Creative tourism: a challenge for the Campania Region

In the current phase of recession, competition in a territorial context has induced institutional management of tourist resorts to revise their supply strategies in order to create distinctive places in terms of image and travel experience. This has originated in what is known as creative tourism, characterised by active participation of tourist and involving respect for local communities. In tune with the literature (e.g. Greg Richards’ strand of research) not to mention international initiatives (such as the setting up of the Creative Tourism Network, with the support of Unesco), our paper - in an attempt to stimulate debate (actually quite low-key) in Italy - evidences the fact that the consolidation of local economies based on creativity is the inevitable condition for the taking off of this new form of tourism. Consequently, our study which should be placed in a theoretical-empirical context, having illustrated the importance of creative territories in the virtuous process of tourism development, by means of an analysis of selected best practice, focuses on the case of the region of Campania. The study exalts the presence of endogenous resources (suffice it to mention the material cultural patrimony/heritage and above all, the artistic/artisan chain) for enhancement to disseminate the added value represented by creativity and in order to implement a model of creative tourism. Particular attention is addressed to the opportunity of overcoming specific socio-economic issues that currently hinder the establishing of territories capable of triggering systemic dynamics necessary for achieving two advantages: on the one hand, to consent local economies to meet the challenges of the global crisis scenario, on the other to guarantee balance in territory tourist flows between inland areas and coastal zones