ISE03/16-17

• Creative tourism is the new generation of tourism. It shifts away from passive culture consumption to interactive participation in the cultural and creative activities of the destinations. Creative tourism is regarded as a tourism model that can generate added value, increase tourism demand and diversify tourism supply.^{1Legend symbol denoting Tourism demand is usually regarded as a measure of visitors' use of a good or service, whereas tourism supply involves the provision of accommodation, transport, excursions and other tourism facilities/resources to support tourism in destinations. See Song (2010) and Leeds Metropolitan University (2003).}

• In Hong Kong, the Chief Executive announced in the 2016 Policy Address that the Government would develop cultural and creative tourism in order to diversify the visitor source market.^{2Legend symbol denoting Initiatives announced include (a) the "Ani-Com Park@Harbour'FUN'" showcasing local comic characters in Wan Chai as a photo spot; (b) the "Lumieres Hong Kong" projecting light art installations on some landmark sites; and (c) the "Tai Kwun" bringing together heritage and art programmes in the restored Central Police Station.} Yet, some Members consider the initiatives for developing the cultural and creative tourism as being too small-scale and of little help in enhancing the competitiveness of the tourism industry.^{3Legend symbol denoting See Official Records of Proceedings of the Legislative Council (2016a) and Official Records of Proceedings of the Legislative Council (2016b).}

• While Hong Kong seeks to develop cultural and creative tourism through individual projects, South Korea has successfully connected tourism to its creative industries, and it has seen a remarkable growth in the number of tourist and tourism receipts.^{4Legend symbol denoting The definition of creative industries varies from country to country. In South Korea, creative industries consist of advertising, animation, cartoons and comics, film, music, performing, arts, publishing and printing, broadcasting, games, characters, information technology, and content solutions. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ("OECD") has further identified architecture, design, and gastronomy as the core sectors of the creative industries.} This issue of Essentials gives a brief account of creative tourism and provides a case study of creative tourism in South Korea.

What is creative tourism?

• Creative tourism is often considered to be supplementing the traditional cultural tourism model. Cultural tourism offers tourist cultural experience of a destination through visiting natural heritage or man-made attractions, whereas creative tourism involves experimental activities with local characteristics of the destination.^{5Legend symbol denoting Other success stories include the promotion of creative tourism in Brazil, New Zealand and Thailand. Brazil offers tourists samba dance learning experiences instead of just watching a samba dancing show, whereas New Zealand organizes a wide range of indigenous related hands-on workshops run by local tutors. Similarly in Thailand, rural regions offer tourists homestay experiences and workshops on making Thai cooking ingredients.} In recent years, there has also been an observation that creative tourism "is now shifting towards a more extensive relationship between tourism and the creative industries".^{6Legend symbol denoting See OECD (2014).}

• The salient features of creative tourism are summarized below:
  
  

  (a)	encouraging tourists to participate in experimental, learning and interactive activities with a view to gaining an experience in the authentic culture of a destination;
  (b)	offering tourists the opportunity to develop their creative potential through co-creating experiences with the local people, and at the same time, contributing back to the destination;
  (c)	discovering high value-added tourism products through integrating tourism and creativity;
  (d)	attaching importance to intangible culture and creativity instead of tangible heritage. Arguably, commercial organizations and small- and medium-enterprises in particular, play a more central role than the public sector; and
  (e)	promoting sustainable growth in tourism, as creative tourism (i) revitalizes existing tourism products; (ii) overcomes some of the challenges that traditional cultural tourism is facing, such as replicated man-made attractions; and (iii) uses advanced technology to enhance the efficiency of tourism-related services.

Creative tourism in South Korea

• Creative tourism in South Korea originated from hallyu, or the Korean wave, which first appeared in the mid-1990s. Hallyu refers to the spread of Korean culture across the world through their popular dramas, movies and pop music. Throughout the years, content of hallyu has extended to include food, art, fashion, language and medical services. The spread of hallyu has generated increased interest in the country which attracted tourists to South Korea for the authentic cultural experiences.
• In view of the above, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ("the Ministry") has capitalized on the popularity of hallyu to actively promote creative tourism since the early 2010s. Probably reflecting the success of the promotion strategy, the number of total visitor arrivals to South Korea increased from 8.8 million in 2010 to 13.0 million in 2015.^{7Legend symbol denoting Hallyu is one of the crucial factors behind the surge in inbound tourism, as it was estimated that almost 11% of inbound tourists were attracted by hallyu locations or personalities. See OECD (2014).} The following illustrates the efforts taken by the South Korean government in connecting tourism to creative industries:
  
