A new type of tourist to New Zealand is born. Nelson Bays Arts Advocacy & Marketing Trust (Arts Marketing) today announced the launch of a new network, Creative Tourism New Zealand (CTNZ), that will offer a wide range of hands-on creative workshops to visitors.A new type of tourist to New Zealand is born. Nelson Bays Arts Advocacy & Marketing Trust (Arts Marketing) today announced the launch of a new network, Creative Tourism New Zealand (CTNZ), that will offer a wide range of hands-on creative workshops to visitors.CTNZ's aim is to encourage visitors to participate in interactive creative experiences in New Zealand. This should develop a new market for creativity, provide a new income stream for artists and crafts people, and add a new cultural dimension to New Zealand's tourism product.
During 2003/04, a pilot study is planned for the Nelson/Tasman region to gain market information. 22 Founder Members, including the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, the World of WearableArt and the Suter Te Aratoi o Whakatu, have agreed to participate in the 12 month pilot. They will offer a range of workshops that draw on the varied culture of the region: from bone carving to bronze casting, from harakeke weaving to woolcraft, from wine appreciation to seafood cookery, from propagating native plants to creating WearableArt. 27 recommended accommodation providers are also affiliated. CTNZ's website www.creativetourism.co.nz has more details.
Belinda Fletcher, the Chair of Arts Marketing, said, 'Arts Marketing is excited to be at the forefront of yet another initiative. CTNZ enables us to provide new opportunities to our artists and associated industries helping them to achieve and contribute toward sustainable economic and cultural growth.'
Ali Boswijk, Chief Executive of Arts Marketing, added, 'I believe that this is the first time anywhere in the world that a mix of creative workshops reflecting the culture of a region has been offered together. Although creative tourism exists elsewhere, particularly in cuisine, so far as I can tell, nowhere else is offering a choice of workshops that are representative of one area and are marketed collectively.'
The concept of creative tourism has been welcomed by a number of influential people. The bottom of the home page of CTNZ's website www.creativetourism.co.nz shows the encouragement received from: Latitude Nelson, Creative New Zealand, Industry New Zealand, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, and Maureen Wheeler, the co-founder of Lonely Planet.
For more details, please contact Ali Boswijk on 03 546 6744
1 May 2003
ABOUT ARTS MARKETING
Arts Marketing has a proven track record in arts industry support and development. It is best known for the publication 'Nelson Regional Guide Book, Art in its Own Place'. The fourth edition of this guide book was launched in September 2002 and to-date sales of the four versions exceed 18,000 copies. The estimated value of international media coverage generated for artists and crafts people in the Nelson region by the third and fourth editions now stands at $20 million.
WHAT IS CREATIVE TOURISM?
Creative tourism involves learning a skill on holiday that is part of the culture of the country or community being visited. Creative tourists develop their creative potential, and get closer to local people, by actively participating in workshops and learning experiences that draw on the culture of their holiday destinations.
Creative tourism is a development of cultural tourism and goes a step further. While cultural tourists visit countries to learn about their culture, this learning process is often fairly passive. Most of the experiences they sample do not encourage them to express themselves. They are more likely to be observers than participants.
In contrast, creative tourists become actively involved in the culture of the countries and communities they visit. While the cultural tourist enjoys visiting, for example, a pottery studio or sampling a range of local foods, the creative tourist takes part in a pottery course or learns to cook local dishes. The creative tourist is always a participant, someone who learns by doing, someone who finds enjoyment and fulfilment in developing new abilities, someone who wants to interact with local people. As a result, creative tourists get closer to the cultures of the countries they visit. In the words of the Chinese proverb: I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand.
Tourist destinations benefit from creative tourism too. By teaching local skills to creative tourists, they have an on-going purpose for the preservation of local knowledge and customs. Employment in traditional activities is encouraged. Long-established skills are valued in today's terms as well as yesterday's. Destinations have new ways to distinguish themselves from their competitors and strengthen their cultural identity.
Creative tourism is cheaper to develop than cultural tourism because it is based on existing skills and is less dependent on purpose-made buildings. Much creative tourism can also take place as easily out of season as in season and can encourage tourists to stay in one place for longer. There is less need for destinations to adapt to the perceived needs of international tourists: creative tourists are more likely to want to be part of the way things are done in their chosen destination.
Creative tourism has existed since tourism began but it has only recently been given its own name. Its originators are Crispin Raymond and Greg Richards: see the website www.creativetourism.co.nz FAQs for their background. In effect, creative tourism is a newly identified tourism brand.