Event
Creative Tourism Training Workshops
The programme Transcultura: Integrating Cuba, the Caribbean and the European Union through Culture and Creativity, implemented by UNESCO and funded by the European Union, is holding two training workshops to strengthen the capacities of site managers, cultural authorities, young cultural professionals and tourism entrepreneurs in the Caribbean in designing and promoting creative tourism experiences.
In line with the objectives of the Transcultura programme, these workshops aim to diversify the tourism offerings in the Caribbean beyond the traditional ‘sun and sea’ and promote more sustainable tourism in a region heavily dependent on this sector's income. The workshops will be held in:
Saint George, Grenada, from 25 to 28 February 2025
Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, from 18 to 21 March 2025
Content
Each workshop will consist of two parts, based on the . The first part will cover the fundamentals of tourism and will be common to both workshops:
Guide 1: Understanding tourism at your destination
Guide 2: Developing a strategy for progressive change
Guide 3: Developing effective governance
Guide 4: Engaging local communities and businesses
Additionally, each workshop will cover specific topics. The workshop in Saint George (Grenada) will focus on designing and producing tourism products based on the Cultural and Creative Industries (Guide 7), including:
generating income from creative tourism;
designing, producing and managing creative tourism experiences;
emerging trends of creative tourism experiences; and
storytelling.
The workshop in Kingstown (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines) will cover topics related to the promotion (branding and digital marketing) of destinations (Guide 5), including:
Creative tourism and branding: how to create a creative tourism destination?
How to differentiate destinations through creative tourism?
Communication tools and marketing strategies adapted to creative tourism.
Digital marketing.
The workshops will last four days and will include keynote lectures in plenary sessions, thematic roundtables and working group sessions. Participants will be asked to complete tasks designed to put into practice what they have learned and gather the necessary information to develop creative tourism proposals for the Caribbean region.
Background
The Transcultura programme promotes the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) in the Caribbean through cooperation and exchange within the region and with the European Union. The programme has two main objectives: strengthening the skills and capacities of young cultural professionals and promoting opportunities through knowledge transfer and exchanges. To this end, it has established a Caribbean Cultural Training Hub and creates opportunities for entrepreneurship, socio-economic projects and collaboration in the cultural and creative sectors, heritage and tourism.
A key component is the promotion of sustainable tourism through culture and creativity. This includes supporting sustainable business development and expanding opportunities for young cultural professionals by linking products and services to the tourism market. Capacity-building workshops, such as the one held in November 2022 in Santo Domingo, have highlighted the need for better tools and training for site managers and cultural professionals in the Caribbean. Additionally, the Transcultura study, Linking Caribbean Cultural Resources and Creative Assets for Tourism Development Opportunities, urges the tourism sector to recognize CCI actors as key partners in building a sustainable cultural and creative tourism environment.
