The culture-orientated tours hold a high percentage of the total number of tour on the international scale. Regarding content , culture as a basic motive for taking a tour is characterized with a diversity. On the other hand, regarding time, the tourists’ expectations for cultural-cognitive tours evolve. In this sense the object of this research is the analysis of the essence of culture in the context of the tourist industry; the meaning of arts in the process of taking a decision for a tour; the role of the entertainment and activation of the tourists’ creative abilities during their stay

Emilova, Irena

New Bulgarian University Scholar Electronic Repository

1  CREATIVE DIMENSIONS IN THE TOURIST INDUSTRY Ass.prof. Irena Emilova, phD, Director of program Tourism, New Bulgarian University  The abstract: The culture-orientated tours hold a high percentage of the total number of tour on the international scale. Regarding content , culture as a basic motive for taking a tour is characterized with a diversity. On the other hand, regarding time, the tourists’ expectations for cultural-cognitive tours evolve. In this sense the object of this research is the analysis of the essence of culture in the context of the tourist industry; the meaning of arts in the process of taking a decision for a tour; the role of the entertainment and activation of the tourists’ creative abilities during their stay.  Key words: cultural tourism, arts, entertainment, creative work.   The culture in the tourism context  The European commission of Tourism 1and The World Tourist Organization give definitions to the cultural tourism as it follows:  1. moving of tourists , more attracted by the culture of towns in other countries rather than these in their own countries, with a pronounced striving for getting new information and gaining experience , all this with one purpose – satisfaction of the cultural demand. 2. all movements of the tourists to places with a significant cultural history, with artistic and cultural activities, arts and theater, outside their native countries.                                                            1 1 http://www.etc-corporate.org /  2  The clarification of the term – culture in the context of the tourist industry reveals two spheres of interaction – inner and outer one. The inner one characterizes the primary (traditional) elements of the cultural tourism, which could be grouped as a cultural-historical tourism (related to the artifacts from the past) and an art-tourism (related to the art, the performances and the visual art, the contemporary culture, literature, etc.  Fig.1 An interaction between the culture and tourism    In contrast to the inner one, the outer sphere presents all the secondary elements of the cultural tourism, which could be also divided into two groups – according to the way of living (belief, religion, cuisine, traditions, folklore, etc.) and a creative industry – fashion, graphic and web design, films, media, entertainment, etc.  (Fig.1.)  We should note that in most tourist destinations, according to the visitors’ point of view, the discussed elements fit in with the cultural needs. In the big cities the national culture  ( historical heritage and arts ) and the creative industry ( fashion, design, entertainment )  increase their influence and interdependence more and more, and these tourist centers secure integrated eco-systems or areals of all forms of the human creativity- artistic and cultural, technological and economic, simultaneously developing2.                                                            2 Florida R., The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic books, N.Y., (2002), р. 130  I I                  I                 internal            external   3  According to the content, examining the elements of the cultural tourism, we should pay attention to the tourists’ types too,  both in accordance to the basic tourist motive and the experience of the trip ( Fig.2 ).      Fig. 2  A typology of the cultural tourist3   Strong    Achieved experience     Weak A purposeless  Cultural tourist A purposeful Cultural tourist  An accidental Cultural tourist  A casual  Cultural tourist  A cultural tourist, who goes sight-seeing                         A low level                                                         a high  level The meaning of the cultural tourism in the process of making a decision for a visit of a certain destination     The purposeful tourist has a basic cultural motive to visit a particular tourist destination and gets a high level of experience. The tourist who is looking for sights only also has a motive for a cultural visitation of some tourist destination, but the level of his experience is lower . The purposeful tourist doesn’t travel with a dear cultural motive, but receives strong cultural experience in the end of the tour. The occasional tourist has a weak cultural motive for traveling and experience. The accidental tourist does not travel with a cultural motive, but takes part in some activities and he is poor satisfied regard to the experience.                                                            