Creative Tourism as a Catalyst for Enhancing Sustainability Levels in Small Communities in Egypt

The early 21st century has witnessed the emergence of the creative turn concept into tourism strategies. Creative tourism became a tool to distinguish communities and eliminate serial consumption of cultural tourism resources, as it depends on active engagement with local communities through sharing creative talents and skills like painting, crafts, dancing, festivals, culinary, etc. In this regard, the paper aimed to shed light on the potential of creative tourism as an innovative alternative to traditional cultural tourism and its ability to enhance sustainability levels, especially in smaller communities.

Accordingly, the interrelationship between creative tourism and sustainability levels was discussed through an analytical-descriptive methodology. A sample of entrepreneurial travel agents was tested through semi-structured interviews to estimate the potential opportunities and threats that may challenge applying creative tourism initiatives in small communities. In conclusion, the paper proved that creative tourism has an impact on reinforcing the concept of sustainability on the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural levels in small communities in Egypt. Besides, a creative map was proposed to locate the creative tourism potential of the well-known small communities in Egypt.