience is recognized as important topic, but it is still

scarcely researched and the need exists for exploration of effects and value of creative

tourism from tourist point of view (Richards and Wilson, 2007; Richards, 2011).

This study tries to address the stated gaps in the literature and to provide understanding of

creative tourism experience from the consumption side. The objective is to identify the

outcomes of the creative tourism experience that are most important to tourists and most

valued by them. The research explores the influence of motivation, as well as emotive and

psychological processes, experienced by tourists in their interaction with the setting of

creative activity, on the creation of such beneficial outcomes.


2/15


100

Tourist experience

Tourist experience as a research topic has been present in the literature for more than fifty

years. Early discussions on the subject of experience in tourism were based on two opposing

views of its nature. Boorstin (1964), as the most influential representative of the first view,

describes the modern tourist as a shallow and passive pleasure seeker in comparison to thetraveller who searched for meaning. On the other side, the opposing camp represented by

MacCannell (1973), states that tourists demand authenticity and their travels represent a sort

of a quest for authentic experiences. However, Cohen (1979) argues that different people

seek different kinds of experiences during their travels. He identifies five types of tourists and

their experiences ranging from rather superficial towards more authentic ones, thus

reconciling the two extreme views.

Wang (1999) argues that the above mentioned authors look at the concept of authenticity as

object-related and recognizes the existence of a different, individual and subjective, view of

authenticity as well. Such existential authenticity has nothing to do with displayed objects.

Instead, it is activity-related and coincides to a potential existential state of being, which is

activated by the participant actions (Wang, 1999).

While the early theorists of tourist experience can be regarded as practitioners of modernist

thought, many contemporary studies have followed the so-called postmodernist way of

theorizing, which sees reality in terms of relative truths, stresses the diversity of life and

blurring of the boundaries between everyday life and tourist experiences, concentrates on

individualism and subjective meanings (Uriely, 2005).

Furthermore, in the last few decades there has been a radical shift in research from services

towards the experience economy. Pine and Gilmore (1998) argue that businesses can no

longer rely on goods and services in delivering the value to their customers, but rather they

should be used in order to stage and produce engaging and memorable experiences. They

recognize the transformation coming from meaningful experience as the offering with the

highest economic value. Moreover, Binkhorst and den Dekker (2009) provide an innovative

perspective on tourism experience based on the holistic co-creation principle. They see

tourism as an experience network in which different stakeholders engage in tourism

experience by process of co-creation. Personal involvement in designing, undergoing and

transformation by experience (Binkhorst, 2007). Moreover, the process of co-creation is

closely related to the notions of creativity and innovation in tourism experience (Binkhorst

and den Dekker, 2009).

Creative tourism

Creative tourism is a relatively young term, coined in the last few years. Richards and

Raymond (2000) were among the first ones to recognize the emergence of creative tourism

as an expansion of cultural tourism or a reaction to it. They identified creative tourists as

searching for more active and involving experiences that allow them to achieve personal

development and create their identity. Richards and Raymond defined creative tourism as:

Tourism which offers visitors the opportunity to develop their creative potential

through active participation in courses and learning experiences which arecharacteristic of the holiday destination where they are undertaken (2000: 18).


3/15


101

This concept was acknowledged by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural

Organization (UNESCO) through the work of the Creative Cities Network, which aims at

highlighting intangible cultural assets and diversity in destinations around the world.

Many different activities can be the base for creative tourism, such as cookery, painting,

photography, crafts, music, dance and so on (Smith, 2009). However, what is important is forthese activities to be linked to the destination where they are undertaken (Richards and

Wilson, 2006, 2007). For example, a cooking workshop in Spain should be linked to

traditional Spanish food and products. According to Richards (2011) some of the first

destinations to apply specific creative development strategies in tourism were New Zealand

(www.creativetourism.co.nz) and Barcelona (www.barcelonacreativa.info) with Creative

Tourism platforms running for a number of years now. While New Zealand offers many

workshops and creative courses, Barcelona also develops networking with other cities to

attract artist to come to the city and co-create with locals. Moreover, a number of other cities

turned to creativity, from metropolitan cities such as London and New York, to smaller

modest cultural destinations such as Porto, Graz, Taipei and Lille. The whole countries and

nations also started positioning themselves as creative destinations, such as Austria

(www.creativetourism.at) and Australia (Richards and Wilson, 2007).

