شناسایی مولفه‌های کلیدی گردشگری خلاق کودک محورمورد مطالعه: اصفهان، شهر خلاق صنایع دستی

گردشگری، صنعتی فراگیر و عمومی است که باید تمام بخش های جامعه را فارغ از سن و نژاد و جنسیت مورد توجه قرار دهد. از آنجا که کودکان بخش مهمی از جامعه به شمار می روند، توجه به پرورش و ارتقای خلاقیت آنها از ضروریات جامعه است و هنر می تواند نقش مهمی در این امر ایفا کند. بنابراین مقاله‌ حاضر به دنبال مطرح کردن کودکان به عنوان بازار نوظهور حوزه گردشگری خلاق و شناسایی مولفه‌های کلیدی گردشگری خلاق کودک محور و همچنین بررسی عوامل تاثیرگذار بر سفرهای خلاق کودک محور است . گردشگران خلاق، سازندگان تجارب خود هستند. بنابراین باید به عنوان گروهی همگن از تولیدکنندگان عمل کنند که درباره تجربه‌ خلاقشان عقاید و احساسات ذهنی دارند. اصفهان از یک طرف به عنوان شهر خلاق، پتانسیل بالایی برای تبدیل شدن به مقصد گردشگری خلاق مبتنی بر صنایع دستی دارد و از طرف دیگر به عنوان شهر دوستدار کودک پتانسیل مناسبی برای گردشگری کودک دارد . هدف اصلی از پژوهش حاضر، یافتن تعریفی واحد از گردشگری خلاق کودک محور است. این پژوهش کیفی بوده و برای شناسایی مولفه‌ها، رویکرد نظریه تماتیک (محتوایی) و تحلیل محتوا مورد استفاده قرار گرفته است. داده ها، با استفاده از مصاحبه‌های عمیق با 31 متخصص حوزه‌ گردشگری، هنر و صنایع دستی و کودک، با استفاده از نمونه گیری گلوله برفی گردآوری شده‌ و  داده‌ها براساس کدگذاری باز، محوری و گزینشی طبقه‌بندی شدند. در نتیجه  پنج مولفه مجزا شناسایی شد:  فرآیند سفر، محیط، نیازهای کودکان، خلاقیت و ذی‌نفعان. هر مولفه عوامل مختلفی را در بر می‌گیرد که می‌تواند اطلاعات جدیدی در رابطه با گردشگری خلاق برای کودکان فراهم آورد.

Identifying the key components of child-based creative tourism, (Case study: Isfahan, the creative city of handicrafts)

Tourism is an inclusive, public industry that needs to consider all the sectors of the society regardless of age, race, or gender. Tourism and travel must be accessible to all people, including those with disabilities, the elderly, and children. Therefore, it must be an intrinsic part of any responsible, sustainable tourism policy or strategy. Children are the present and future tourists, who play an important role in destination management. Since they are an important part of the society, it is a requirement to pay attention to the promotion of their creativity, where art can play an important role. Art is a means for creative selfexpression. For children, art can be a wonderful emotional outlet that promotes personal reflection, communication skills, and selfesteem. Promotion of creativity and engagement in artistic activities has been shown to stimulate growth in important cognitive areas.On the other hand, tourism has been redirected from cultural tourism, as the second generation, towards creative tourism, as the third generation. Creative tourism has turned away from tangible heritage and sightseeing towards more intangible cultural and authentic experiences. Therefore, it has attracted more attention, as tourists are looking for more authentic, meaningful experiences. Tourist destinations compete to introduce themselves as creative ones in order to meet the needs of travelers, accelerate their economy, and restructure themselves through cultural regeneration.The present paper sought to identify children as emerging markets for creative tourism and specify its key components and to examine the factors effective on childbased creative tourism. Creative tourists are the creators of their own experiences; therefore, they must act as a homogeneous group of producers with creative ideas about their creative experiences.A creative city in the field of crafts, the city of Isfahan, Iran has the potential to become a creative tourism destination based on handicrafts and folk arts, which also seeks to join childfriendly cities. Local authorities believe that tailoring the notion of childfriendly cities with arts and crafts will help Isfahan improve its image, turning the city into an attractive creative destination for children. As playing games and learning are children’s basic expectations from a childfriendly city, they prefer places that afford them opportunities to play and learn actively. Therefore, crafts and folk arts could play an important role in meeting children’s expectations from Isfahan as a creative destination, because the city is a point of reference in Iran and around the world, also nominated the “World City of Handicraft” by the World Crafts Council. As interaction with crafts is acknowledged as an appropriate tool for playing, it can boost children’s creativity, and provide an opportunity for active learning.The main purpose of this study was to obtain a single definition of childcentered creative tourism. The data were collected using snowball sampling and indepth interviews with 31 tourism, art and handicraft, and children experts. The research used a qualitative method and the thematic theory approach for the identification of the components. The data were categorized based on open, axial, and selective coding. As a result, five distinct components were identified: travel content, children’s needs, creativity, environment, and stakeholders. Each component included several factors that could provide new information on creative tourism for children. This notion and the findings can help destinations to attract children as creative tourists, and their product update will lead to experience and creativity.