Introduction

Innovation is recognised as essential for the growth of tourism economies (Alsos et al. 2014; Williams 2014). Creative tourism has been identified as one example of innovation in tourism (Richards 2011a, 2012, 2013; Waitt and Gibson 2014). Creativity in tourism is said to enhance authenticity and innovation, which can impact on the competitive advantage of firms and destinations (Richards and Wilson 2006; Miles and Green 2010; Richards 2010; Bialk-Wolf et al. 2013). Creative tourism is considered a new form of tourism that departs from mass tourism and is linked to the development of urban tourism niche products (Fernandes 2011; Rogerson and Visser 2011; Rogerson 2013; Rogerson and Visser 2014; Tafel-Viia et al. 2014; Waitt and Gibson 2014). One form of creative tourism is creative experiences, which correspond to a wider trend in tourism towards more experience-based products (Alsos et al. 2014; Clausen and Madsen 2014; Prebensen 2014). In addition to creative experiences, creative tourism is also associated with creative spectacles and creative spaces (Richards and Wilson 2006; Richards 2011a, 2012). Marques and Richards (2014) and Richards and Bartos (2014) observe that tourism and the creative economy are ‘becoming increasingly intertwined’. Following this line of argument, creative industries are said to have the potential to generate innovative milieux in cities and that the creative economy can contribute to the growth of the tourism economy as well as enhance regional performance (Florida 2002; Richards 2011a; Flew 2013; Andres and Chapain 2013; Bialk-Wolf et al. 2013; Brouder and Ioannides 2014; Marques and Richards 2014; Waitt and Gibson 2014). This said, it is apparent that creative industries currently occupy only a marginal place in innovation and tourism studies (Miles and Green 2010; Visser 2014; Waitt and Gibson 2014). Accordingly, there is a need for extended research in order to enhance synergies between tourism and creative industries for nurturing the making of creative tourism products and spaces (Comunian 2011; Brouder 2012; Andres and Chapain 2013; Brouder and Eriksson 2013; Richards and Bartos 2014). In the case of South Africa, there is limited scholarship available on creative industries and tourism (Rogerson 2006; Rogerson and Visser 2011; Booyens 2012; Rogerson 2013; Visser 2014).

This paper adopts an innovation perspective on creative tourism by exploring what creative tourism innovation entails whilst engaging with creative industry and creative city debates. Creative tourism is analysed in the context of niche-market, cultural urban tourism using the Cape Town experience (Richards 2011b, 2013; Rogerson 2013; Marques and Richards 2014; Waitt and Gibson 2014). In relation to creative cities, Flew (2013, p.3) maintains that new ‘cultural infrastructure’ can rejuvenate the image of cities and function as attractors for tourism. The role of innovation, with respect to creative tourism, therefore involves the development of new and unique cultural-based tourism products; events or spectacles; and creative urban spaces. The stimulation of networking to enhance synergies between tourism and creative industries is a significant consideration with regards to creative tourism products and spaces.

In terms of methods, the analysis draws upon qualitative responses on the topic of creative tourism in Cape Town in the form of a purposive sample of 25 interviews undertaken as part of a larger study concerned with innovation by tourism firms in the Western Cape (Booyens 2015). These interviews were conducted with creative (or cultural) tourism entrepreneurs and firms, tourism systems actors (which include policy makers and tourism planners), artists, shop owners, managers at creative centre developments, tour operators and tourism industry experts in Cape Town during 2013. Structurally, this paper consists of three main sections. The first explores the concept of creative tourism in relation to creative experiences, spectacles and spaces. The discourse on creative spaces is then taken further to consider debates on creative industries, tourism and urban regeneration. The second section provides an analysis of creative tourism in Cape Town with respect to creative experiences, spectacles and spaces. A discussion of pertinent issues, as well as policy recommendations, is given in the third section.

The Concept of Creative Tourism

The development of creative, experience-based tourism products can be regarded as part of ‘new tourism’, which is a response to changing tourism demand (Alsos et al. 2014; Clausen and Madsen 2014; Fernandes 2011). Arguably, creative tourism evolved from cultural tourism since ‘traditional’ forms of cultural tourism seem to be losing competitive edge (Richards and Wilson 2006; Richards 2010, 2011a, b, 2013). Nowadays, contemporary tourists are more informed about travelling and are users of technology, which makes them less dependent on service providers and, as a result, continually in search of new, unique, ‘meaningful’ and ‘learning’ experiences (Stamboulis and Skayannis 2003; Richards 2012, 2013; Prebensen 2014; Wattanacharoensil and Schuckert 2014). Creative tourism is defined by Richards and Raymond (2000, p.18) as ‘tourism which offers visitors the opportunity to develop their creative potential through active participation in learning experiences which are characteristic of the holiday destination where they are undertaken’. Creative tourism differs from cultural tourism in that it requires active participation and interaction on the part of tourists, rather than just spectating or ‘being there’ (Jelincic and Zuvela 2012; Richards 2013; Tan et al. 2015). Therefore, creative tourism involves tourists becoming involved in doing something experimentally to engage in the ‘real cultural life’ of destinations in an authentic and memorable manner (UNESCO 2006; Hung et al. 2014). In this frame of reference, tourists become co-producers of the experiences they consume (Richards 2010, 2012; Prebensen 2014; Tan et al. 2015). The application of creativity in tourism, however, is not limited to creative tourism experiences; it can be extended to creative spectacles and creative spaces (Richards 2012; Marques and Richards 2014;  Richards and Bartos 2014) as discussed in more detail below. Creative spectacles are associated with events, and creative spaces with creative industries and urban re-development.

