The concept of Creative Tourism is already 21 years old. It was first defined by Crispin Raymond and Greg Richards: "Tourism that offers visitors the opportunity to develop their creative potential through active participation in courses and learning experiences that are characteristic of the vacation destination to which they are taken". Nothing new... But an approach that may be a bit overlooked, and that deserves to be effectively recovered, within a Regenerative Tourism.

In what will be a strong competition between destinations to attract tourists to their country, two factors stand out: their authenticity and the People who welcome them. Everything else is just a matter of personal preference. Portugal is very strong in both pillars and therefore it is fundamental that in its recovery strategy it considers an approach based on creativity, regeneration, and People.

Tourists are no longer looking just to "visit". They want to experience, to feel, and live a little of the authenticity of the country, of the region they are visiting. Because that cannot be copied. You can only experience being Portuguese in Portugal. And here the opportunities are countless. And the advantages for all tourism stakeholders as well. Including the communities where they are inserted. That is why we cannot dissociate the term Creative Tourism from Regenerative Tourism. Both complement each other and their power in creating better Tourism is enormous.

Regenerative Creative Tourism will allow:

local activities and industries get valued and get going again. Traditions are not lost.
culture and history recreate themselves and attract younger generations. Multigenerational.
the immersive experiences stay in the memory and there will be an urge to want to do more. Loyalty.
these experiences are available without time limits. Combat seasonality.
the communities have an interactive role with tourism. Co-creation.
sustainability in the preservation of spaces and environments by their reuse. Regeneration.

We could continue with a much more extensive list, but more than that, we want to bring back to life Creative Tourism, which already has several projects in Portugal, but all a bit scattered. We want to be a country alive in the arts, in traditions, in gastronomy, in knowledge and customs. And we know that Tourism has the power to keep all this alive and contagious to the world. But we need to unite. We need to co-create together. In different dimensions.

The current challenges are enormous and hence our concern for the future of Regenerative Creative Tourism. If on the one hand, we believe that this has to be the path, we are also aware of the current situation of companies, of small businesses that bleed and try to survive at such a cost. That's why we remind you again and insist: the solution has to be global. It has to be from everyone to everyone. Without exception.

Regeneration and creativity have to enter the mindset of our entrepreneurs and managers. Only in this way will they be able to guarantee success in the future. Sustainability is the new digital. None of this is hypothetical or empirical. It is very real. There is a global need to embrace sustainability, community integration, and respect for People in the way we create Tourism.

We understand that more "comfortable" concepts like pricing, profit, and profitability may still be the focus. But these will always be short-term solutions, unsustainable and fragile. We have to bet on differentiation and authentic positioning, both supported by conscious decisions. Always in a creative perspective, of regeneration and co-creation. There is no other way...