Tourism is an activity capable of generating a wide range of territorial impacts. It is easy to accept that the impacts most underlined by local actors and policy makers are usually those associated with the economic benefits generated by this activity. However, tourism impacts, particularly within the context of small and medium-sized cities or rural areas, are also of a different character. Departing from the literature on the social and cultural impacts of tourism (Ap, 1992; Ap & Crompton, 1998; Cohen, 1984; Duxbury & Campbell, 2011; Richards, 2011), this communication explores the different territorial impacts that the implementation of initiatives linked to “creative tourism” (Richards & Raymond, 2000) can produce in social, economic, cultural and environmental terms in the territories where they are undertake. Thus, the purpose of the communication is to structure a theoretical framework for creative tourism impacts in small cities and rural areas. This will help to leverage the cultural and creative dynamics as well as to promote the sustainable implementation of this kind of initiatives, which involves having the capacity to adapt to each territorial context, and the ability to follow its development.

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