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Journal of Tourism Consumption and Practice Volume 4 No.2 2012
ISSN 1757-031X
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Creative tourism in Saint Petersburg: the state of the art
Valery Gordin and Marina Matetskaya
Abstract
Tourism development in St. Petersburg, which is a major cultural centre, has improved in
terms of tourist flows; both tourism demand and tourist products have become more diverse.
These improvements give grounds for a fairly optimistic prognosis for the tourist industry in
St. Petersburg. At the same time, there are a number of factors which may endanger
sustainable development of tourism in St. Petersburg. The current situation calls for a more
flexible and innovative approach to industry development. Among these factors are the
pronounced seasonal character of tourism, the short-term visits of most of the tourists, and
the rather conservative, academic cultural image of St. Petersburg, which compromises the
city’s appeal as a destination for certain tourist segments. Another critical limitation on the
development of cultural tourism in general and of creative tourism in particular is the low
involvement of the population in cultural and tourist events held in the city. This makes it
relevant to look for new approaches for creative tourism development in St. Petersburg as
an important tool for the sustainable development of the industry. This article considers the
existing and potential competitive advantages of St. Petersburg as a tourist destination on
the basis of creative tourism development.
Key words: cultural heritage, creative tourism, cultural products consumption, creative
cluster
Introduction
Saint Petersburg, as most cultural capitals in Europe, is a popular day trip and short break
destination for both leisure and business travel. Studies of cultural and creative tourism are
particularly important for Saint Petersburg as tourism is a key area where business and
culture interact. The amount of research devoted to cultural tourism in Russia is still quite
small (Brown et al., 2000; Gordin, 2009; Gordin and Matetskaya, 2010; Hollander, 1999). In
other countries, however, there have been many publications devoted to issues of cultural
tourism (McKercher, 2002; Richards, 2006; Smith and Robinson, 2006), as well as reports
from different international organizations that directly or indirectly deal with cultural tourism
(ICOM, 2007; OECD, 2009; UNESCO, 2006).
One of the most promising trends in these studies of tourism is the fact that the terms
‘tourist’ and ‘tourism’ are conceptualized as being closely linked to the level of satisfaction
from the consumption of ‘cultural heritage’ and to having a new creative experience. Creative
tourism involves not just being a spectator and engaging in sightseeing, but also a reflexive
interaction on the part of tourists who are usually thought of as ‘non-producers’ in a
traditional analyses (Richards and Wilson, 2007). The essence of this approach to studying
tourism consists in perceiving tourists as consumers (OECD, 2009; Prentice, 2001).
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In our discussion we pay special attention to creative tourism development in order to
introduce a St. Petersburg perspective, and to bring into the spotlight new challenges that
the city faces today. The second question is how to create effective policies that would
boost the development of creative ecosystems while combining creative industries, urban
planning and other types of tourism. Also we pay special attention to cultural events and
agendas that could establish a real connection between cultural policy and economic
development policy at the city level.
Cultural tourism development in St. Petersburg: problems and prospects
The notion of creative tourism has been recently considered from different points of view
(Richards and Palmer, 2010; Wurzburger et al., 2008). One of the approaches treats
creative tourism as a means of acceleration of regional development. Richards and Wilson
(2007) believe that creative approach has been assigned a more important role in regional
development strategies due to the following factors: symbolic economy growth will put
creativity into a privileged position as compared to cultural products; cities and regions tend
to employ culture as a factor that increases the rate of economic growth and, hence, they
should look for new cultural products in order to create competitive advantages which would
make them unique in a market that is becoming more and more crowded; destinations which
lack cultural monuments have to look for new methods of increasing their competitiveness
as compared to those destinations which can boast a number of cultural monuments.
In the case of St. Petersburg, the search for competitive advantages on the basis of
employing rich and versatile cultural heritage of the city plays the decisive role. St.
Petersburg nowadays is a major cultural centre which can boast more than 150 museums,
about 50 theatres, 5 open-air museums, 12 higher educational establishments specializing in
humanities, and more than 250 annual cultural festivals. Other important factors worth
mentioning are the well-known city brand, the accessibility of the city and cruise tourism
involvement. Traditionally, cruise tourism has always aimed to acquaint tourists with cultural
sightseeing attractions in ports of call.
