Correlation between Creative Tourism and Agrotourism Services Experiences: An Empirical Research in the Mexican Rural Tourism Environment

Abstract

There is an immediate need to promote rural areas, where Mexico’s highest poverty is concentrated, but the most potential exists for future development. The preferences of the new modern tourist are based mainly on living experiences rather than just sights and souvenirs. The creative experience as the basis of Creative Tourism can be adopted by agrotourism, a type of Rural Tourism, that consist of tourist activities which are based on experiences that natives in the rural area experience on a daily basis. Thirty tourists from 18 to 23 years of age participated in agrotourism activities such as ointment workshops, food workshops, pulque (an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey- agaveplant) preparation workshops, embroidery workshops, farming workshops, and a guided trip to the ecological reserve.

With the use of narratives, experience maps, and audiovisual materials, the results show that the essence of Creative Tourism was understood as active participation and creativity. Many of the participants expressed novelty as a written and graphic expression of creative tourism which enabled them to have a better overall experience. This finding suggests that agrotourism should include different aspects of creative tourism as part of a “creative experience” for those in charge of the tourism industry in Mexico.