Creative Experiences, Spectacles and Spaces

In terms of creative tourism experiences, Richards (2011a, b, 2012, 2013) contends that a shift from ‘cultural’ to ‘creative’ tourism entails a shift in supply from ‘tangible’ to ‘intangible’ tourism experiences, as well as from ‘passive’ to ‘active’ and ‘unskilled’ to ‘skilled’ consumption on the part of tourists. For example, visitors actively partake in the creation of arts or crafts rather than viewing cultural artefacts in a museum (Hung et al. 2014). Such co-production results in learning experiences, which also satisfy consumer needs for self-realisation (Richards 2011a, b). It should be stressed that the novelty of creative experiences lies in their design to create new value for tourists and tourism firms (Stamboulis and Skayannis 2003). Richards and Wilson (2006) argue that creativity adds value more easily, which results in rapid product innovation.

From a tourism perspective, the primary cultural focus of creative spectacles is the performing arts, which are, in most cases, passively consumed by visitors (Richards and Wilson 2006). This includes various cultural and performing arts events, festivals, parades, street art projects and outdoor art exhibitions. Festivals are often initiated for place-marketing purposes in order to enhance the appeal of destinations. Nevertheless, in some cases, the main purpose of festivals and events is not directly linked to place marketing, but instead is aimed at the promotion of arts and culture, the preservation of heritage or urban regeneration (Visser 2007; Rogerson 2013; Waitt and Gibson 2014). Festivals and events, however, are easily copied by cities, which frequently results in the ‘serial reproduction of culture’ (Richards and Wilson 2006). Accordingly, in order to be innovative, there needs to be a focus on what is unique and authentic about local culture and how participatory creative experiences can be provided to visitors (Richards 2010, 2011b, 2012; Richards and Marques 2012).

The emergence of creative spaces is associated with the growth of creative industries in economies characterised by the rise of post-industrial society and knowledge-based economies accompanied by growth of the service sector (Collis et al. 2013; Flew and Cunningham 2013; O’Connor and Gu 2013; Richards and Bartos 2014). Creative industries generally comprise visual arts, music, dance and theatre; film, television and broadcasting; publishing, new media and advertising; architecture and design; designer fashion; and also cultural tourism (Flew and Cunningham 2013; UNCTAD 2013). The UNCTAD (2010, 2013) observes that there are cross-cutting linkages between creative industries and creative spaces, and tourism is regarded as a driver and demand generator for the creative economy since the consumers of certain creative products are often tourists.

Creative Industries, Creative Tourism and Urban Regeneration

Creative tourism is connected to the emergence of ‘creative city’ notions heralded as new revitalisation strategies for cities, which increasingly deploy cultural planning and creative industries as tools for urban regeneration (Flew 2013; Grodach 2013; Shin and Stevens 2013; Marques and Richards 2014; Richards and Bartos 2014; Tafel-Viia, et al. 2014; Visser 2014; Waitt and Gibson 2014). In addition, creative tourism is linked to urban tourism (Fernandes 2011; Rogerson 2013; Rogerson and Visser 2014; Tafel-Viia et al. 2014). In the global South Rogerson (2013, p. 199) argues cultural and creative resources are significant for urban tourism since they offer ‘one promising channel for promoting economic growth and job creation, as well as opening a potential pathway for inclusive development’. Fernandes (2011, p. 631) indicates that: ‘Performing and visual arts centres, festivals, public art, artist live/work buildings, artists’ centres and community cultural centres have been planned, invested in and built as ways to revitalise emptying downtowns, attract tourists, preserve historic buildings and cultural traditions while celebrating new ones, stabilise communities and solve community problems’.

Cities are geographical hubs of creative industries (Flew 2013). Creative industries often cluster in a small number of unique city areas, especially inner or sub-central urban areas where creative firms move into, occupy and re-use old industrial premises (Pratt 2009; Richards 2012; O’Connor and Gu 2013; Marques and Richards 2014). Whilst several authors contend that creative industries cluster in larger urban areas due to the agglomeration of facilities, institutions, skills, infrastructure, capital, markets and embedded knowledge and practices (Florida 2002; Miles and Green 2010; Bialk-Wolf et al. 2013; Marques and Richards 2014), others demonstrate that creativity and creative tourism can also emerge at locations beyond major cities, in certain smaller cities, as well as even in rural areas (Ingle 2010; Lewis and Donald 2010; Brouder 2012; Collis et al. 2013; Flew 2013).

