Promotion of Creative Tourism with Digital Marketing Tools in Small Towns

Abstract

Increased interest in non-standard and exciting pastime is currently a worldwide trend. Experts mention with good reason that impressions are the basis of modern tourism. Creative tourism is a source of regional income growth, a way to strengthen competitive position of tourism business, and it is a source of positive emotions for tourists. Digital marketing helps identify the needs of tourists and form a unique offer to competing enterprises of tourism industry. Tourist offer and its preparation are gradually being transformed thanks to advances in information and communication technologies. The purpose of the study is to assess the potential of creative tourism in the development of small towns, as well as to identify the main directions of effective implementation of this process. The research methodology is the following: marketing survey, marketing analytics, descriptive, analytical, statistical, and project methods. The scientific significance of the study results is to identify the main characteristic of creative tourism development, that is co-creation, the development of which will allow to form value, develop territories, expand knowledge, and attract funding. The paper expands the conception of creative tourism. It is not just an interactive study of the terrain, a tourist route, but also involvement of tourists in the process of co-authorship and creation. The practical significance of the study is to identify the potential for creative tourism development in Orel region, as well as to systematize the main problems in successful implementation of this process. The advantages of creative tourism over cultural tourism are identified. Their use will help to revive the districts and attract additional funding. Summarizing the results of marketing analytics made it possible to identify the most commonly used retrieval requests, the use of which in the system of creative tourism services promotion will increase the brand awareness of the city. The paper systematizes the main directions of the marketing program to implement the concept of creative tourism development in the regions. In particular, the potential of social networks as a digital marketing tool is investigated, and strategies of creative tourism development in small towns are proposed.