Journal of Tourism & Hospitality
Open Access

Abstract

Factors Involved in Assessing Capacity of Creative Tourism: Case Study - Tabriz City in Iran

Fereshteh Doosti, Mohammad Hassan Zaal and Mehdi Ramezanzadeh Lasbuie

As commonly understood, the importance of creativity in tourism studies and market can be conceived in relation to art crafts and creative products over the years, shifting to a wide range of tourism-based activities. It is believed that these activities can be considered as general forces for tourism development, as a result there is a dramatic growth in the popularity of creative tourism. Nowadays, tourists have a noticeable tendency to refrain from repeated activities in order to profit from new feelings and experiences. Creative tourism activities have provided an opportunity for tourists to learn more about local skills, expertise, traditions and unique qualities of the places they are visiting. In this research, the capacity of creative tourism in Tabriz city in Iran has been studied. Variables related to creativity including creative class, creative economy, creative experience, creative city, and creative tourism has been gathered from various researches. And, a questionnaire has been arranged and distributed among 60 tourism experts in this city. Then, the hidden factors in the development of creative tourism have been identified using factor analysis. Finally, eight factors, out of 29 variables, such as “physical capital and visual assets”, “personality upgrading”, “passive rules and scientific genius”, “informative environment”, “excellent coexistence”, “an introduction of new ideas”, “risk takers”, and “leisure time” have been extracted from the experts’ perspectives of this city. By investing in cultural affairs and the enrichment of urban space and the quality of educational affairs, this city has made impressive strides towards attracting creative classes and developing creative tourism in order to become a creative city.