As part of the Crocus Project on Cross-Border Cultural and Creative Tourism in Rural and Remote Areas we have been looking for examples of business models that can help inform our work. We have been looking at many different types of Cultural and Creative Tourism (CCT), including experiences based on both tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Our literature review of the CCT field indicated that Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is particularly important for rural areas

In the Crocus Project we have been examining the development of cross-border cultural and creative tourism in rural and remote areas. As in many previous projects, the basic approach has been to combine teams located on different sides of the border to develop cross-border activities. However, as a recent presentation to the University of the Greater Region (UniGR) -Center for Border Studies based at Trier University examined, the border often disappears in such projects. The

Mid-summer in the northern hemisphere is traditionally a time for trivial news stories to entertain us as we take a bit of a break from the ‘real’ world – the so-called ‘silly season’. Because a lot of us are on holiday, much of the content also focusses on tourism. Journalists suddenly call tourism and leisure academics asking questions like ‘why do people go on holiday?’ or ‘what is the optimal amount of time to be on holiday?’ or ‘what is the size of the stag and hen party

In a recent paper published as part of the Crocus Project we highlighted the changing rhetoric about borders in Europe. In the light of subsequent events in Ceuta and the use of these to inflame populist sentiments about migration, it seems that the dangers we flagged up regarding ‘re-bordering’ in Europe are becoming all too real. After a long period of de-bordering following the Schengen agreement 40 years ago, there are now growing signs of European re-bordering in respons

As we reported in previous posts, festivals and events are under increasing pressure from rising costs, lack of volunteers, pressures on space and increased regulation. A recent report by the Dutch news service NOS has outlined the problems for community events across the country. A major issue is the increased bureaucracy attached to even the smallest events. There are a growing number of rules related to event permits, safety and first aid, training and traffic management.

Looking at the development of the wine drinking market, one might be forgiven for thinking there isn’t much of a future for wine tourism. Globally, wine consumption and production volumes continue to fall, with a 4% decline in the US wine market in 2024. But help is at hand. Wineries are reacting to this challenging market by diversifying, and wine tourism is one of the major growth areas. A recent report by Roberta Garibaldi shows that in 2026, around 18 million Italians wil

When an email from Tripadvisor popped into our inbox headed “Psst… Our Trendcast knows where you should go next” that rang a bell. A while ago, Wendy Morrill and I wrote a blog piece on “the intention economy”, which outlined how consumer desires and motivations as the drivers of tourism demand. The growth of AI, and algorithms able to predict our wants, the ‘intention economy’ means that companies can know what we want and where we might travel, before we do. Creative touri

A new article published in The Conversation analyses the demand for creative tourism in South Africa. Gijsbert Hoogendoorn, Anneli Douglas and Greg Richards report that Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are increasingly taking part in creative skill building experiences such as cooking classes in traditional African cuisine in townships like Soweto and Langa, or painting workshops in small towns like Villiersdorp in the Western Cape. Street creativity in Johannesburg T

A recent report by Growth Market Reports indicates that the ‘creative tourism’ market was worth almost $90 billion in 2024, and is projected to grow at over 8% a year from 2025 to 2033. This would make creative tourism worth a whopping $176 billion by the end of 2033. Just a minute….isn’t creative tourism a niche market? Actively engaging with arts and crafts on holiday is a growing trend Yes, indeed, but it depends how you define it, and how you measure it. The Growth Market

There was a time when just going to the Alpujarras, with their picturesque white villages nestling in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Andalusia, was enough for a fulfilling holiday. Those days are long gone, as travellers increasingly seek meaning and fulfilment from their holidays. A writer from the Guardian discovered as much when invited to sample a ‘wild clay ceramics retreat’ at Las Mecías, a “regenerative farm & experiential guesthouse in the Alpujarras”. If this

If you want to get away from it all, there are few better places than the middle of the Baltic sea. Bornholm, a tiny Danish island closer to Sweden, Germany or Poland than it is to Denmark, is the perfect rural tourism getaway. But the pressure for rural and remote areas to reinvent themselves as new centres of creativity and knowledge development is also palpable in Bornholm. As the Visit Bornholm website underlines “you can hardly move on Bornholm without meeting an artis

One of the most enduring tourism myths is the idea that cultural tourism is growing faster than other sectors of global tourism. Ever since Bywater conjured up the ‘statistic’ that cultural tourism was growing at 15% a year in 1993, this idea has continued to gain popularity – despite no hard evidence being presented. In the book Rethinking Cultural Tourism, Greg Richards examined the available evidence for this apparent boom in cultural tourism, which continues to this day.

A recent report from the European Commission highlights the role of cultural and creative tourism in conserving Europe's rich heritage while supporting local communities. Cultural tourism accounts for nearly 40% of all European tourism and generates substantial spending from the longer stays of cultural and creative tourists. The report explores innovative projects focused on integrating sustainability into cultural tourism practices, particularly in less-known and remote reg

The concept of street art tends to evoke images of inner city streets decorated with murals. But increasingly the practice of street art is moving beyond the confines of the city and out into rural and remote settings. A recent feature in Understory Magazine highlighted the growing rural graffiti movement as an example of rural creativity. Highlighting “Epic Rural Murals” from spray-painted silos in Australia to barn wall murals in the American Midwest, the article argued th

As the experience economy has developed, the range and variety of experiences on offer has become overwhelming. This is good news if you know what you want, but for many consumers this creates ‘choice stress’. Not only do we have to choose from among a vast array of experiences, but our choices will also be judged by others when we post about them on social media. We are therefore seeing a ‘curatorial turn’ in tourism, with experiences being selected by human experts, influen

The latest initiative by Thailand to develop creative tourism has seen Bangkok team up with Airbnb to produce the “first-ever Creative...

After Covid many places hoped that a new form of tourism would emerge, with more domestic visitors, more sustainable travel and less...

A popularised version of the paper by Annelli Douglas, Gijsbert Hoogendoorn and Greg Richards on Millennial creative tourism experiences...

The BBC4 documentary Close to Vermeer follows the development of the most successful blockbuster exhibition ever staged at the...

The Tate Modern art museum in London is one of the world’s most popular cultural tourism attractions, with 5.5 million visits a year. The...