However, the promising tourist potential of the city makes the heads of the major cultural
institutions and some tourist companies take things for granted to a certain extent. The
research carried out by Gordin in 2009 with 29 top managers and directors in the museum
and tourism sectors showed that it would not take long before the city begins to face
significant problems in developing cultural tourism. The major problems were identified as
first, the limited capacity of the most attractive cultural objects, which makes the most
popular city attractions inaccessible to many tourists and city-dwellers in high season;
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second, most cultural products and channels of consumption are traditional or even
conservative and this factor, experts argue, limits the attractiveness of St. Petersburg,
especially for tourists of the older generation, who are very sensitive to the inflationary
pricing of St. Petersburg hotels, restaurants and cultural institutions. Third, interactive
cultural tourism products are underrepresented in the city; fourth, the dominant forms of
cultural product consumption are passive; fifth, entertaining formats of introducing items of
cultural value (including those targeted at children and the teen-age audience) are limited
and sixth, most visits to St. Petersburg are short-term, and tourists therefore tend to visit only
the major attractions, which is particularly pronounced for cruise tourism. These trends make
it relevant to study the experience in creative tourism development accumulated in St.
Petersburg as well as to seek new approaches to its implementation.
From cultural to creative tourism: a change of focus?
The major difference between cultural and creative tourism lies in the resource base of these
types of tourism and in the tourists’ motivation to participate in activities. Cultural tourism
mostly focuses on exploring the cultural and historical heritage, the tangible and intangible
cultural heritage, the historic and biographical artifacts, descriptions, legends, as well as
different art forms. However, the consumption of cultural products takes place in a passive
fashion. In contrast, the main goal of creative tourism is experiencing things first-hand, living
through new emotions, acquiring new knowledge and skills through engaging in creative
activity shared with fellow tourists, and through interactions with the locals. (Hospers and
van Dalm, 2005; Pine and Gilmore, 1995; Richards and Wilson, 2006). In this sense, the
notion of creativity refers to the fact that tourists acquaint themselves with the tourist
destination not only by being physically present but by being exposed to the cultural heritage
that makes the city remarkable, and by means of consuming the local cultural products and
events. The look of the city, the services offered, the engineering communications, the
education system and the transportation system could all be perceived as a source of
inspiration if tourists are moved by what they see.
The most evident means of ensuring a creative tourist experience is improving the look of
the public venues, since, in this instance, the language barrier does not interfere with
product consumption. However, creativity can be relevant to any sphere of the city life,
including socializing, shopping, services, telecommunications, etc. A broader understanding
of creativity is supported by many researchers who view creative technologies and creativity
as a resource in all spheres (cf. creative economy (Howkins, 2001); creative city (Landry,
2000)); creative jobs and creative class (Florida, 2002); creative industries (Pratt, 2009).
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Thus, the notion of creative tourism expands beyond the cultural sphere and cultural
industries.
Nevertheless, generally recognized definitions of creative tourism link it to cultural tourism,
‘Creative tourism is a form of cultural tourism’ (Ohridska-Olson, 2010; Richards, 2006). More
specifically, creative tourism is, ‘travel directed toward an engaged and authentic
experience, with participative learning in the arts, heritage, or special character of a place,
and it provides a connection with those who reside in this place and create this living culture’
(UNESCO, 2006, p.3).
Thus the existence of cultural tourism supports the development of creative tourism, and
many cities boast an effective combination of these kinds of tourism (e.g., Barcelona, Berlin,
Antwerp, Rome, and London). At the same time, the existing tangible cultural heritage
should not be recognized as the only source of creative tourism development, as traditions
and the intangible cultural capital of a tourist destination appear to be more valuable in the
case at hand.
St. Petersburg has always been a city where ideas originated and were disseminated, as
well as a major venue for the exchange of experience and ideas in the spheres of
technology, science, education, culture and the arts. In this sense, the city has always been
the centre of creative tourism as it has assisted practitioners in different spheres in enriching
their knowledge base and in mastering professional skills. St. Petersburg has developed a
rich R&D sector, including a number of educational and research centres, career
development centres, centres for practical professional advancement in the humanities,
medicine, economics, management, technology and innovation, etc.). This is why the
creative potential of St. Petersburg has always been in demand and has always been
fruitfully utilized.
