Revitalizing Rural Tourism through Creative Tourism: the Role and Importance of the Local Community

Creative tourism is a current topic, yet most of the research is focused on the urban context, with few articles focusing on how creativity can be used and developed in the setting of rural tourism. Furthermore, the theoretical elements identified in this article can become checkpoints through which better strategies for sustainable rural tourism can be developed in the future. Although rich in culture, Romanian villages have not developed their rural tourism offer to its full potential, partly because of the lack of involvement of the local community in long-term tourism planning and development, but also due to the changes in what tourists want from their tourism experience. In response to shifting patterns in consumer behavior, creative tourism has emerged as a better form of cultural tourism, but mostly in urban areas, which has led to a proliferation of creative industries and people within that specific context. The study proposes that most Romanian rural communities in areas pertaining to tourism already have local individuals with some of the characteristics of the creative people necessary for the development of creative tourism. By involving the entire local community in tourism planning, and not just the local actors with direct ties to it, Romanian rural tourism can be revitalized.