Creative cultural tourism as a tool in regional development

Abstract

The economy in a globalized world is an arena for competing cities and regions. Striving to achieve and secure a better position on the international scene, responsible managements turn to entrepreneurial activities aimed at finding new forms of competitive capitalism. Creative cultural tourism is seen as an important sphere within a thus defined context. The subjects of this paper are the social space of the city, local products, mental space and material space of the city, with special attention given to creative cultural tourism as a tool in the process of regional economic development of cities in Southeast Europe. Having in mind the international and local developmental trend, this paper presents the identified elements of Serbia's creative cultural tourism offer. This is illustrated in the example of forming the cultural routes of Europe, with special attention placed on the Project of Cultural Route of Roman Emperors, which could be an appropriate model of connecting cities, municipalities and regions on the platform of common characteristics and issues. Creative cultural tourism should be considered as a basic strategic idea within each individual development sector of the society at various levels of hierarchy and space, which can secure a qualitatively higher level of development both individually and overall. Culture should be seen as a fourth aspect of sustainability, which in addition to the economic, social and environmental aspect needs to be the base for any urban and development plans.