A number of authors discuss the reasons behind the growing attractiveness of creativity

(Richards and Wilson 2006, 2007; Maitland, 2007; Rogerson, 2007). While cultural tourism is

seen as inflexible, relying mostly on built heritage and high culture, creative tourism uses

intangible resources and thus allows higher level of flexibility and dynamism (Richards and

Wilson 2006, 2007). Creativity, mostly dependent on human capital, is seen as renewable

and sustainable resource, which does not require a lot of investment for maintenance and

preservation such as museums and monuments (Richards and Wilson, 2006). For this

reason creativity allows relatively fast innovation of destination offerings (Richards andWilson, 2006), which is especially suitable for rural destinations that usually do not have very

developed built heritage (Maitland, 2007), as well as for application of creativity in developing

countries that can provide them with competitive advantage without much investment

(Rogerson, 2007). Finally, the creative sector is much broader than culture, thus, it can bring

more value and have grater employment impact (Richards and Wilson, 2007).

On the other hand, while creative tourism does not require great physical assets it does

require greater levels of innovation and creativity from both its producers and consumers

(Richards and Wilson, 2006). It relies on creative governments and leadership (Florida,

2002) together with role of creative communities in its development (Smith, 2009).

Thus, the idea behind the development of the creative tourism sector is that creative tourism

can provide wider and more sustainable benefits for the destination and provide dynamism

while releasing creative potential of inhabitants, visitors and places (Richards and Wilson,

2007). However, there is a lack of hard empirical evidence that can support these claims

(Pratt, 2008; Richards, 2011). The growing adoption of creative development strategies in

(Peck, 2005)

influenced by academia and policy makers (Atkinson and Easthope, 2009; Richards, 2011).

Another point is that creative tourism relies heavily on the everyday life of a destination and

its intangible cultural resources. Thus, selling this everyday life experiences in the

marketplace can lead to commodification of creative tourism product (Hannigan, 2007).Richards (2011) concludes that it still remains to be seen if the further development of


4/15


102

creative tourism will lead to homogenization of creative tourism experience or if it will

facilitate authenticity and co-creation of meaningful, engaging experiences. The research has

mostly concentrated on the side of creative producers and the way they are affected by

creative tourism. The need exists, on the other hand, to look at the consumption side and

consider tourist experience with creative forms of tourism (Richards and Wilson, 2007;

Richards, 2011).

Beneficial experiences and creative tourism

Based on the definition presented above, the importance of the following characteristics of

creative tourism experience can be highlighted (Richards, 2009): (a) creative potential

tourists are encouraged to enhance their creativity and return from the travel with something

far more than just souvenirs or photos; (b) active participation - creative visitors are actively

engaged in the process of creation in which they interact with locals and their culture; (c)

distinctive experiences creative activities can be practiced anywhere but what is important

is to connect them with the unique characteristics of culture and creativity in the destination;

and (d) co-creation which includes joint creation of experiences by consumers and

producers (Binkhorst and den Dekker, 2009).

Richards and Wilson (2007) argue that application of creativity affects the very nature of

tourism especially the concepts of tourist gaze and authenticity of tourist experience. They

point to the shift in tourist experience from seeing and gazing towards being and

becoming a part of a life of the destination. The change of the role of tourists from passive

consumers towards active engagement with the destination allows them to produce their own

experiences (Richards and Raymond, 2006; Binkhorst, 2007). Richards and Raymond

(2000) particularly underline that besides the tourists the destinations themselves need to be

creative in designing embedded experiences. Development of characteristic creativeexperiences, involves the whole network of tourism actors, such as producers, consumers

and policy makers (Richards and Raymond, 2006; Binkhorst and den Dekker, 2009).

Moreover, local inhabitants also become active producers and not just bit players in a

performance of staged authenticity (Richards and Raymond, 2000).

However, staged authenticity that was seen as a process which decreases the uniqueness of

experience (MacCannell, 1973) in creative tourism can become an act of creativity which

allows tourists to develop their own meanings of the place and their own narratives (Richards

and Wilson, 2007). Cloke (2007) argues that placing and staging allow creative tourists to fill

the gaps in the story that are left by producers, and create their own different storylines. The

authenticity of creative tourism experiences is not so much related to the objects or

attractions visited, but rather with activities tourist undertake, which activate their existential

ial

authenticity.

Creative tourism is more than just the provision of learning experiences as stated by

Raymond (2007). It is about engaging with the destination, and about development of

consumption skills, as well as development of new narratives, meanings and even identities

in tourist destinations (Richards, 2011). There is a shift from gazing to becoming, which

refers to the importance of engagement of other senses besides sight, such as smell and

taste (Richards and Wilson, 2007). Examples in creative tourism include workshops ofmaking your own perfume in France or cooking traditional dishes in Catalonia. This shift also


5/15


103

allows tourists to become in a way changed by their experience (Binkhorst, 2007), thus

having longer lasting experiences and wider benefits (Richards and Wilson, 2007).