It should be understood that creative industries are knowledge rich and require high levels of skilled human input (Florida 2002; UNESCO 2006). Furthermore, when cultural and creative resources form part of urban regeneration and innovation policies, a policy focus on local assets and core competencies is stressed (Bialk-Wolf et al. 2013). Various authors recommend that local innovation policies should focus on core competencies, assets or resources of an area to ensure growth and competitiveness in cities as well as regions (Martin 2013; van Geenhuizen and Soetanto 2013; Vissers and Dankbaar 2013). Moreover, it is proposed that local tourism resources can be exploited to build core competencies (Pechlaner et al. 2006).

The Cape Town Context

Cape Town is a vibrant city with an attractive natural and built environment. It is a traditional coastal leisure destination in South Africa with tourism development in the city closely linked to patterns of urban development (Rogerson 2012). Cape Town’s natural beauty has always drawn tourists, and as early as the 1930s, it was marketed as ‘city beautiful’ with a focus on its beaches, mountains, forests, indigenous flora and dramatic panoramic views (Pirie 2007). The city’s destination mix has, however, diversified over the years to include various sports and cultural events, fairs, festivals, exhibitions, and creative events; in addition, there has been a growth of culture and heritage tourism. Over recent years, the city has reduced in importance as a domestic tourism destination and correspondingly increased its appeal as an iconic destination for international travellers (Rogerson and Rogerson 2014). Recent trends in destination marketing include the promotion of Cape Town as a creative city (Pirie 2010; City of Cape Town 2013a). Creative industries enjoy a strong presence in the central city and city fringe areas with the largest segment of creative industries being film and television (Booyens et al. 2013; Creative Cape Town 2009; Visser 2014). City planning frameworks and the aspirations of business leaders seek to position Cape Town as a global, knowledge-based, creative and innovative city (Lemanski 2007; OECD 2008, 2013; Pirie 2010; Booyens 2012).

Several creative industry studies, strategies and initiatives for Cape Town and the Western Cape have emerged over the last few years. The Central City Development Strategy (Cape Town Partnership and City of Cape Town 2007) aims to expand creative hubs in the central city and city fringe areas, and to reposition the city as a leading centre for knowledge, innovation, creativity and culture in Africa (Borraine 2010). The Western Cape Design Strategy (Western Cape Provincial Government and Cape Craft and Design Institute 2013) and the Urban Design Policy (City of Cape Town 2013b) mirror the above-mentioned policy foci. Although the Spatial Development Framework and Urban Design Policy for Cape Town recognise that heritage and cultural assets need to be protected and historic sites reused for urban regeneration purposes, city-fringe areas are not earmarked for creative or tourism development (City of Cape Town 2010a, b, 2012, 2013b). With regard to the alignment between creative industries and tourism development, the recent Arts, Culture and Creative Industries Policy (City of Cape Town 2014) makes only a brief mention of tourism with a focus on creative events and fails to offer any clear indication of how tourism can contribute to the creative economy. Nonetheless, the recent Tourism Development Framework recommends that local cultural and heritage resources should be developed further and represent an opportunity for the wider distribution of tourism activities and benefits (City of Cape Town 2013a). The framework proposes inter alia that creative tourism be developed as a niche market, better linkages be fostered between creative industries and tourism and creativity incorporated into the Cape Town destination brand image.

Overall, however, it is observed there is poor coordination between creative industry or city strategies, and tourism development in Cape Town. The creative policy focus is upon design, film and media and ICT firms, and whilst policy makers seek to promote Cape Town as a creative city, planning for creative tourism precincts in deprived areas to enhance urban regeneration and tourism is limited in urban planning and design policies.Footnote 1 Arguably, there is a policy need for the improved integration of tourism into creative economy or creative city strategies and policies, and for the development of creative precincts.

Creative Experiences

The essence of creativity and innovation in creative product development is co-creation of experiences by consumers (Prebensen 2014; Richards 2010, 2011b, 2012; Tan et al. 2014). In the context of creative experiences, tourists are not merely sources of information for innovation or consumers, but co-creators. The notion of co-creation corresponds with user innovation, which concerns problem solving by the users or consumers to improve products and services, and users acting as co-creators and/ or sources of information for tourism innovation (Chathoth et al. 2014; Clausen and Madsen 2014; Ronningen and Lien 2014; Sorensen and Sundbo 2014). Active participation by tourists in tourism experiences is seen to enhance learning and ensure authenticity in cultural experiences.