Our focus is on using the creative potential in the sphere of the arts and culture as a basis
for cultural heritage development. We believe that technologies, traditions and knowledge,
which are reflected in the sphere of traditional culture and in the city’s cultural heritage, can
be employed as a promising basis for cultural heritage development. Specifically, in the
sphere of social technologies, coexistence of multiple religions (confessions) and tolerance
can serve as a basis for cultural heritage development. In the sphere of crafts, modern
creative industries that are developing on the basis of combining folk arts and crafts and
modern design techniques can serve as a basis for cultural heritage development. Finally,
the sphere of the performing arts, including modern and classical dance, and a wide range of
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music – from classical and ancient music to rock, pop and ethno-music, etc. – can serve as
a basis for cultural heritage development.
Our research considers creative tourism creation and its study from two points of view, first,
we consider the consumer demand for creative tourism, and, in particular, the roles of
consumer creativity and of models of their behavior and second, from the supply standpoint,
we focus on producers of innovative cultural goods and services.
Creative tourism demand
Consumer behaviour determines creative tourism demand. Specifically, the following factors
are important in this market: the degree and nature of consumer participation in cultural and
creative practices; cultural heritage preservation; broadening channels and formats of
human interaction in society and the growth rates of cultural tourism and other forms of
tourism. In this section we will consider these factors in more detail.
Active participation in cultural practices and consumer creativity.
Creativity as an epiphenomenon reflects current social and economic tendencies (Salman,
2010), which results in the rise of knowledge-driven industries relying on creative and
cultural activities. Human creativity has the potential to generate income, jobs and export
earnings in advanced economies of the world (The Creative Economy Report, 2008, 2010).
Moreover, this scenario is also a feasible option for developing countries. For many Russian
cities, including St. Petersburg, the development of creative industries has become a
necessity, in other words, an issue of survival. This is why creative industries development
could be considered as a means of social innovation as well (Ruutu et al., 2009). Current
discussions are devoted to the topic of whether or not human capital and creativity are
sources of local development in cities, and how they influence territorial, economic and
social processes in urban space (Comunian et al., 2010; Clark et al., 2002; Florida, 2002,
2005; Storper and Scott, 2009).
We can identify two approaches to the concept of creative industries: creativity as potential
and creativity as a human resource. Everyone ought to be creative – that is, both the
producer and the consumer. For instance, one of classifications representing creative
industries’ models (Hartley, 2005) singles out this model as ‘creative citizens (culture),’
which refers to an open innovation network. The model is characterized by the following
parameters: the model involves ‘creative citizens’ – the general population, the workforce,
consumers, users, entrepreneurs and artists; the energies of everyone in the system can
be harnessed, thus contributing the value of entire social networks and that of the individual
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agency of whole populations to the growth of knowledge; there must be a domain of
experimentation and adaptation, where individual agency may have network effects.
This is why the creative culture itself should be the source of ideas and innovations, and
should contribute to overall progress. In many cities that are viewed as ‘creative’, there are
strong connections between traditions, the arts, and the unique atmosphere and authentic
character of the venue (Hall, 2000; Richards, 2006). Cities become venues for implementing
active creative projects and processes.
On the one hand, St. Petersburg can boast all of the advantages of a creative venue – the
very architecture of the city is a magnificent backdrop for various events and a source of
inspiration, and numerous art festivals are held every year in St. Petersburg. On the other
hand, the creative atmosphere leaves much to be desired; unique creative initiatives that do
not come from cultural organizations but rather from creative communities or individuals are
few and far between. There are no street fairs or flea markets, and no outlets offering local
clothes, food or souvenirs. For instance, it is symptomatic that a first festival of young
designers’ hand-made items DeLa’Ruk (= ‘made by the hands’) was held only in August
2008 in the yard of Saint Catherine Catholic Church on Nevskiy prospect, which is one of the
best areas in the city (DeLaRuk, 2012).
Figure 1. DeLa’Ruk Handmade Festival
Picture courtesy of ‘DeLa’Ruk’ http://www.delaruk.com/
The festival was held again in December of the same year at the Mega shopping mall in one
of the suburban residential neighborhoods of the city. Despite the fact that the festival was of
great interest to the design community, as well as to the locals and to tourists, it received no
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support from the city authorities or businesses. While the festival has returned to its original
‘historic’ venue in 2010, the organizers are currently unsure of its prospects. Marketplaces
that offer folk craft products could be seen as the most significant tourist attractions, and the
St. Petersburg market of hand-made products is currently experiencing significant growth.
However, this marketplace is mostly web-based, and can be characterized as e-commerce;
hence it lacks actual agents who would operate on the city streets and is not targeted toward
tourists. While there are numerous new spacious shopping centers, especially in the
suburbs, these are not venues for creative recreational activities, communication or
generating creative ideas.