3 McKercher, Bob and Hilary du Cros. Cultural Tourism: The Partnership Between Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management. New York: Hayworth Hospitality Press, 2002  4  It is of interest the grouping of separate towns – an object of tourist visitations on the basis of the product they offer. Elements of the tourist product are heritage, art and a creative industry (Fig.3)    Fig. 3  Classification of the tourist places and the offered products4   A type of a tourist place   A products’ category   village   town   city   metropolis A cultural heritage  Group 1 Group 2   A cultural heritage + arts  Group 3 Group 4  A cultural heritage + arts + creative works   Group 5 Group 6     The cultural heritage is inherent in places with prevailing supply of a cultural product. Arts concern to the contemporary performances and visual arts in the tourist destinations, and the creative work concerns to the creative industry as a graphic design, fashion, contemporary architecture , etc.. The following table is not a strict classification of the tourist products’ types, but it’s a way for grouping of the towns according to the cultural motivation for tourist visits.  In addition to the former paragraph we’ll look at some particular European towns, which contain different elements of the cultural tourist product (Fig.4)                                                           4www.world-tourism.org/  5  Fig.  4  A classification of some European cities (  based on Fig. 3)5   Accumulation 2 (cities with cultural wealth) Accumulation 3 ( cities with cultural wealth and art ) Accumulation 4 (cities with cultural wealth and arts) Accumulation  5 (cities with cultural wealth and art + creative industry) Accumulation 6 (metropolis  cities with cultural wealth and art + creative industry) Avilla Avignon Athens Amsterdam Berlin Bamberg Basil Antwerpen Barcelona Istanbul Canterbury Beirut Eddinburg Brussels London Cordoba Bologna Glasgow Budapest Madrid Delphoi Bruges Hamburg Copenhagen Paris Granada Florence Хелзинки Dublin Rome Heidelberg Krakow Porto Lisbon  Oxford Laibach Prague Lion  Pizza Ljubljana Rotterdam Milan  Siena Oslo Salzburg Munich  Wurzburg Riga Sevilia Naples  York Santiago de Compostella  Vienna   Tallinn     Venecia      Entertainments in the tourist industry  The arts and  tourism are characterized with complex connections and interactions. Often the institutions , that popularize the culture , encourage these two sectors to realize their activities by harmonizing them. As a term, the cultural tourism contains the arts, but offers more opportunities to the tourists. The tours with culture-cognitive purpose unite the pleasure of visiting the real and live arts, museums, galleries, historical sights, exhibition, public arts and architecture, festivals, films and other cultural events that are objects of the entertaining tourism.  The entertaining activities have a great contribution to the development of the tourist industry. In 2007 The World Tourism Organization accounted an approximate share of                                                            5 http://www.etc-corporate.org/resources/ 6  42% of the cultural tourism of the total number of the realized tours around the world and prognosticated growth of 15%6  per year.  According to different researches in this sphere it’s been ascertained that the tours with a purpose are the most growing ones in the tourist industry7.   The tourists who start on such a tour like to take pleasure in exhibitions and performances, the local cuisine, to become acquainted with the local traditions and customs, to be absorbed in the atmosphere of the concrete tourist destination. They feel joy from the excitements, which activate their imagination and give them the opportunities to get buried in and connected to the past.  In this context by the popularization of the destinations which are not in the first ranks of the top group of the most visited ones ,  turns the public interest to the architecture and brings to the fore new or already known sights.  On the other hand, there are conditions which define this moment as a perspective one for the development of tourism and the realization of its potential just through the entertaining industry.  Furthermore we should note that the tourists’ experiences keep changing. A set of researches show that the tourists search more and more for an authentic experience. They want to gain broad and good knowledge of the tourist place, as well as to make their stay longer enjoying the atmosphere8. For example, Great Britain remains unique to the tourist who visit it through the development of the trade-mark  “ The Experience called Great Britain ”. Besides the most precise words which could define the country as a tourist destinations are  “  profound, cordial and vital”.  They describe the tourists’ expectations of the experience when visiting this country – historical wealth, warmth and spirit,                                                           6 http://unwto.org/facts/eng/barometer.htm 7http://www.tram-research.com/atlas/otherreports.htm   8Clarke, A., The power to define: meanings and values in cultural tourism.  Reflections on International Tourism: Expressions of Culture, Identity and Meaning in Tourism (Business Education Publishing), 2006  7  combined with dynamics, which add to Great Britain a unique sense of a tranquility  and leave great impressions in the tourists.  Through the entertaining industry the development of both arts and culture is possible in maintenance of the authenticity (the trade mark) of a concrete tourist destination. On the other hand, the cultural tourism adds thoroughness and a sense for the past of a particular nation.  The widely approachable heritage of the tourist destinations is presented by the wide range of entertainments – concerts, local festivals, craftsman’s articles in the authentic cottages, open exposures, supplied with places for meetings, etc.   