Salvador da Bahia, successful World Conference of Creative Tourism

Bahia’s capital—which less than a year ago was crowned “World Best Creative Destination” by the Creative Tourism Network®—has just consolidated its leadership in the creative tourism sector with the spectacular organization of the International Conference on Creative Tourism.

The event, which counted on the collaboration of the Creative Tourism Network, found Salvador the ideal place to generate new ideas about the role of creative tourism as a tool for sustainable development, more particularly in heritage cities, since the Conference was held in conjunction with the 11th Meeting of the Organization of Brazilian World Heritage Cities (OCBPM), chaired by his president, Mário Nascimento, and it executive director Marta Feitosa.

Four days of reflections and exchanges were held about the challenges generated by the new paradigms related to climate change, the externalities generated by conventional tourism, and, on the other hand, the opportunities offered by creative tourism to heritage cities and territories of all kinds and in all parts of the world.

In this sense, Salvador has positioned itself as a role model, in terms of inclusion (through programs promoting Afrotourism, among others), accessibility (with the entire conference being fully physically accessible and interpreted in sign language), empowerment (becoming a platform for young entrepreneurs) – and sustainability in all its aspects, including economic, through the presentation of support programs by banks and institutions.

In addition to the relevance and high level of the content, the Salvador International Conference on Creative Tourism has represented a culmination point in the development of creative tourism in recent decades. In addition to the relevance of the proposal and the perfect organization, there was the creativity, magic, and human commitment of an entire team, led by Simone Costa and Malu Gouvêa (Prodetur).

An exceptional experiential dimension, difficult to describe and impossible to forget!

For all these reasons, Salvador received the CreativeFriendlyDestination certification from the Creative Tourism Network®. The Creative Tourism Network’s director, Caroline Couret, delivered the certificate to the Municipal Secretary of Culture and Tourism (Secult), Pedro Tourinho.

Couret, who mentioned that the links between the Creative Tourism Network® (CTN) have existed since the very creation of the CTN, in 2004, when Carlinhos Brown brought Carnavalona to the city of Barcelona, where the network has its permanent headquarters, insisted on the fact that Salvador not only breathes art and creativity but is also a model of a creative, circular and sustainable economy.

“It is an honor and a great satisfaction to present the ‘Salvador, Creative Friendly Destination’ Seal, which distinguishes destinations committed to creativity and creative tourism as a tool for sustainable development. We wish to welcome Salvador to the World Creative Tourism Network, with the certainty that today begins a future rich in virtuous projects,” said the executive director of the network, Caroline Couret.

By the way, training workshops are being organized to support local communities in Salvador and entrepreneurs in the artistic, creative, and tourism sectors in co-creating experiences that will diversify the offer and profiles of tourists, towards a traveler in search of more immersive experiences and human values, with longer stays and benefits more widely distributed among the population.

The experiences created will be added to the catalog of CreativeFriendly destinations, which will be disseminated worldwide to the B2B sector and the media.

At the same time, the Conference has given the go-ahead for creating a special edition of the Creative Tourism Awards exclusively dedicated to Salvador’s creatives and entrepreneurs. The winners will be announced during the City’s Anniversary, next March.

The Undersecretary of Culture and Tourism and Culture of Salvador, Walter Pinto Júnior, who, in addition to presenting the city’s strategies and projects to create synergies between culture and tourism, closed the event, announcing projects that, in the coming weeks, will consolidate the city’s leadership, making creativity a tool to guarantee the sustainable development objectives of the 2030 Agenda.

On the other hand, members of the Organization of Brazilian World Heritage Cities (OCBPM) and the Prefecture of Salvador, drafted the Salvador Charter, emphasizing, among other issues, the relevance of using creative tourism as a lever for sustainable development of cities and heritage destinations throughout Brazil.

More awards and projects that make the Bahian capital THE model to follow in terms of sustainable and creative tourism!

Salvador ganha reconhecimento global e melhorias turísticas com novas placas no Centro Histórico.

Centro Histórico de Salvador ganha novas placas turísticas e selo de reconhecimento internacional