Cultural heritage preservation.
The demand for authenticity in relation to cultural tourism has changed approaches to
preserving cultural heritage and has changed the ways in which cultural tourism is
employed as a basis for developing creative tourism. Ohridska-Olson and Ivanov (2010)
argue that, ‘The trend shifted in the last 10 years towards authentic recreation of
technologies and skills in arts and crafts production versus artificial representation of cultural
heritage. This represents a major demand factor for creative tourism and an instrument to
preserve cultural heritage in its most authentic forms’ (Ohridska-Olson and Ivanov, 2010, p.
6).
Tourists strive to be discoverers or pioneers in the sphere of the arts, they are eager to learn
original techniques used in creating cultural and art products. For example, tourists are
interested in being introduced to authentic technologies used in building houses. Another
important aspect of cultural heritage preservation is ‘heritage mining’ through which cities
attempt ‘to re-develop themselves through the revalorisation of cultural heritage, usually with
an emphasis on the built heritage’ (Richards and Wilson, 2006).
Broadening interaction channels and formats in society.
The existence of new forms of interaction and of new opportunities for intercultural
communication while traveling have enhanced the development of creative tourism in the
past twenty years. Due to the development of social networks on the Internet and the
availability of gadgets such as translators, navigators and local SIM-cards, new
communication formats between tourists and the locals have emerged. Youth tourism
organizations are highly active in this field, as evidenced by the existence of educational
programmes, language learning programmes, and work and travel programmes. It should be
noted that nowadays in St. Petersburg there is a great deal of growth in all of these areas of
social communication between local residents and tourists.
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One of the trends is creating venues for creative communication, such as lofts, clubs, literary
cafés, book-selling cafés and bookstores. This kind of social interaction is typical of Moscow
and St. Petersburg but not of the provinces, hence the increasing popularity of this kind of
communication among tourists visiting Russia. Moreover, foreign tourists with a creative
background show a great deal of interest in these types of interactions with their Russian
colleagues, friends and peers. It is worth noting that the process of creating an infrastructure
of intellectual communication is well under way in St. Petersburg. One of the key players on
the intellectual communications market is a major bookselling network – Bukvoyed, which
literally means ‘a letter-eater’, in other words, a bookworm.
In principle, St. Petersburg could be a candidate for being a UNESCO City of Literature
(UNESCO, 2012). The criteria for achieving City of Literature status are: Quality, quantity
and diversity of publishing and editorial initiatives; Quality and quantity of educational
programmes; and urban environment in which literature plays an integral part; experience in
hosting literary events and festivals, promoting foreign and domestic texts; the existence of
libraries, bookstores and cultural centres; active efforts to translate literary works from
diverse languages and the use of new media to promote and strengthen the literary market.
Figure 2. Museum Quarter Excursion with the Postman Guide
Picture courtesy of Museum Quarter: http://www.museum-city.ru/?p=229
One can find diverse literary activities in St. Petersburg, which manifest themselves in a
variety of book stores, clubs, universities, libraries, archives, scholarly centers, and
publishing houses. Nowadays, tourists can familiarize themselves with the distinguished
cultural and literary history of the city through specialized literacy tourists’ programmes. 15
literacy museums devoted to the life and work of famous Russian writers and poets are
included in special tourist routes. Among them are the Anna Akhmatova museum at the
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Fountain House, The St. Petersburg Nabokov museum, the Dostoevsky Museum, the
Institute of Russian Literature (the Pushkin House), and some others. One of the new
options available to tourists are city tours conducted by a famous literary character, such as
a postman (someone as a guide impersonating a postman), for example (Museum Quarter
in St. Petersburg, http://www.museum-city.ru/).
Venues such as St. Petersburg's Literary Café and Dom Knigi, which can be translated as
The Book House, have an almost religious significance to some because they represent St.
Petersburg’s literary tradition. These venues are situated in the center of the city, and
continue to support the image of the city as the heart of the Russian literature. In addition, a
number of new bookstores and cafes have opened recently and have become very famous
among the locals and tourists alike.
More than 1000 publishing houses are located in St. Petersburg. Academic books, art
literature and children’s books are very popular. As of 2007, the Russian Book Fair has been
organized annually in St. Petersburg. The Book Fair has enjoyed the status of an
international event, with 278 participants from 10 countries, and with about 60,000 visitors
(http://peterburg2.ru/events/51379.html).