Therefore, creative tourists are engaging in a process of self-development that is supposed

to take them to the next stage of value creation - (Pine and

Gilmore, 1999). When tourists became changed by their experiences, the experience can

surely be regarded as authentic and different. Binkhorst (2007) adds that the process of co-creation becomes crucial for such change to happen. Moreover, Landry (2010) besides the

co-creation states the im

involved, as well as mutual understanding with locals for transformative effects to happen. At

the simplest level, these effects may include cooking of the meal learned from local to some

deeper personal transformation, such as engaging in a cultural project (Landry, 2010).

However, these characteristics of creative experiences are mostly discussed in theory and

not many studies have tried to take an in-depth look at the demand side and investigate the

tourist view of creative experience and the beneficial outcomes they gain from it.

Benefits based model of experience

Tourist experience is the central offering of tourism and its core product. However, it is even

more important to look beyond the tourist experiences and into the benefits tourists gain from

behaviour is normally goal oriented and activities are undertaken in order to attain something

from them (McIntosh, 1999).

Beneficial experience was first discussed in the leisure and recreation literature. From the

mid-1990s onwards the concept has been widely applied in different fields of tourism and

benefits-based models have been utilized as a means for greater understanding of related

tourist experiences. According to the model four levels of demand for leisure and recreation

are recognized: motives for undertaking certain activity (Level 1), in a specific setting (Level

2) which are connected to the experience gained in such setting (Level 3) and with the final

benefits coming from the satisfying experience (Level 4) (Beeho and Prentice, 1997;

McIntosh 1999; Kang et al. 2012). The model is graphically presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Hierarchical Model of Experience

Source: Beeho and Prentice, 1995, 1997; McIntosh, 1999; Kang et al. (2012); Shin et al. (2012)

Prentice et al. (1998) and McIntosh (1999) recognize that benefits-based management

compared to traditional activity- and experience-based management approaches, goes

beyond onsite individually realized experiences and looks further into beneficial experiences,

which are potentially longer lasting and possibly detached from the site. It is focused onunderstanding such outcomes and providing opportunities for their occurrence.

Activities Setting Experience Benefits


6/15


104

While the first level of the hierarchy looks at the demand or rather motives for undertaking

the activity, the second level refers to the setting facilitating it. The setting is regarded as the

key variable that can be managed and controlled by suppliers of tourism products (Prentice

et al., 1998). Setting includes different contexts in which tourism practices are undergone

and includes environmental, social and management settings, as well as the visitor's

expectations of the setting (Beeho and Prentice, 1995, 1997). On the third level of thehierarchy activities and setting interact in shaping the overall tourist experience. Experiences

here refer to what is consumed by tourists when undertaking a certain activity in a particular

setting including their thoughts, feelings and reactions (Beeho and Prentice, 1995). Different

activities and attractions are logically experienced in different ways (Prentice et al., 1998),

but what is noted as important for greater understanding and learning to occur is to make

tourists feel empathetic and critically engage with the activity (McIntosh and Prentice, 1999).

The final level of the demand hierarchy looks at benefits gained from satisfying experiences

and partici the outcomes of

experiences or the actual benefits gained by visitor and are important for the visitors

(Chan, 2009: 177). They can be classified according to three main thoughtprocesses. These are: affective process - affecting emotions, attitudes, values, enhancing

enjoyment and involving familiarity; reflective process - affecting emotions, attitudes, values

and providing insight and comparison between past and present; and cognitive process -

involving synthesis and evaluation, improving comprehension and providing new insight or

additional information (McIntosh, 1999: 51). In addition to these three processes other non-

mindful, social, also known as recreational, benefits are noted, such as spending time in a

pleasant environment, having fun and being entertained (McIntosh, 1999).

Furthermore, the importance of mindfulness for achievement of greater benefits from tourism

experience is pointed out by Moscardo (1996). Visitors are considered mindful when they are

sensitive to context, actively process information and question their surroundings, in contrast

to a mindless state where little understanding is gained (Moscardo, 1996; McIntosh, 1999). A

mindful state is achieved through interaction of setting and individual visitor factors that lead

to active processing of information through reflective, cognitive and affective psychological

processes. The consequence of these processes is a mindful outcome or insightfulness.

Moscardo (1996) especially points to the importance of an interactive and dynamic setting,

as well as tourist interest and educational motives in achieving such a state and final

outcome.

Considering successful application of benefits-based model in many different fields of

tourism and its usefulness when it comes to understanding tourist side of the experience, onthe one hand, and need for greater understanding demand perspective of creative tourist

experience, on the other, this model was chosen as a framework to guide data gathering and

analysis in this study.

