Textile Tourism

Textile Recycling Canberra. Leading the Charge: A Comprehensive Guide to Textile Recycling in Canberra

TEXTILE TOURISTS IN THE EUROPEAN PERIPHERY: NEW MARKETS FOR DISADVANTAGED AREAS?

The EUROTEX project seems to have fulfilledits role in demonstrating the value of developing tex-tile tourism in peripheral areas. The development of production and marketing skills among craft pro-ducers and improved linkages between the crafts andtourism sectors seems to have produced beneficialresults in terms of tourism flows and economic ac-tivity. The research on tourist motivations has alsoemphasized the important role that textile crafts canplay in developing tourism products in peripheralareas. Although pure textile tourism is a limitedmarket, developing textile production into a culturalexperience and “creative tourism” for visitors hasprovided a means of diversifying tourist activity andattracting new visitors. The experience of theEUROTEX project underlines the need to maintaina balance between preserving “authentic” local cul-ture and meeting tourist needs, without which it isdifficult to create new markets for traditional prod-ucts. By working directly with local crafts produc-ers, it is possible to develop a more innovative ap-proach to crafts production, even in relativelyisolated regions.

TEXTILE TOURISTS IN THE EUROPEAN PERIPHERY: NEW MARKETS FOR DISADVANTAGED AREAS? Cultural products are often used as a means of attracting tourists to areas which currently have low levels of tourism, particularly because of their peripheral location. This paper reports on attempts to develop textile-related cultural tourism in