The organizers’ goal is for the Book Fair to become the la rgest exhibition in terms of
attendance in St. Petersburg, and to be the most exciting annual book-related event for the
locals. The Book Fair affords opportunities for cooperation between authors, publishers,
distributors and readers.
In order to solidify the status of St. Petersburg as a literary city, the following issues need to
be resolved: insufficient focus on the English language in the following areas: the publishing
business, literary events and even city tours, a lack of consolidation of the key stakeholders
in the development and promotion of products in the tourism market and in the entertainment
industry in St. Petersburg, museums, cafés, and book trade being examples of the products
in question; insufficient integration of the city itself and of tour operators into international
organizations that support the development of literary tourism and people’s interest in
literature in general.
These issues of tourism organization in St. Petersburg are symptoms of the more general
problem of weak connections between touristic attractions and tour operators. Interestingly,
one of the first ‘unofficial’ tourist routes around St. Petersburg was developed and introduced
not by professional tour operators but by students of linguistics who wanted to make city
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tours with their foreign guests more entertaining. Unfortunately, St. Petersburg tour
operators have not appreciated the competitive advantage of such forms of creative tourism.
In our opinion, the rise of unofficial tours in St. Petersburg reflects the large number of
creative educational establishments in the city. All over the world, institutions of higher
learning have proven to be idea incubators and, as such, are highly regarded by tourists.
Given that nowadays graduates of these institutions in Russia face difficulties with finding
employment, creating opportunities for involving young, creative college graduates in
working for the tourist industry and in socializing with tourists is a promising avenue both for
the tourist industry and the college graduates. The projects that new college graduate
become involved in may include the development of creative tourism.
Creative tourism and other kinds of tourism.
Another phenomenon that motivates the development of creative tourism on the basis of
consumer demand is meeting industry or MICE industry (MICE is an acronym for the
Meetings, Incentives, Conventions/Conferences and Exhibitions/Events tourism segment)
(Fenich, 2005). MICE-tourism offers a wide range of training and game sessions in
museums, palaces and parks. These activities, according to the organizers, promote team
building, creating incentives for workers to achieve self-realization. The organizers are able
to create an unusual atmosphere for business events scheduled in the programme of visits
to tourist destinations. Currently, educational and training services are often provided in St.
Petersburg palaces. These services are in high demand among the tourist categories that
they target. What is special about St. Petersburg is that there are a great number of
business trainers who not only employ the ‘decorative’ backdrop of historical buildings in
their training sessions, but also make famous historical events and people known from the
history of St. Petersburg part of the training sessions that they organize. The results of
Gordin’s 2009 survey mentioned earlier showed that, according to the experts, MICE-
tourism is the most promising initiative in terms of combining the business, scientific and
cultural potential of St. Petersburg. Experts specifically pointed out that MICE-services
based on the edutainment principle are highly competitive. In the light of these findings,
organizers of training sessions, seminars, exhibitions and tourist cultural programmes ought
to overcome the problems of tourist services in St. Petersburg that we discussed earlier,
namely, the lack of interactive activities that would appeal to different tourist segments.
