Isfahan's potentials as a creative city of crafts with tourism development approach

From the late twentieth century, increasing attention has been paid to the concept of creativity in issues related to tourism development and urban regeneration. Emergence and generalization of the creative city idea is an evidence of this claim. Intense competition between cities as tourism destinations left them with no choice except finding some ways to differentiate themselves from other cities and tourism destinations. Focusing on development of creative industries and applying creative city strategies is one of solutions for many cities. Iran, despite its potentials, owns a small portion of revenues from contemporary tourism. Creative tourism is the last link of tourism’s evolution chain. Development of creative tourism in Iran especially in metropolises like Isfahan is possible for a number of reasons, such as existence of multiple subcultures in the city, richness of cultural and artistic products and authenticity of creative industries including handicrafts. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the possibility, necessity and analysis of the outcomes of introducing Isfahan as a creative tourism destination with an emphasis on creative handicrafts and Isfahan’s joining reputable international networks of creative cities. The present study is an applied research, in terms of data collection it is a qualitative-quantitative survey. Interviewees were chosen among experts in tourism and handicrafts fields. The research showed that based on the indicators defined by UNESCO and theorists such as Sasaki, Isfahan holds the potential of being introduced as a creative city of crafts. Isfahan joining UNESCO’s creative cities network has some positive consequences such as providing a unique image of the city, differentiating it as a creative tourism destination and simultaneous conjoined prosperity of tourism and crafts industries in Isfahan.