Case study of creative cooking in Barcelona

Barcelona has been one of the pioneers in developing the Creative Tourism Network as a

platform that promotes its creative tourism offer and connects potential visitors with creative

locals (Richards and Wilson, 2007; Couret, 2010). The role of creativity in enhancing the

image and identity of Barcelona has been recognized by the administrators of the city

(Richards and Wilson, 2007). Many creative spaces, events and activities have been


7/15


105

developed and are offered to tourists who want to experience the city in a different way

(Richards, 2009; Gonzalez, 2011).

Barcelona puts a special emphasis on the promotion of its gastronomy as an important part

been seen as a powerful mean of developing and rebranding tourism regions around theworld (Richards, 2002). In fact, Spain has successfully reinvented itself, from being sun, sea

and beach destination towards an image of culturally rich destination, partly through its

gastronomic products, such as paella, gazpacho and cava (Ravenscroft and van Westering,

2002). Moreover, the field of gastronomy is quite a fertile ground for creative tourism

development (Richards and Raymond, 2000). Cooking workshops are important part of

growing creative tourism offer, where tourists actively learn about local cuisine and culinary

traditions of the destination (Richards, 2002). However, the trend of combining cooking with

the travel has still been largely unresearched (Hjalager, 2002).

Thus, in order to fulfil the aims of this research, a creative cooking activity has been chosen.

The research has been undertaken on the case study of the Espai Boisà company in

Barcelona. Espai Boisà is a family owned company located in the central area of Barcelona,

which offers creative cooking workshops of Spanish and Catalan cuisine to tourists. The

premises of the company are designed as a traditional local home. It is an open space

consisting of a kitchen, a dining room and a small garden. The idea was to create a place

where people can socialize in a light and comfortable atmosphere and where they can feel at

home. The workshops are developed as completely participative ones, where tourists cook

the most traditional Spanish and Catalan dishes and afterwards have lunch and taste the

food they have made. The classes are led by a local chef, with the involvement of both of the

owners, who are there to present tourists the origin of the food and explain local traditions.

The use of organic, local and seasonal products is promoted as the very name of thecompany in Catalan means a place where you can eat good and healthy food.

In light of the research question, the literature review and the constructivist paradigm, an

explorative and qualitative research design was chosen. Such a design is particularly

suitable as it allows greater research depth (Silverman, 2006) as well as preliminary insights

into specific research problems (Saunders et al., 2009). A combination of participant

observation and face-to-face interviews was used to provide an understanding of the tourist

experience. Observation work aimed at exploring the setting of creative activity and

own words their reported beneficial experiences (Schanzel and McIntosh, 2000). The

researcher conducted observations at four cooking workshops and interviewed total of 30

tourists who attended them. Ten of the interviews were individual, while ten were conducted

in pairs. All interviews were transcribed and, together with observation notes, manually

coded according to analytical themes of the framework and descriptive sub-themes, emerged

from the data.

Benefits reported by cooking workshop participants

Analysis of research findings showed that tourists see multiple benefits of their creative

cooking experience.

can be divided into cognitive, affective, reflective and social benefits (Moscardo, 1996;


8/15


106

McIntosh, 1999). The key benefits emerged from tourist responses are summarized in the

Figure 2.

Figure 2: Key benefits gained by tourists attending creative cooking workshop

Among the cognitive benefits two are noted as the key ones. These are gaining an insight

into the local cuisine and culture as well as tourist cooking skill development. The term

interaction and by seeing how the dishes are made by locals. Tourists stated that the class

provided them with different kind of experience from typical tourist activities, such as

sightseeing and visiting museums and galleries. The experience gave them the opportunity

makes their experience memorable. Insight gain is seen as important theme in the works of

McIntosh and Prentice (1999) and Chan (2009) as well. Active preparation of traditional

dishes allowed participants to gain certain new cooking knowledge and skills that they will be

able to use in the future, or as one informant stated:

Personally I have been to Spain every summer vacation, every year for the last 15

years, but we never used to make this paella ourselves. Also the omelette [tortilla], we

buy it pre-made. So now we can actually make it. (Informant 24)

Thus, indeed creative tourism provides tourists with deeper insights into the destination

culture, as well as with certain level of skill development (Richards and Wilson, 2006, 2007;

Smith, 2009).