Creative tourism supply
The development of the creative tourism market is determined by the involvement of all
stakeholders in the process of creative tourism development, by their cooperation and
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interaction, as well as by the way in which interests are accommodated. In previous studies,
certain factors which determine creative tourism supply were singled out. For example,
Ohrodska-Olson and Ivanov (2010, p. 9-10) present the following model:
local tourism infrastructure
hospitality
unique local arts and crafts
unique local cultural offerings
creative industries
other types of tourism
We consider the following major factors that predetermine how creative tourism development
takes place in St. Petersburg: first, a prominent cultural heritage. St. Petersburg is a world
famous cultural centre, and the city’s cultural heritage is included into UNESCO’s list of
cultural and historical values. St. Petersburg is a world famous touristic brand, and it is a city
that encourages the development of creative industries. Second, the rise of the tourism
market. Major international tour operators and key players in the hospitality business are well
represented in St. Petersburg, the tourism market being complemented by the active
development of minor hotels and hostels numbering over 500. Minor businesses are widely
introducing various creative technologies not only in promoting their own hotels but in
providing different services for their guests (Karhunen, 2008). Thirds, an extensive transport
infrastructure. St. Petersburg has a major international airport, a high-speed railway service
connecting it to major Russian cities and to Helsinki, Finland, the Sea Passenger port ‘Sea
Façade’, and the ferry link to the Baltic states. In 2009 the port handled 426,000 incoming
passengers, rising to 460,000 passengers in 2010. In 2011 380,000 cruise and 170,000 ferry
passengers are expected to arrive to the city via the ‘Sea Façade’ port terminal. It is obvious
that the development of cruise tourism demands innovative approaches to presenting the
city’s cultural heritage, which we will discuss below. And fourth, local arts and crafts as
tourism products. The city is developing creative tourism products and services based on
local arts and crafts. Not only is the authentic Russian national culture widely represented in
St. Petersburg, but prominent examples of world culture and creative technologies are
represented as well. For the most part, these creative technologies are based on cultural
heritage preservation and dissemination of cultural practices and services. For example, a
great deal of publicity was generated by the restoration works on Rembrandt’s ‘Danae’ in
The State Hermitage Museum. The story goes that the painting was damaged by a mentally
ill person who poured sulpharic acid on it. The unique experience of restorers can be
employed as a new tourist and cultural product. Today, the Hermitage is one of a handful of
major museums which openly demonstrate to the public different technologies used in
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preserving and restoring art objects. It should be noted that St. Petersburg cannot boast
unique local crafts or cuisine. In many ways what the city has to offer can be qualified as
both traditional and cosmopolitan. But even given the traditional nature of the city, something
new that would appeal both to the residents and tourists can be found. We have developed
a number of new creative services proposals and tourist products proposals, which are
represented in Table 1.
Table 1: New creative tourist products for St. Petersburg
Creative products and events
Places/examples/factors
glassworks, colored glass
production; master classes and
excursions to workshops
numerous glass art galleries
glassworks, artists’ studios
art glass and ceramics department in St. Petersburg
Academy of Industrial Arts named after Stieglitz
decorative and applied arts, and
jewelry
unique traditional and modern techniques, e.g. modern hot
enamelling technique
a sample of modernizing a traditional kind of decorative-
applied art
artists’ studios and art galleries
stained-glass windows
production
stained-glass windows have always been an essential part
of building decoration in St. Petersburg
various stained-glass techniques are being resurrected,
and stained-glass windows are being restored
stained-glass works are open in St.-Isaac’s Cathedral
tapestry and St. Petersburg’s
espalier
classical espalier technique has been in use in the city
workshops from XVIII century to present day
numerous workshops, exhibitions
ceramics and porcelain painting
the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory: its history and today’s
activity (there are plans for launching an educational
project introducing master classes, and industrial art
cluster)
porcelain and hand-painting of porcelain and ceramics are
quite popular
microminiatures made using
different materials, such as
metal, wood, etc.
there is a unique museum of microminiature in St.
Petersburg
a creative community ‘Masters’ Guild’ unites Russian
artists specializing in miniature genre
doll making
theatre workshops, puppet theatres
departments of costume making, hand-made industry,
children’s products industry
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The fact that decorative and applied arts and crafts and various technologies employed in
producing hand-made goods generate a lot of interest is proven by the rapid development of
the arts and crafts market in St. Petersburg and in other Russian cities and towns. While
there have been no significant studies devoted to the Russian hand-made goods market,
experts and businesspeople are unanimous in claiming that the demand is huge and that the
market is far from being saturated.
Vendors participating in the hand-made goods market have become experts in promoting
their products via e-commerce: they opened specialized groups in major social networks
Odnoklassniki (= schoolmates) and Vkontakte (= ‘in contact’); in addition, there are blogs
and online shops, etc devoted to hand-made goods. Clicking ‘hand-made’ in the Vkontakte
network in St. Petersburg brought up more than 900 groups that had between 50 and 2000
members (as of 15.02.2011). According to hand-made goods vendors, up to 90% of orders
come via the Internet. Russian community devoted to hand-made goods in LiveJournal has
more than 48,500 posts, most of which are photos of products that are for sale
(http://www.perspektyva.org/news/last/3680.html).
At the same time, the hand-made goods market is not focused on tourist demand. The fact
remains that two thirds of souvenir and gift products in St. Petersburg are represented by
Chinese copies of traditional Russian folk craft, according to Vadim Savchenko, the
Chairman of the Association ‘Folk art crafts and works’
http://www.bishelp.ru/ekoot/detail.php?ID=85827).
