Social inclusion of older artisans through creative tourism

ABSTRACT

Creative tourism has a potential role in promoting social benefits for communities and social inclusion of artisans; however, studies investigating this are lacking. This paper contributes to filling this gap in the literature by exploring the role of creative tourism in combating social exclusion among older artisans in the context of Loulé Criativo, a pioneering creative tourism initiative in Portugal. This qualitative study reveals, from the perspective of management staff and older artisans, that creative tourism reduces the social exclusion of older artisans through processes as improving social relations, fostering creativity and strengthening connections to place and community. Policy makers and tourism professionals can use creative tourism initiatives to actively engage older artisans and promote their empowerment and social recognition.

KEYWORDS:

• Social exclusion
• social inclusion
• quality of life
• creative tourism
• well-being
• older people

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2023.2299447

Notes

1. For more information on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG): https://sdgs.un.org/goals

2. Creative Tourism Destination Development in Small Cities and Rural Areas (CREATOUR) project was an interdisciplinary research and application project in Portugal that started in the year 2016 and lasted until 2019. The main aim of the project was developing the basis of a creative tourism network in the Norte, Alentejo, Algarve and Centro regions of Portugal (Duxbury, 2021).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [UI/BD/150801/2020].