What is important is that the culinary activity gave tourists the opportunity to share their

experience with others in the future, with their families and friends. Respondents mentioned

that not only they have developed certain cooking skills but what is more important they are

able to use these skills to recreate a small part of the Catalan culture for their friends at home

and bring them the taste of the country. One of the participants explained:

experience in a different way and to remember our ex

Remember this experience by doing it. (Informant 2)

Cognitivebenefits

Insight into localcuisine andculture

Cooking skilldevelopments

Affective benefits

Future sharing ofthe experiencewith others

Reflective benefits

Learningtraditionalapproach to localcuisine

Socialbenefits

Spending timewith others


9/15


107

Future sharing of experiences with others is quite limited when it comes to heritage (Prentice

et al., 1998; McIntosh, 1999) and museum visitation (Chan, 2009) as such experiences

cannot be adequately divorced from the visited site. Thus, the possibility of future application

and sharing of creative experience can be viewed as something that distinguishes creative

from cultural tourism. It allows tourists to recreate their experience and also makes it

memorable and unique.

Reflective benefits are noted among participants who were already familiar with the local

cuisine and already had some knowledge and perception about it. For these tourists the most

important thing was to learn about a different approach to preparing the meals. They were

familiar with most of the dishes, but what they wanted is to learn more about the traditional,

original way of making them in Catalonia:

Oh we learned different ways, because I am famili

it, this food, and I usually make it in my house, but this is quite different. I wanted to

learn more like a traditional Catalan cuisine. (Informant 18)

In addition to these three types of benefits are social, or recreational benefits. These include

getting to spend enjoyable time with family, friends and other travellers, as well as having a

fun experience. Such benefits are regarded as more of a short term gains with little

understanding of the context (Moscardo, 1996; McIntosh, 1999). Even though the concept of

creative tourism advocates higher tourist engagement with the destination (Richards, 2011),

social benefits are also found to be of key importance for some of the workshop attendees.

They stated benefits such as spending time with friends as the most valuable outcome of the

activity. Yet, these participants did note gaining some new skills and learning about the local

cuisine, but that was of a secondary importance:

Something I did learn, but for me was much important to do this as a group, to do

something together, something a bit different than walking through the city. (Informant

28)

Discussion

When looking at studies researching outcomes of tourist experience (Moscardo,1996;

McIntosh, 1999; Chan, 2009) cognitive, reflective and affective benefits are usually regarded

as mindful outcomes of tourist activity and participants reporting them as mindful participants,

while social gains are connected to low tourist interest in the context and these participants

are, thus, seen as mindless. Though it is found that the process of benefits creation differsamong these two types, such a strict division between mindful and mindless participants

cannot be made in this case.

Tourists reporting social benefits as the key personal value gained attended the workshop

mainly for the reason of socializing. These participants pointed to the importance of the

social setting of the activity, meaning group participation and interaction with others. They put

a greater accent on spending time with friends than on the cooking activity which according

to Moscardo (1996) results in a mindless state from which little understanding is achieved.

However, interaction, experiencing something as a part of a group or community is an

important element of experiential products, which, if present, can influence tourist thoughts,

emotions and even bring certain personal change (Tarssanen and Kylänen, 2007). Skill


10/15


108

development and learning, though of a secondary importance, are noted among these

tourists as well.

Tourist openness and willingness to learn about Spanish cuisine, seen in their learning,

novelty or love for cooking motives, are connected to attainment of cognitive, affective and

reflective benefits, also known as mindful benefits (McIntosh, 199was further facilitated through interpretations and interactions with chef and locals as well as

hands-on activation during the activity allowing tourist to be creative and to aid in the

production of their own subjective experience. These tourists considered connection of the

creative activity with destination culture as a highly valued factor of their experience

(Richards, 2011). They became sensitive to the context, actively process information and

emotionally involve with the culture of the place (Moscardo, 1996, Chan, 2009) which

allowed them to learn, gain an insight into destinations cuisine and culture and otherwise

benefit. Thus tourists imbue activities with their thoughts, imaginations and emotions, giving

them personal meaning (Uriely, 2005). Not only the importance of activation of different

senses in creative tourism practices (Richards and Wilson, 2007) is confirmed, but also the

importance of co-creation advocated by Binkhorst and den Dekker (2009) which are some of

understanding with locals for transformative effects to happen, were seen as important in this

study.

However, no deep personal transformation came from the studied culinary experience nor

came from experiential learning and emotional engagement, rather than factual learning.