Development of the creative industries
Effective urban development is a prerequisite for bringing out the creative aspects of a city,
and the impact of urban development extends beyond creating cultural areas (thematic
areas) or creative clusters. The main point is that these areas should be venues where
people can interact. Interaction between individuals can be facilitated through new project
development, creative incubators, through creating new shopping areas and designers’
studios, etc.
While these developments are taking place, they are not targeted to the tourists per se.
There is a language barrier, and many products are not ready to be launched on the tourist
market. In practice, Hartley (2010) argues, a combination of all three models – creative
clusters, creative services, and creative citizens – is part of the intellectual infrastructure of a
creative city, bringing into one place the energies of producers and consumers, intellectual
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property and intellectual capital, elaborate and emergent creativity, work and leisure, supply
and demand.
Unique cultural offerings
With respect to the search for new formats in creating and promoting cultural products based
on creative technologies, some interesting trends have become evident in the activities of St.
Petersburg cultural organizations. First of all, as we have noted above, one of the major
problems of tourism development in St. Petersburg is its seasonal character – 75% of
tourists visit St. Petersburg between May and September (Arkhipov, 2011). In order to attract
tourists in the low season, major cultural and art organizations resort to using creative
products. Using creative products to attract customers is typical of the companies whose
services are in high demand in high season. Considering the fact that high season lasts for
about half a year – from April to October – we can assume that only a short period of time
remains for the development of activities which can be qualified as promoting creative
tourism. However, this is exactly the period when the theatres’ backstage and museum
deposits are open to the public (e.g., excursions in Mariinsky Theatre), the general public
actively interact with artists, actors, musicians, and museum keepers, and balls are held in
museum palaces (e.g., Tzarskoselsky New Year Ball).
It is also during the low season that new venues are open for presenting new creative tourist
products developed by many leading cultural organizations. For instance, concerts
accompanied by lectures are given on the premises of the Concert Hall of Mariinsky Theatre,
the Marble Palace of the State Russian Museum offers interactive performances, and the
State Museum Reserve Peterhof offers the specialty of the house – theatrical shows in the
parks. On the one hand, these events help to open new spaces of cultural activities, and, on
the other hand, they assist in channeling the tourist flow, which is particularly important in the
summer.
Yet another factor is that dozens of art organizations engaged in cultural tourism are actively
operating in St. Petersburg, as has already been mentioned. However, vast numbers of
tourists (both Russian and foreign) visit only the 5-7 most famous cultural institutions. In
order to attract additional visitors, less well-known theatres and museums offer various
interactive forms of cultural product consumption, such as interactive performances in the
foyer before and after the show, opportunities for children to make something with their own
hands after the museum tour, quizzes following the museum tour with prizes for the winners,
and so on. It should be noted that most minor St. Petersburg museums exhibit art works that
are valuable in terms of their historical, professional, local or biographical nature. In the first
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years after the October revolution the Bolsheviks confiscated most art objects from private
collections from remote palaces and minor museums and transferred them to central
museums in order to ensure their preservation, for inventory taking, and also in order to sell
some of these art works abroad at a later point. These past events brought about the current
marketing strategy of the minor museums. The strategy they use aims at promoting art
objects against the backdrop of their historic environment rather than at exhibiting art objects
of unique value. This strategy enables minor museums to interact with museum visitors with
varying interests and ages in more flexible ways, since most minor museums do not offer
‘must-see’ art works.
Another factor is linked to the rapid development of cruise tourism in St. Petersburg, and the
problem of dealing with large groups of tourists who arrive at the same time. The tourist flow
proves to be overwhelming for the limited number of highly popular cultural sightseeing
attractions. A way out in this case is creating a number of events in the city, scheduling
regular festivals and festivities, and encouraging participation in other types of events, which
would serve as a replacement for the popular attractions. These kinds of events especially
appeal to younger tourists who appreciate interactive and creative activities. Currently, the
situation with event scheduling is tricky. The distribution of St. Petersburg festivals
throughout the year is far from regular (Figure 3).
Figure 3: The number of festivals in 2010 in St. Petersburg.
Source: The Institute for Cultural Programs (ICP), 2010
However, from the point of view of creative tourism development this irregularity in festival
distribution has both beneficial and negative outcomes. For instance, the ‘Development
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programme of St. Petersburg as a tourist centre for 2005-2010’ announced promoting
festival activities in low season as a priority and as the most important synchromarketing tool
in St. Petersburg. The city has initiated and organized such festivals as ‘White Days’, ‘The
Arts Square’, the Christmas festival, and a new series of Shrovetide (Maslenitsa) festivities
in downtown and in the suburbs. Some of these festivals have already become traditional.