This research observed an emerging form of creative experience-based tourism, which is a prime example of urban tourism product innovation. Experiences take the form of tours, which include direct interaction with locals. These tourism product offerings focus on music, arts and crafts, local food, local history and the ‘realities’ of township life. Respondents suggest South Africa has followed slowly in this regard as compared to what is offered overseas, but reiterated creative tourism has significant growth potential in Cape Town (Booyens 2015). Creative tour operators (currently few in number) propose that there is a gap in the market for more creative, experience-based tourism in Cape Town. Most operators interviewed are positive about the potential this holds for tourism, as well as human development in deprived areas. It is imperative to stress that the emphasis, with regard to creating creative experiences, should be on utilising and developing local and contemporary urban cultural resources unique to an area. The majority of creative tour operators contend that active participation is an essential part of the process and that trust-based relationships are vital. Firms typically endeavour to create active learning experiences, which result in meaningful exchanges for visitors and hosts alike. Visitors are often taken into the homes of hosts, and experiences are based on aspects that people can identify with such as local food and music. Coffeebeans Routes was the pioneering firm for developing this creative experience-based niche market in Cape Town. More detail on this case is provided in Box I.

Box I: Creative experience operators: Coffeebeans Routes

The entrepreneurs of Coffeebeans Routes see themselves as a creative and cultural service provider. They produce events around storytelling and function in the tourism industry as a tour operator offering urban tourism experiences packaged as art, craft beer, reggae, township, jazz, San culture, revolution or cuisine experiences to name a few. The director has a degree in film making and journalism and is trained in storytelling. He explains: ‘The work we do as Coffeebeans Routes is to facilitate communication across borders that are both real and imagined, to create the platforms that bring people together across boundaries, and in doing so discover shared resources and opportunity. We create cultural interventions for economic growth’. It is observed that the firm is not focussed on ‘pro-poor’, ‘responsible’ or ‘township’ tourism per se. The firm rather focusses on themes such as jazz, which inevitably takes them to poorer and township areas. They facilitate the direct engagement between visitors and service providers. They are continually creating new products. Tours are regarded as ‘modules’ that form part of a larger experience and which can be ‘mixed and matched’. They make use of 40 service providers in their supply chain. The director maintains that money is spent widely, and this enterprise works well as an intervention. Trust relationships are very important in terms of facilitating experience between service providers and visitors. The director emphasises that they continually need to manage relationships and visitor expectations in order to ensure success. He also stresses that networking activities are essential for their operations, ‘Networks are what make it work, our business depends on networks to meet new people, to create new relationships and products, and to grow constantly’.

Source: Qualitative interview 2013

One outstanding characteristic of this cluster of firms providing creative tourism experiences is ‘open innovation’ whereby firms share information and collaborate with competitors to create shared products. Trust relationships are essential in this regard. It is revealed that the nature of networking activities of this cluster is mostly dense, local and loose, but that certain extra-regional networking relations are maintained, which is indicative of a local innovation network. It is noted that firms are not spatially situated within close geographical proximity but operate across the greater Cape Town area.

Creative Spectacles

It is observed that creative tourism in Cape Town currently is event-driven. Events are often used for place-marketing and destination marketing purposes (Dogan 2010; Visser 2007). Dogan (2010) reasons contemporary art events and festivals have become a vital urban economic development strategy in relation to creative city promotion. Cape Town annually hosts a myriad of festivals and events, many of which are concerned with the performing arts, music, culture and functional art and design. Some examples include the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Cape Town International Opera Festival, Cape Town International Comedy Festival, the Cape Town Carnival, Cape Minstrels and the Mother City Queer Project. Events and festivals related to creative industries encompass the Design Indaba, Cape Town Fashion Week, Infecting the City performing arts festival, the Loerie Awards and the Creative Week Cape Town. One new ad hoc event is the World Design Capital 2014. Additionally, there are numerous film festivals and art exhibitions throughout the year. It should be understood that not all events are hosted primarily for tourism purposes as many events are strongly supported by local residents as well as by domestic and international visitors. This said, the growth of tourism can be an outcome of the hosting of such events. Several events in Cape Town are, however, organised with the explicit aim of supporting and fostering local arts, culture and design. One example is the Infecting the City Festival (Box II). Even though this festival represents an example of unique product innovation, the curator indicates that it is imperative to innovate and upgrade constantly in order to ‘find the next level in order to sustain interest and engagement’.