In this connection some privileges of the Britain city Liverpool could be pointed out. This town was determined as a European capital of culture in 2008 and was awarded by  UNESCO  (in year 2004)  with the title “a world heritage”  due to its architecture of a world importance . This is a great chance for Liverpool to show its rich cultural life and to strengthen its position of a leading tourist center9.  It’s also of an interest the fact that in 2012 the capital of Great Britain London is going to play host to the Olympics and Para-olympics games.  The creative tourism  We’ll pay attention to a new prospective , which concerns  the development of the tourist industry through activating the creativeness  of the tourists in an untraditional way – drawing, photography, poetry.  This new aspect of the entertaining tourism also deserves attention. The creative tourism is especially appropriate to the contemporary tourists and their growing demand for opportunities for self-development and improvement.                                                           9 Richards G., Cultural Tourism in Europe, CABI, Wallingford, 2005 8   The tendencies in the development of the tourist industry show that its greatest potential opportunities are grounded on the prin to satisfy the non-material tourists’ needs – for spare time, space, positive emotions and a sensation of self-confidence. Furthermore the consumers of tourist products show more and more increasing desire to associate together with one another as well as with the local residents. Such intentions are being achieved exactly through the development of the creative tourism.  The idea for the creative tourism originated in New Zealand and it’s defined as a “more active form of tourism through which an authentic sensation for the local culture is being offered through the participation of the tourists in non-formal interactive cognitive seminars and trainings, characteristic of the concrete tourist destination10”.  The key aspect of the creative tourism is the opportunity, which truly allows the participation and the creation of something new. Among the needs of the tourists who visit the European region, it has been observed the increase of these needs which combine the pleasure of sight-seeing with the practice of hobby-interests like painting, photography and creative writing.  The meaning of the creative tourism gains a greater importance due to the following couple of reasons11:  Through it the tourists receive experience with a higher level of satisfaction in comparison to the tours which offer visitations of interesting places related to the art or culture only;  The creative tourism offers the visitors the opportunity to estimate more profound the nature and life of the local residents. The visitors want to                                                           10 Wilson J., Greg Richards, Tourism, Creativity and Development, Routledge , 2007 11 Robinson, M., The power to define: meanings and values in cultural tourism, Reflections on International Tourism: Expressions of Culture, Identity and Meaning in Tourism (Business Education Publishing), (2000)   9  draw, to photograph, to write poetry or novel, they have the opportunity to get an inspiration from the atmosphere of the concrete destination;  Such a transient holiday or rest creates the sensation of touching something new and gives the opportunity of gaining some new skills. The visitors search more and more for a chance to draw the line between their dynamic daily round and the satisfaction of some other way of living. Through the creation of their own souvenirs, they achieve an emotional intensity, which stimulates them to come back again and to spend more time in a particular destination.  In conclusion, the culture of a country, which is a significant tourist center, presents a synthesis of different elements each of which is a basic motive for starting on a tour – a historical heritage, art, creative works. It is namely these elements by means of which it is available the opportunity for a development of new untraditional forms of tourism and ways for offering and organization of attractive tours.  References:  1. Clarke, A., The power to define: meanings and values in cultural tourism. Reflections on International Tourism: Expressions of Culture, Identity and Meaning in Tourism (Business Education Publishing), 2006 2. Florida R., The Rise of the Creative Class, Basic books, N.Y., (2002), р. 130 3. Emilova I., The Creative Tourism: a report from 13th National Symposium “Quality, Competitivety and Sustainability. Sofia: Publishing house of University of National and World Economy, 2009 4. McKercher, Bob and Hilary du Cros. Cultural Tourism: The Partnership between Tourism and Cultural Heritage Management. New York: Hayworth Hospitality Press, 2002 5. Richards G., Cultural Tourism in Europe, CABI, Wallingford, 2005 10  6. Robinson, M., The power to define: meanings and values in cultural tourism, Reflections on International Tourism: Expressions of Culture, Identity and Meaning in Tourism (Business Education Publishing), (2000) 7. Wilson J., Greg Richards, Tourism, Creativity and Development, Routledge , 2007 8. http://www.etc-corporate.org/ 9. www.world-tourism.org/ 10. http://www.etc-corporate.org/resources/ 11. http://unwto.org/facts/eng/barometer.htm 12. http://www.tram-research.com/atlas/otherreports.htm      

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