Valencia is strongly positioned in the creative tourism sector.
Indeed, Creative Tourism was the theme of the Urban Tourism Trends Forum organized on October 19 by the Visit València Foundation, within the framework of the celebrations of Valencia, the European Capital of Smart Tourism, and the World Design Capital for the year 2022.
Institutional representatives, as well as local and international experts, have highlighted the immense potential of Valencia to also position itself as a creative tourism destination.
The Councilor for Tourism and Internationalization, Mr. Emiliano García, opened the Conference, emphasizing the creative DNA of Valencia, as well as its ability to adapt and even anticipate the paradigm shifts that are taking place in the tourism sector.
The Director of Visit Valencia, Antonio Bernabé, has presented the infinity of projects and initiatives that make Valencia a benchmark for cultural and intelligent tourism.
The expert Ged Brown, director of the World Tourism Association for Culture and Heritage, has presented a paper on the risks of overtourism, while the director of the Creative Tourism Network® and expert in creative tourism, Caroline Couret, has demonstrated how creative tourism is, in addition to demand with high added value, a tool for the sustainable development of any destination.
Through examples of CreativeFriendlyDestinations certified destinations by the Creative Tourism Network®, distributed throughout the world, Couret has highlighted the virtues of creative tourism – also known as orange tourism – to meet the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, through the deseasonalization, the empowerment of local actors, the preservation and promotion of intangible heritage, or differentiation of destinations through the re-creation of their DNA, among other virtues. Couret highlighted the immense potential of Valencia to become a new benchmark for this virtuous tourism.
Some statements which have been corroborated by the panel of Valencian representatives of the art, crafts and creative industries sector, moderated by the journalist Vicent Molins. From their respective experiences, the interventions of Manuel Costa, director of operations and institutional relations of the Berklee campus in Valencia, Ana Martí Testón, professor and researcher at the Universitat Politècnica de València and co-director of the REMED network, Ana Illueca, ceramist and director of the Ceramic DNA program, have generated an exchange of good practices to optimize the visibility of the creative sector of Valencia, while enriching the cultural offer of Valencians.
The event closed with the conclusions by Joan Carles Cambrills, deputy director of Visit Valencia, who also recalled the upcoming events that highlight Valencia’s leadership as a sustainable and intelligent destination.
