There is no doubt that we have talent and creativity in Portugal looking for an opportunity to implement ideas that promote the development of rural areas in Portugal.

The call for innovative and creative projects for the research project 'Developing Creative Tourism Destinations in Small Towns and Rural Areas' - CREATOUR (click to see the video) has more than a hundred proposals. The majority of them are from the North and Centre of the country (NUTS II), with the majority coming from the private sector (companies) and the third sector (associations), with experience in tourism. The areas of crafts, heritage and gourmet cuisine stand out, with tradition as a common denominator.

The concept of CREATOUR is to create conditions for the implementation of pilot initiatives for creative tourism, in small towns or rural areas, supported by a collaborative structure involving several institutions from different sectors in each region covered. The project will take 3 years and aims to connect the sectors of culture, creativity and tourism by developing an approach that integrates research and practical application of creative tourism ideas. Involving the local stakeholders, from the North to the South of the country, CREATOUR is a partnership between a large list of Research Centres, which includes an ISCTE-IUL team coordinated by Dinâmia'CET-IUL, and nationally coordinated by the Centre for Social Studies of Coimbra University (CES-UC).

CREATOUR will showcase this set of proposals at an international conference where some of the most respected experts in the field will be present, under the theme ‘The State of the Art in Creative Tourism - Leading Research | Advanced Practices | Future Trajectories’ to be held in Coimbra on the 1st and 2nd of June this year.

All those interested in the field of cultural development and creative tourism, from academia to the arts, including students and other professionals working in this area, are welcome.

About the CREATOUR project Learn more