Thus, as noted by McIntosh (1999) beneficial experience can be potentially divorced from the

site and be longer lasting, particularly the cooking skill development and future sharing withothers. However, it seems that the cooking activity did not provoke greater transformations of

tourist personality. This is probably due to the nature of this particular creative activity, being

time limited and more structured. However, as stated in the literature (Landry, 2010),

transformational effects might in its simplest form include cooking the meal learned from

locals. Though skill development, learning and insight might lead to enhancement of tourist

personality, this was not widely mentioned by the class participants. Only the possibility of

changing travelling practices in future by attending cooking classes for gaining greater

gastronomic knowledge was mentioned by a few participants. These claims, however,

cannot be confirmed as such investigation goes beyond the scope of this study. Thus identity

building, so often mentioned in creative tourism literature (Richards and Wilson, 2007;Richards, 2011), did not emerge as a significant theme. Nevertheless, cultural insight, skill

and knowledge gain are still important and are to some

personal growth (Landry, 2010).

Furthermore, some of the tourists reporting three types of thoughtful benefits also stated

experiencing enjoyment and having fun with others during the cooking, thus attaining social

benefits. Therefore, it seems that creative tourists can be mindful and mindless at the same

time (Chan, 2009) and that interaction with other tourists and entertainment did not decrease

tourist engagement with the activity but actually enhanced it and contributed to the overall

experience. It can be concluded that a strict distinction between mindless and mindful

participants cannot be made as tourist can have characteristics of both, as well as move from

one type to another during the activity.


11/15


109

Finally, important point emerged from the responses is the perception of the creative cooking

experience as being authentic and memorable. Tourists found the cooking activity to be

closely related to the destination visited, underlining the importance of experiencing countr

gastronomy while actually being in a real Catalan setting. Besides the authenticity of the

setting, the theme emerging from the data analysis is the perception of the overall

experience as an authentic one. Respondents stated that the cooking activity theyexperienced is quite different from other activities they undertook in Barcelona, such as

and made the activity unique. Thus, by actively creating

their experience tourists were able to give personal meaning to it and engage with the

destination culture, thus perceiving the activity as different and unique. Such a perception of

authenticity is

traditional passive view of authenticity towards a more active and personal one (McIntosh

and Prentice, 1999). Authenticity in creative experiences indeed is not so much object or

context dependent as much as it depends on the imagination and skill of tourists (Richard

and Wilson, 2006). Despite the fact that the cooking class is effectively staged, staged

authenticity in creative tourism becomes an act of creativity which allows tourists to develop

their own meanings of the place (Richards and Wilson, 2007). According to Cloke (2007)

placing and staging allows creative tourists to fill the gaps in the story that are left by

producers, and create their own different storylines. However, as we have seen, the tourist

imagination has to be encouraged through the interactive setting and raw materials on which

they build their own narratives and meanings (Cloke, 2007; Richards and Wilson, 2007).

Moreover, hands on activities allow tourists not just to remember what they have learned, but

also to remember their cooking experience and the journey to Spain. By cooking Spanish

dishes they have learned from locals they will be able to recreate their trip as well as share

their experience with others who are not able to travel with them. This seems to be very

statement that engaging, memorable and meaningful experiences are the offerings of the

highest value.

It can be concluded that, indeed, if the tourists become affected by their travel activity, the

experience can be regarded as authentic and memorable (Pine and Gilmore, 1999; Binkhorst,2007).

Conclusion

This study sought to explore the outcomes of creative tourism experience that are personally

valued and important to tourists themselves. It examined motivation as well as the emotive

and psychological processes experienced by tourists in their interaction with the activity

setting in order to find how these experiences are valued or seen as beneficial. The lack of

empirical research of tourist creative experience pointed to the need to obtain more

information about its nature and the benefits it brings.


12/15


110

In order to fulfil the aims of this study qualitative methodology, combination of face-to-face

workshops in Barcelona. Review of the theory led to the choice of benefit-based approach as

a suitable framework for data gathering and analysis of the study results. The findings are

based on existing literature on creative tourism and tourist experiences combined with an

explorative and qualitative research design.

It was found that tourists see multiple benefits of their creative cooking experience. The key

benefits found are categorized into cognitive, affective, reflective and social benefits. Tourists

reporting social gains as most important put emphasis on motive of socializing and the

setting providing interaction with others. Though according to McIntosh (1999) social gains,

such as spending time with others and having fun, are connected to tourist mindlessness,

tourists reporting them also showed a certain level of learning and skill development. On the

other hand, tourist openness and willingness to learn about the local cuisine, seen in their

learning, novelty or love for cooking motives, together with the setting facilitating active

participation and co-creation with the locals, are found to be the most important for tourists to

experience immersion and psychological engagement with the local culture, thus, achieving

cognitive, affective and reflective benefits. However, these tourists also reported having fun

and enjoying interaction with others during the class which complemented their overall

positive experience. Thus, a strict distinction between mindless and mindful participants

cannot be made as tourist can have characteristics of both and move from one type to

another during the workshop.