Box II: A creative spectacle: the Infecting the City Festival

Infecting the City is a creative event and public arts festival in Cape Town, which includes dance, theatre, music and live art performances; as well as some visual arts, installations and interventions, which often requires some participation by spectators. The festival acts as a platform for innovation in the arts and can be regarded as an example of novel creative product innovation since it is the first of its kind in South Africa. The curator stresses that this is a ‘home-grown’ event, which is not modelled on festivals overseas, even though they borrow certain ideas from similar festivals. The creators have performing arts backgrounds and a strong academic approach to the festival, which enables them to use the arts as a platform for social commentary on city issues. The main aim of the festival is not to draw tourists in large numbers, but rather to promote and popularise performing and visual arts in South Africa. Participating artists collaborate extensively with overseas partners. International visitors (who visit Cape Town specifically for the event) comprise roughly 10 % to 15 % of festival goers, whilst the balance is made up by locals and domestic visitors. Accordingly, tourism is regarded as an ancillary activity and the director contends that tourism consumption should not dominate creative production. Instead, he maintains that all involved stakeholders have to think ‘carefully, strategically, and with subtlety’ with regard to how linkages with tourism can be fostered. It is recognised that there are potential linkages between performance arts and tourism with a focus on experiences. The festival is more interactive than traditional performing arts festivals where audiences passively consume performances. The festival has been carefully curated using routes through the inner city to ensure interaction with city spaces and convey subtle, interrogated images of the city. The event offers opportunities for active participation from spectators. For instance, festival goers find dolls deposited throughout the city and then email the artist to engage in a conversation, or discover red plastic soldiers in the city to raise awareness about child trafficking. Further examples are dancers who engage with spectators, a giant scrabble game in a public garden where anybody can participate and artists mapping where people come from and where they are going to at the Cape Town Station.

Source: Qualitative interview 2013

Creative Spaces

In Cape Town, creative industries are clustered spatially mainly in the central business district (CBD), Gardens, the Waterfront or Foreshore area, Green Point, Sea Point, Woodstock, Salt River and Observatory (Booyens et al. 2013; Visser 2014). The creative clusters in these areas are relatively small and confined to specific streets around hallmark centre developments. Developments include the conversion of industrial sites into office and creative spaces, in addition to new-built developments such as creative centre developments with new office spaces, mixed-use developments and high-density residential complexes. Observations and qualitative responses regarding creative industries in the area of Woodstock are discussed below.

The neighbourhood of Woodstock is an urban fringe, post-industrial area close to the Cape Town CBD (Fig. 1). This area has experienced renewal since the late 1990s when the first artists, architects and small advertising enterprises became attracted to Woodstock (Garside 1993). The creative renewal in Woodstock and the adjacent suburb of Observatory, to a lesser degree, is an on-going trend that has intensified over the last few years (Booyens 2012). Figure 2 maps the location of creative firms and creative centres in Woodstock and Observatory based upon detailed fieldwork conducted in 2013.

Fig. 1
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Orientation of Woodstock on the fringe of the Cape Town CBD (source: Authors)

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Fig. 2
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The distribution of creative firms in Woodstock and Observatory (source: Authors)

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Artists, creative firms and entrepreneurial business increasingly are investing in industrial spaces and moving into old Victorian cottages. Many large firms have also relocated to the area. An increasing number of industrial buildings are being converted into creative centre developments. The Woodstock Exchange, Salt Circle Arcade and several craft breweries are recent additions. New quaint shops selling artworks and art supplies; vintage or designer clothing; antiques, designer furniture and décor; jewellery; and artisanal food and craft beer; along with other creative firms such as film and animation studios, photographers, advertising firms, new media firms, graphic design firms and architecture firms are appearing on Victoria (Main) Road and Albert (Lower Main) Road in Woodstock (Fig. 2).Footnote 2 These are busy streets such that the movement of tourists from place to place along them is difficult. Creative enclaves emerge in the vicinity of the centre developments such as the Old Biscuit Mill, Buchanan Square, Fairweather House and the Woodstock Foundry albeit the spatial distribution of these and creative shops is fragmented across the larger area (Fig. 2). It was disclosed that whilst tourists visit creative centres, these spaces are not primarily tourism spaces in many cases but rather spaces of creative production. Tourism is regarded as an ancillary activity and shop owners in creative centre developments indicate that their income derives mainly from the employees of local businesses and local residents, rather than tourists.

With regard to tourism development in Woodstock, it is observed only a handful of creative tours currently operate in the area. Although tour buses with small special interest groups stop at creative centre developments such as the Old Biscuit Mill often tour groups leave without exploring the rest of the area. This points to the limited synergy locally between creative industries and tourism. A respondent observed:

One had hoped to see more groups of visitors to creative spaces in Woodstock. There is a disconnect between creative spaces and the tourism industry.

A number of boutique hotels and backpacker establishments operate in Woodstock and Observatory. Yet, the only tourism services are operators offering outbound trips (typically safaris to other African countries) to international backpackers. In terms of the supply of creative experiences in Woodstock, artists who were interviewed indicate that, whilst several offer ad hoc workshops to tourists, few practice this on a continual basis as a scheduled activity and tourism product. No evidence existed of the local community of artists being part of a ‘creative network’ as occurs in the case of the Barcelona Creative Tourism Network or other international examples (Richards and Wilson 2006; Comunian 2011; Richards 2012; Marques and Richards 2014). This said, there exists a Cape Town Design Network, which focusses primarily on inter-firm networking among creative industries. This network is a Cape Town Partnership initiative, which partners with Cape Town Tourism and the provincial government in relation to organising creative events such as the annual Loerie Awards for the advertising industry or the Creative Week Cape Town, which showcases local artists, artisans, photographers, advertisers, architects and authorson an ad hoc basis.

