Creative tourism: opportunities and practices for small town development

The article discusses theoretical and practical issues of creative tourism development in small towns. The authors study processes of urban tourism development and the features of tourism in small (primarily historical) cities. The research led to the conclusion that creative tourism is not only the prerogative of large cities, and in Russia we can observe a model of short-term travel to small towns (city breaks), which, in fact, is a type of creative tourism. The authors analyze the main directions and tools for the creative tourism development in small towns in more detail, such as the “code” of creativity and a sense of pride, urban spaces and/or centers, creative and network projects, storytelling, and events, placemaking, connections with education. For the first time, a brief description of the ten-year activities of the “Real Russia” project and the Foundation for the Development of Small Historical Towns through tourism and culture is given. The cases of cities of Venev, Chekalin and Bezhetsk. The Gumilev House Museum and Exhibition Center, created in the latter, has become the center of creative activity in the city in general, and creative tourism in particular. For the first time in the domestic literature, the authors systematize the tools and practices of creative tourism used by the Foundation for the Development of Small Historical Towns in more than 30 small towns.