Eighth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

Creative tourism gives a novel, diversified, and meaningful experience to tourists. It is distinctive due to the active participation of tourists in different activities along with the local community. The various activities in which tourist participates are the attraction of creative tourism. In India, the tourism industry is unaware of how one activity might persuade a tourist to participate in another activity. Hence, this study examines the interrelationship between major activities available for tourists in a city. This study identifies six major activities: Interaction with artisans, shopping, workshop visits, exhibition visits, co-creation, and local experience in the area. To find out the relationship between these, a decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method (DEMATEL) is applied to form a structural model. A pairwise questionnaire was developed, and fourteen experts from various fields of tourism were interviewed. This study found that among the six activities, visiting the workshops had an impact on every other activity. In contrast, shopping does not affect any of them. It was also found that the interaction of tourists with artisans is the most influencing activity, which means a slight improvement in this will bring effective positive change in the rest of the activities. This study will help policymakers and development authorities understand the need to develop influential activities such as workshop visits and interaction with artisans in the priority phase, improving the whole system. The study will also help to develop creative tourism in India by investing resources in the most crucial sectors.