Overall, various challenges are disclosed with regard to tourism development in Woodstock. First, is the geographical fragmented pattern in terms of the places of interest, which is the consequence of no planned development of a creative tourism precinct. One constraint is the lack of tourism transport, parking spaces, pedestrian walkways, cycling lanes, public toilet facilities or tourism information and signage in the area. Moreover, the existing creative centre developments in Woodstock are controlled spaces with private security, which ‘inhibits the permeability of the places’ by locals and visitors (Wenz 2009, p. 31). Second, creative firms and places of creative production such as creative centre developments do not necessarily want to encourage large numbers of tourists. Certain authors caution against the commodification of cultural and creative resources for tourism consumption as this often results in corroding creative production in creative precincts (Pratt 2009; Salman 2010). One respondent in this investigation argued:

Tourism is important, but there is a danger in dumbing down creative industries to fit the purposes of tourism. There should not be an oversell, and consumption should not override creative production.

Nonetheless, it is argued that tourism might be part of the solution to sustain creative firms in Woodstock in agreement with authors who indicate that stimulating tourism consumption is a means of enhancing cultural and creative capital (Richards 2012; Pappalepore et al. 2014). Creative firms such as film and photographic studios, advertising, new media and design agencies do not need tourists in order to survive since the consumption of their products or services occurs outside of Woodstock. By contrast, creative shops require the expansion of tourism flows in order to sustain and grow their businesses. Interviews with shop owners in Woodstock and field observations indicate that many retail businesses struggle to survive. Creative centre developments like the Old Biscuit Mill with its various creative shops are busy only during the weekend when large numbers of locals and visitors flock to the Neighbourhood Market. These retail businesses, however, are quiet during the week. Interviewees reflected that there is ‘not enough’ feet to sustain the existing cohort of creative retail businesses.

Third, another critical issue relates to the distribution of benefits from local tourism and how local economic development can be enhanced. It is evident that, currently, much of the local community benefits only marginally, if at all, from the growth of creative clusters in Woodstock (Wenz 2009; Booyens 2012). Deprived areas like Woodstock are in dire need of employment opportunities. Enhancing the synergies between tourism and creative industries can create more potential job opportunities. One example is the Woodstock Exchange, a recently renovated industrial space with creative studios, shops and cafés (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3
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New creative centre development in Woodstock (source: Authors’ photograph 2014)

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Creative Tourism Potential in Cape Town

Of the 25 respondents in this investigation, all but one agreed that Cape Town has significant creative tourism potential and that there are numerous opportunities for leveraging creative industry growth for the expansion of the tourism economy. Several respondents, which include creative firms and tourism system actors, concur that, whilst there has been a rise in interest concerning creative, experience-based tourism, the take-up has been slow thus far. One respondent indicated that:

There is a gap in the market for creative tourism. Tour operators have not yet grasped the opportunities associated with creative tourism. It is the next kind of awakening.

This said, it is imperative to emphasise that demand for creative tourism also needs to be appropriately stimulated. A creative entrepreneur averred that market demand for creative tourism can be stimulated with a mix of the ‘right’ and ‘clever’ marketing.

Several respondents expressed the view that creative offerings need to be integrated better with Cape Town tourism industry, especially in terms of aligning arts and cultural events with other tourism offerings, and aligning creative city strategies and city branding with tourism. This is illustrated in the following observations:

Cape Town has all the layers for creative tourism, but it is not packaged as such. It revolves around culture, but all that is currently sold as culture is a township tour and there a very few firms offering something unique. (Creative events planner)

It is all there, all the elements for creative tourism, but it is not coming together. (Creative tour operator)

Creative industries are a hot topic now. However, there are few connections between creative industries and tourism, and opportunities [for tourism] are not being maximised. (Tourism system actor)

Another creative entrepreneur remarked, with specific reference to Woodstock:

Creative firms and tourism are not consolidated. Creative shops, galleries and restaurants remain scattered. Creative spaces are not tourism spaces (but office spaces) and can be designed better for tourism consumption with better linkages between creative industries and tourism, physical connections, and transport.

This sentiment points to the need for improved spatial planning in order to allow for tourism precinct development.

