Interview with Caroline Couret about the Creative Tourism Network ®.

Abstract Introduces what Creative Tourism Network is, the paper also presents how creative tourism is important. Creative tourism is important in two main ways: it meets a growing and irreversible demand that reflects social changes more than a marketing gimmick, and it is, above all, perceived by the territories as a lever for sustainable development. Indeed, far from being considered as a danger for local communities as mainstream tourism used to be; creative tourism is valued for its capacity to create a value chain at the local and regional scale, by turning weaknesses and negative externalities into a virtuous ecosystem. In addition to this, assets such as communities' empowerment, inclusiveness, seasonality, resilience, intangible heritage recovery, social cohesion, and governance (just to mention a few) are applicable to any kind of destination and are particularly beneficial for the rural areas that cannot rely on other industrial sectors. The destinations that are part of the Creative Tourism Network ® are labelled 'CreativeFriendly' for guaranteeing both the quality and authenticity of the creative experiences they are promoting, as well as for the value chain generated through the project design.