Overall, tourists perceived the experience as authentic and memorable, despite the fact that

the cooking class is effectively staged. This subjective perception of authenticity coincides

actively creating their experience tourists were able to give a personal meaning to it andengage with the destination culture, thus perceiving the activity as different and unique.

Moreover, hands-on activities allow tourists not just to remember what they have learned, but

also to remember their cooking experience and their experience of Spain.

This research has made important contributions to both theory and practice. As one of the

pioneering studies in its field, the study laid the ground for the further discussion of

destination creativity from a tourist perspective. Moreover, it contributed to the current debate

on beneficial experiences in tourism. The findings provide valuable information for the

management and marketing of creative products. Understanding of the personal value

tourists attach to their creative experience is important for adequate product development

and enhancement of related tourist experience. The fact that creative tourists, besides

also seeking to socialize, is something for destination managers and tourism suppliers to

consider when developing the creative tourism offer.

However, the findings of this research project need to be viewed in the light of its limitations.

Since the aim of the study was to shed light on a relatively unresearched tourism topic,

attempt to generalize the results was not made. Thus, the findings should be interpreted as

tentative and should be seen as basis for further research. Future research on tourist

creative experiences should involve in-depth interviews with a large sample of tourists and

include more scientific sampling, which may serve to achieve greater generalisability of thefindings. Research should include greater variety of creative tourism products. Furthermore,


13/15


111

it would be interesting to investigate influence of tourist socio-demographic characteristics on

benefit creation.

References

Atkinson, R., and Easthope, H. (2009) The consequences of the creative class: The pursuit of

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 33(1),

pp. 64-79.

Beeho, A. J., and Prentice, R. C. (1995) Evaluating the Experience and Benefits Gained by Tourists

Visiting A Socio-Industrial Heritage Museum: An Application of ASEB Grid Analysis to Blists Hill Open-

Air Museum, The Ironbridge Gorge Museum, United Kingdom, Museum Management and Curatorship

14(3), pp. 229-251.

Beeho, A. J., and Prentice, R. C. (1997) Conceptualizing the Experience of Heritage Tourists - A case

study of New Lanark World Heritage Site, Tourism Management 18(2), pp. 75-87.

Binkhorst, E. (2007) Creativity in tourism experiences: The case of Sitges. In G. Richards, G. and

Wilson, J. (eds) Tourism, creativity and development. London: Routledge, pp. 124-144.

Binkhorst, E., and den Dekker, T. (2009) Agenda for co-creation tourism experience research, Journal

of Hospitality Marketing and Management 18(2-3), pp. 311-327.

Boorstin, D. (1964) The image: A guide to pseudo events in America. New York: Harper and Row.

Chan, J. K. (2009) The Consumption of Museum Service Experiences: Benefits and Value, Journal of

Hospitality Marketing and Management 18(2-3), pp. 173-196.

Cloke, P. (2007) Creativity and tourism in rural environments. In Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (eds)

Tourism, creativity and development. London: Routledge, pp. 37-47.

Cohen, E. (1979) A phenomenology of tourist experience, Sociology 13(2), pp. 179 201.

Couret, C. (2010) Barcelona Creative Tourism. In Wurzburger, R., Aageson, T., Pattakos, A and Pratt,

S. (eds) Creative Tourism: A Global Conversation. Sante Fe: Sunstone Press, pp. 118-128.

Florida, R. (2002) The rise

and everyday life. New York: Basic Books.

Gonzalez, C. (2011) El turismo se vuelve creative, Revista Savia 94, pp. 52-56.

Hannigan, J. (2007) From fantasy city to creative city. In Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (eds) Tourism,

creativity and development. London: Routledge, pp. 48 56.

Hjalager, A.-M. (2002) A typology of gastronomy tourism. In Hjalager, A.-M. and Richards, G. (eds)

Tourism and Gastronomy. London: Routledge, pp. 21-35.

Kang, E.-

The case of the Jeju April 3rd Peace Park, Korea, Tourism Management 33(2), pp. 257-265.

Landry, C. (2010) Experiencing imagination: Travel as a creative trigger. In Wurzburger, R., Aageson,

T., Pattakos, A and Pratt, S. (eds) Creative Tourism: A Global Conversation. Sante Fe: Sunstone

Press, pp. 33-42.

MacCannell, D. (1973) Staged authenticity: arrangements of social space in tourist settings, American

Journal of Sociology 79(3), pp. 589-603.


14/15


112

Maitland, R. (2007) Tourists, the creative class and distinctive areas in major cities. In Richards, G.

and Wilson, J. (eds) Tourism, creativity and development. London: Routledge, pp. 73-86.

