The tourism sector has gained particular relevance in the development of several cities and regions, however, it has also raised several concerns about the negative impacts of the growth of these activities. Thus, there is a growing interest in understanding how cultural and creative activities can drive the development of innovative and sustainable tourism solutions. Also in Portugal, some cities and rural areas, seeking to benefit from the wave of tourist attractiveness that has been projecting the country in several international rankings, and in the sense of offering alternatives to congestion and massification problems of the large metropolis, has been trying to develop creative tourism initiatives based on local tangible and intangible assets. These activities attempt to meet growing numbers of tourists who seek to actively participate in unique and genuine experiences that combine immersion in local culture with learning and creative processes. In order to support the development of a sustainable small-scale tourist offer built on local cultural traditions, skills, knowledge and artistic practices, the CREATOUR project was created. This multidisciplinary collaborative research and incubation project, focusing on smaller cities and rural areas, has been promoting an integrated approach to creative tourism pilot initiatives through the implementation of a network of interaction, co-learning and capacity building , in order to extract principles of political action. This communication intends to discuss the project and its conceptual bases, as well as to describe the strategy of the different actors and some results already obtained in the four regions of the country where these initiatives are being developed.

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