Connecting local artisans to tourism in extra-metropolitan areas: the importance of social embeddedness.

Abstract

Abstract This chapter presents highlights from recent research into the emergence of artisan entrepreneurmediators who link artisans to creative tourism initiatives in extra-metropolitan areas (i.e. rural areas and small cities) in Portugal (Bakas et al., 2018). Creative tourism is aligned with contemporary trends to revive local crafts and traditions in rural areas as it stimulates artisan entrepreneurs to co-create and co-preserve local traditions (Duxbury and Richards,2019) while engaging with the local community (Landry, 2010). In extra-metropolitan regions, economies are often fragile and small businesses often find it hard to stay solvent. 'The countryside' or the 'rural' must be considered as a place where the creative economy is differently manifested and articulated from the now standard 'creative script' based on cities (Bell and Jayne, 2010). It is imperative to understand the critical elements within a small business's operating environment or 'ecosystem' that support or thwart entrepreneurial activity (Kline et al., 2014). With artists and artisans increasingly used to represent, market, and enhance the visual image of destinations, looking more closely at the link between artisan activity and tourism is timely (Morpeth and Long, 2016).