Creative Tourism Innovation

This research on creative tourism in Cape Town highlights six major contributions concerning creative tourism innovation. First, innovation concerning creative tourism experiences in the city is identified as an emerging trend and niche market. Richards and Bartos (2014) maintain tourism firms, and destinations distinguish themselves by developing intangible creative products such as experiences based on cultural resources. This is evident in Cape Town especially in terms of those tourism operators which offer creative and participatory experiences based on local music, arts and crafts, customs and cuisine. Firms are considered to be innovative when they add new or improved experiences to their offerings. There are, however, currently only a handful of such firms to offer unique or overtly creative tourism products that incorporate experiences with creative or cultural elements. The need exists for firms to innovate constantly in order to remain competitive. It is maintained further that creative tourism, with a focus on cultural experiences, can create more opportunities for entrepreneurship and more inclusive job creation. Second, it is revealed that creative tourism in Cape Town is currently led mainly by the organisation of events. The activity of organising creative events in Cape Town is well developed. Nevertheless, there is a need to take a step further and integrate events better into the creative tourism product. The research divulges that policy makers and tourism planners expect that tourism simply will ‘happen by itself’ if events are created and promoted. It is conceded that this does occur to a certain extent, but there might be instances where opportunities are lost because of not deliberately maximising the benefits of events for tourism. Third, it is observed creative spaces in Cape Town are generally not well developed as tourist precincts. In particular, creative firms, part of creative clusters in areas like Woodstock and Observatory, remain scattered, and tourism infrastructure, facilities and attractions are absent in these areas. The results of this research suggest that creative tourism precinct development could be an appropriate planning option for deprived areas such as Woodstock and Observatory.

Fourth, this investigation confirms that the synergies between creative industries and tourism are, for the most part, underdeveloped. This finding aligns with the observations made by other scholars (Rogerson 2006; Joffe and Newton 2007) that stronger linkages are needed between tourism and local creative industries. Fifth, it is identified that customers are co-producers in creative tourism experiences in Cape Town. This issue relates to user innovation, associated with open innovation, observed in tourism in the international experience by Chathoth et al. (2014), Clausen and Madsen (2014), Lee et al. (2012), Prebensen (2014) and Williams (2014). Sixth, local and loose networking linkages are evident in the creative tourism experience cluster in Cape Town. Such findings echo the work of Brouder (2012) who demonstrates creative networks are loose in character and that tourism, with a focus on creative processes, can act as a catalyst for the formation of local innovation networks as is observed in Cape Town. Importantly, the Cape Town cluster further shows evidence of extra-regional networking linkages, which are essential for learning and innovation in tourism (Brouder and Eriksson 2013; Richards and Bartos 2014; Thomas and Wood 2014; Rodriguez et al. 2014).

Developmental Considerations for Creative Tourism

Creative tourism development in urban areas in the global south cannot be separated from debates regarding creative industries, exclusivity, inequality and displacement and the corrosion of creative production in favour of tourism consumption (Dogan 2010; Booyens 2012; Brouder and Ioannides 2014; Visser 2014). Nonetheless, it is reasoned that creative tourism development is desired because of its potential benefits for local economic development and accelerating urban regeneration (Rogerson 2013). Accordingly, the developmental considerations discussed here pertain to better integration and cooperation among stakeholders concerned with creative tourism and creative redevelopment as well as spreading the benefits of creative tourism, improved tourism and urban planning and enhancement of Cape Town destination marketing that incorporates creative tourism.

Creative offerings need to be integrated better with the Cape Town tourism product especially in terms of aligning arts and cultural events and festivals with other tourism offerings. Furthermore, synergies between creative industries, tourism and other stakeholders need to be enhanced. A recent report by the OECD (2014) underscores that collaboration between the creative industries and tourism with respect to their different sectors is generally a major challenge. Improved cooperation among firms, policy makers, the research community and other stakeholders can foster the involvement of creative entrepreneurs in local innovation networks, which can nurture further innovation and contribute to destination competitiveness (Comunian 2011; Andres and Chapain 2013; Richards and Bartos 2014). Therefore, one particular policy recommendation is the stimulation of networking activities between creative industries and tourism firms to enhance synergies between these groups, which will arguably lead to more economic opportunities. It is important to acknowledge that creative networks are loose associations of actors with an interest in creative tourism (Richards 2012). For example, a creative network typically consists of artists, creative firms and institutional actors such as local councils and cultural organisations. This is observed to a certain degree in Cape Town in the form of the Cape Town Design Network. A key argument, based on this research, is that if higher education institutions, consultants and NPOs can be added to such a creative network, it can function as a local innovation network. It is recommended that tourism firms be included in the existing Cape Town Design Network facilitated by the Cape Town Partnership (a local public-private sector partnership) or alternatively that a Cape Town Creative Tourism Network be initiated with a focus on innovation and tourism. Such a network offers the opportunity for a joint City of Cape Town–Cape Town Tourism initiative.