  

  (a)	movies, dramas and music - a vast array of filming locations from successful movies and dramas have been developed into tourist attractions and integrated into suggested itineraries. Besides, new tourism products, such as pop artists concerts, musicals and fan meeting packages, have been or are being developed to cater for the new tourist demands;8Legend symbol denoting In order to secure the sustainable growth of hallyu tourism, South Korea has built the world's first hologram performance hall, as well as constructing a complex centre that includes a hallyu-related theme park, concert hall and hotel.
  (b)	food - a dedicated body, the Korean Food Foundation, has been established to promote Korean traditional food to the world.9Legend symbol denoting The Korean Food Foundation was established in 2010 by the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. As an independent body, it is tasked with promoting hansik - Korean traditional food - to the world. It recommends high quality Korean restaurants, provides training to chefs, and sponsors promotional and educational programmes worldwide. Food tourism products, such as culinary tour programmes and cooking classes, are being promoted to tourists;
  (c)	beauty and medical services - the South Korean government has put in place certification systems to ensure the quality of medical services provided and the quality of the medical tourism agents;
  (d)	arts in local villages - local villages are transformed into photo spots for tourists. A wide range of murals and art installations are showcased in the public areas of the villages, telling tourists the stories of ordinary villagers and their way of life; and
  (e)	arts in traditional markets - revitalized traditional markets have been turned into centres of local arts and culture. Besides, free hands-on programmes are offered in certain markets for tourists to understand the lifestyle and culture of local people.10Legend symbol denoting Tourists can make oriental herb products, rice cakes, folk masks, hanji (Korean paper), as well as receiving a general checkup and acupuncture from a doctor.

Government support measures for creative tourism in South Korea

• According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ("OECD"), the economic impact of creative tourism in South Korea in 2010 was estimated to be around 1.6 trillion won (HK$10 billion), supporting about 25 600 jobs. The success of creative tourism in South Korea is attributable to the following factors:
  
  

  (a)	developing an integrated policy approach - Creative tourism in South Korea is developed under the policy framework of creative economy. With the support of the Korean Culture and Tourism Institute, a governmental research institution,11Legend symbol denoting The Korean Culture and Tourism Institute is a governmental research institution which provides policy advice for the cultural and tourism sectors. the Ministry initiates comprehensive plans to create synergy between cultural contents, creativity and tourism;
  (b)	providing government support to the creative industries - the South Korean government has been adopting an active role to strengthen the creative industries, in view of the their importance as an engine of growth for the national economy and tourism industry in particular. For example, the government sponsors the production of TV dramas as well as offers loan to promote exports from content and tourism industries. It has also established a dedicated agency, the Korean Creative Content Agency, to support the growth of creative industries, especially in nurturing creative talents.12Legend symbol denoting The Korea Creative Content Agency is a government-led agency aiming to support the growth of creative industries. Its Content Korea Lab programme provides content creators with shared working space, equipment and facilities. Likewise, the agency has established the Creative Economic Leader Academy as a training centre for content creator. It also partners with the private sector to develop the Creative Economic Leader Venture Complex which supports content development and production. As a result, exports from creative industries had doubled since 2008 which amounted to US$4.6 billion (HK$35.8 billion) in 2012;
  (c)	increasing the support for tourism startups - through different government programmes and public-private partnerships, selected startups13Legend symbol denoting The startups have been selected under the Creative Tourism Contest, which aims to discover creative tourism products from startups based on culture, information technology or startups which cooperate with other industries. receive financial support for rental costs and the development of creative tourism products. Training on entering the tourism market and commercializing creative ideas are also provided; and
  (d)	branding and marketing - the Korea Tourism Organization has launched aggressive marketing on the Korean lifestyle as a whole in targeted markets, noticeably the Mainland.

Observations

• South Korea serves a good example of how a country can leverage on its creative tourism to boost the number of visitor arrivals. Under the creative economy framework, the South Korean government has adopted an integrated policy approach at the national level. It has taken a strong lead in connecting tourism to a broad range of creative industries, and thereby capitalizing on the opportunities arising from the cross-sectoral collaboration. Guided by the same framework, the South Korean government has devoted substantial resources to support the creative industries, which secures a valuable source of content for the tourism development.

Prepared by Samantha LAU
Research Office
Information Services Division
Legislative Council Secretariat
14 November 2016