Journal of

Travel and Tourism Marketing 8(1), pp. 41- 64.

McIntosh, A., and Prentice, R. (1999) Affirming authenticity: Consuming cultural representations astourism, Annals of Tourism Research 26 (3), pp. 589 612.

Moscardo, G. (1996) Mindful Visitor. Heritage and Tourism, Annals of Tourism Research 23(2), pp.

376-397.

Peck, J. (2005) Struggling with the creative class, International Journal of Urban and Regional

Reserach 29(4), pp. 740-770.

Pine, B.J., and Gilmore, J.H. (1998) Welcome to the experience economy, Harvard Business Review

76(4), pp. 97 105.

Pine, B.J., and Gilmore, J.H. (1999) The experience economy: Work is theatre and every business is astage. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Pratt, A.C. (2008) Creative cities: The cultural industries and the creative class, Geografiska annaler:

Series B - Human geography 90(2), pp. 107-117.

Prentice, R.C., Witt, S. F., and Hamer, C. (1998) Tourism As Experience: The Case of Heritage Parks,

Annals of Tourism Research 25(1), pp. 1-24.

Ravenscroft, N., and van Westering, J. (2002) Gastronomy and intellectual property. In Hjalager, A.-M.

and Richards, G. (eds) Tourism and Gastronomy. London: Routledge, pp. 153-165.

Raymond, C. (2007) Creative tourism New Zealand: The practical challenges of developing creativetourism. In Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (eds) Tourism, creativity and development. London: Routledge,

pp. 145-157.

Richards, G. (2002) Gastronomy: an essential ingredient in tourism production and consumption? In

Hjalager, A.-M. and Richards, G. (eds) Tourism and Gastronomy. London: Routledge, pp. 3-21.

Richards, G. (2009) Tourism devlopment trajectories - From culture to creativity? Retrieved February

15, 2012, from ATLAS Cultutral tourism research project: http://www.tram-

research.com/atlas/APC%20Paper%20Greg%20Richards.PDF

Richards, G. (2010) Creative Tourism and Local Development. In Wurzburger, R., Aageson, T.,

Pattakos, A and Pratt, S. (eds) Creative Tourism: A Global Conversation. Sante Fe: Sunstone Press,pp. 78-90.

Richards, G. (2011) Creativity and Tourism. State of the Art, Annals of Tourism Research 38(4), pp.

1225-1253.

Richards, G., and Raymond, C. (2000) Creative Tourism. ATLAS news 23, pp. 16-20.

Richards, G., and Wilson, J. (2006) Developing creativity in tourist experiences: A solution to the serial

reproduction of culture? Tourism Management 27(6), pp. 1408-1413.

Richards, G., and Wilson, J. (eds) (2007) Tourism, creativity and development. London: Routledge.


15/15


113

Rogerson, C. (2007) Creative industries and tourism in the developing world: The example of South

Africa. In Richards, G. and Wilson, J. (eds) Tourism, creativity and development. London: Routledge,

pp. 229-239.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., and Thornhill, A. (2009) Research methods for business students (5th ed.)

Edinburgh: Pearson Education.

Schanzel, H. A., and McIntosh, A. J. (2000) An Insight into the Personal and Emotive Context of

Wildlife Viewing at the Penguine Place, Otago Penisula, New Zaeland, Journal of Sustainable Tourism

8(1), pp. 36-52.

Sharpley, R., and Stone, P. R. (2010) Tourist Experience: Contemporary perspectives. London:

Routledge.

Shin, W. S., Jaakson, R., and Kim, E. I. (2001) Benefits-based analysis of visitor use of Sorak-San

National Park in Korea, Environmental Management 28(3), pp. 413-419.

Silverman, D. (2006) Interpreting qualitative data. Methods for Analysing Talk, Text and Interaction.

London: Sage Publications.

Smith, M. (2009) Issues in Cultural Tourism (2nd

ed). London: Routledge.

Tarssanen, S., and Kylänen, M. (2007) A Theoretical Model for Producing Experiences A Tourist

Perspective. In Kylänen, M. (ed.) Articles on Experiences 2. Rovaniemi: Lapland University Press, pp.

134-154.

Uriely, N. (2005) The Tourist experience: Conceptual developments, Annals of Tourism Research

32(1), pp.199 216.

Wang, N. (1999) Rethinking authenticity in tourism experience, Annals of Tourism Research 26(2), pp.

349-370.

Benefits of Creative Tourism - The Tourist Perspective

Documents

Transcript of Benefits of Creative Tourism - The Tourist Perspective