In terms of improved local planning, at the outset, there appears to be little interrogation of how tourism benefits can be maximised vis-à-vis creative industry and creative city promotion. Furthermore, it is identified that local planning for creative tourism development is absent, even though the tourism planners interviewed propose that this is needed. Grodach (2013) underscores the importance of cultural economy and creative city planning. While various respondents indicate that there is increased interest in creative tourism, it is clear that many events and initiatives connected to creative industries are ad hoc or once off and therefore not sustained. Arguably, Cape Town policy makers and tourism planners must consider how market demand for creative tourism can be stimulated and further how creative tourism can be developed more comprehensively beyond the existing strong focus upon events. It is contended further that deliberate and sensitive planning is required to achieve objectives such as nurturing urban distinctiveness, distributing the benefits of creative tourism to marginalised communities and deprived areas, and contributing to creative economy growth (Fernandes 2011; Brouder and Ioannides 2014; George and Booyens 2014; Visser 2014). Indeed, creative tourism should be planned responsibly by encouraging the employment of locals; support of local businesses, artists and culture; procurement of local goods and services; and maximisation of pro-poor benefits. The participation of local communities in decision making is essential for ensuring social inclusion and long-term social sustainability of a destination (Walker 2010; Shin and Stevens 2013). A strong recommendation emerging from this research is that planners and industry operators should be sensitive to and involve grassroots participants in creating creative experience-based tourism. Moreover, sensitive planning is needed to ensure that creative production is not eroded in favour of tourism consumption. Dogan (2010) argues that, in order to use culture as a driving force of city development, the focus should be on making the city more competitive and not merely on consuming culture. This is where innovation comes in. New and unique products and services, based on local cultural resources, should be developed to enhance competitiveness rather than just duplicating similar experiences.

Another consideration in terms of planning is the demarcation and development of creative precincts in specific areas, which is an urban spatial planning function. Considerations in this regard are the development of areas like Woodstock and Observatory as creative precincts with the necessary infrastructure for tourism. However, planning for creative precincts in deprived areas is not evident from current urban plans and design policies in Cape Town. Although spatial planning policies recognise that heritage and cultural sites need to be protected and historic sites be reused for urban regeneration purposes, the area of Woodstock is not targeted for creative or tourism development (City of Cape Town 2010a, b, 2012, 2013b). Accordingly, it is argued that there is a policy need for creative precinct development and for the improved integration of tourism into creative industry and city strategies and policies. One specific recommendation in this regard is the demarcation and development of creative precincts in specific areas of Cape Town. In particular, the development of areas like Woodstock and Observatory as creative precincts is recommended with a focus on providing the necessary tourism attractions, facilities and infrastructure.

Lastly, this research suggests that tourism needs to be aligned better with creative city strategies and city branding, and incorporated with marketing of Cape Town as a destination. This argument corresponds with the works of Salman (2010) and Jooste (2011) who maintain that Cape Town does not have a strong over-arching destination image or brand. Nature, adventure, culture, lifestyle and creativity are re-occurring destination images for Cape Town (City of Cape Town 2013a). The most recent Tourism Development Framework recommends that tourism development in Cape Town be focussed strategically on its unique selling features or themes that include creativity, nature and lifestyle (City of Cape Town 2013a). This corresponds with Jelincic and Zuvela (2012) who point to the strength of creative industries for destination branding. Overall, these considerations in relation to Cape Town’s destination brand image point to the imperative for better integration between creative industries and tourism.

Conclusion

An innovation perspective was adopted in this analysis of creative tourism in Cape Town. For successful and sustainable urban tourism development, the need exists for innovation and fostering an environment for tourism product innovation, such as in creative tourism (Richards and Wilson 2006; Richards 2012; Marques and Richards 2014; Waitt and Gibson 2014). It is argued that innovation in tourism enhances destination competitiveness and the growth of tourism economies whilst also contributing to creative economies in the case of urban-based creative tourism (Andres and Chapain 2013; Bialk-Wolf et al. 2013; Flew 2013; Rogerson 2013; Williams 2014). The findings of this investigation highlight that Cape Town has significant creative tourism potential. Several opportunities exist for appropriate planning interventions to further the expansion of innovation around creative tourism in the city and to leverage creative industry growth for enhanced tourism-led local development. In boosting and maximising this potential, it is recommended that creative tourism, with a focus on cultural experiences, be encouraged. More specifically, a case exists for establishing creative precincts in areas in need of urban regeneration such as Woodstock and Observatory in order to catalyse entrepreneurship opportunities and inclusive job creation. Nevertheless, it is stressed that creative tourism needs to be more than simply attending events and visiting places of interest that are connected with creative industries. Innovation in creative tourism should allow for participatory, learning experiences to stimulate deeper engagement in relation to arts, culture, history, urban spaces and social dynamics. It is recommended that more creative experiences be encouraged in Cape Town and improved linkages fostered between creative industries and tourism. Further, it is suggested that the different elements of creative tourism, such as creative experiences, spectacles and spaces, be integrated in a coordinated manner into a comprehensive creative urban tourism product, which is allied to destination marketing and city branding initiatives.