Unfortunately, their impact on the intensity of the tourist flow in low season cannot be
considered to be decisive. Even the festival which, in our opinion, is the leading one among
the low season festivals, the ‘Maslenitsa festival’, has not yet become a major world famous
cultural event. In our previous studies we pointed out the need for organizing a brand name
festival in St. Petersburg, like the ones that are in existence in Edinburgh, Venice and
Salzburg (Gordin and Matetskaya, 2010). A festival of this kind would last a few weeks,
involve several venues, and be supported by the visits of world-famous celebrities or by
exhibitions featuring new art objects. This type of a festival would be capable of attracting a
considerable number of tourists in the low tourist season.
At the same time, in some respects, high festival activity in the summer is advantageous.
The reason for this is that the summer is exactly the time when many festivals can be more
interactive (e.g., the festival contest ‘The Imperial Gardens of Russia’, ‘The White Nights
Festival’, the International Festival of Argentine Tango ‘The White Nights Tango’, ‘The
Carnival in Tzarskoye Selo’). Although we cannot qualify the above-mentioned festivals as
world-famous art events, still, their combined impact creates a natural atmosphere of an on-
going holiday, which is essential for any major tourist centre. The participation of tourists in
small-scale festivals and in interactive events in particular, can serve as an adequate
replacement for a series of typically visited popular attractions. It should be emphasized that
many of the ‘minor’ festivals mentioned above engage both professional and non-
professional participants and involve city residents and tourists (including foreign ones) in
the events programme.
In order to research the prospects for creative tourism development in St. Petersburg, we
conducted a peer review of 334 art festivals, festivities and contests of different genres
organized by a range of organisations in the city in 2010. We have put forward a hypothesis
that a number of parameters play a crucial role in making a festival an interactive one.
Meeting the ‘interactivity requirement’ can facilitate the development of creative tourism in St.
Petersburg. We considered including the following festival events to be crucial in this respect:
First, making interactive events part of the festival programme; second, contest events
(contests for the best costume, the best drawing, the best bouquet, etc.); third, educational
events (master classes, public lectures, etc.); fourth, events oriented toward promoting
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professional communication (seminars, conferences, debates, etc.) and fifth, events oriented
towards non-professional communication (meeting actors, visiting backstage spaces, etc).
According to these parameters most festivals were assessed as low-interaction level events.
Only a quarter of all festivals held in St. Petersburg included any interactive events in their
Figure 3: St Petersburg Carnival
Picture courtesy of St. Petersburg Carnival
programmes. This state of affairs is in part due to the academic nature of St. Petersburg
culture. In the meantime, the analysis of creative parameters of specific types of St.
Petersburg festivals shows that interaction seems to be a hallmark of multigenre (mixed)
festivals, which are among the most popular festivals. As a result of the analysis of the list of
festivals in the St Petersburg Calendar of Events (www.billboard.spb.ru) we could identify
the following events as ‘creative festivals’:
Festival ‘Sounds and colors of the world’ http://inter-festival.ru/page17.html
International Ballet Festival ‘Dance open’ http://www.danceopen.com/
St. Petersburg Pret-a-Porter Week ‘Defile na Neve’. Fashion Show on the Neva
http://www.defilenaneve.ru/#/en/
International Festival of Russian Theaters in the CIS and Baltic States ‘Meeting in
Russia’ http://www.teatr.gorodovoy.spb.ru/news/756544.shtml
International Theater Festival ‘Rainbow’ http://www.tyuz-
spb.ru/?s=repertoire&id=66
International Music Festival ‘Stars of the White Nights’ http://www.mariinsky.ru/
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St. Petersburg Choir Festival http://www.choirfestival.ru/
International Music Festival ‘St. Petersburg Palaces’ http://palacefest-eng.spb.ru/
The Festival of Museums’ Programme for Children ‘Children’s Days in St
Petersburg’ http://www.museum12345.ru/cat/544/ru
Table 2: Genre specificity of festivals with interactive events
The type of
festival
Proportion of festivals of a
specific genre among the
total number of festivals
(%)
Proportion of festivals of
a specific genre among
the festivals with
interactive events (%)
Proportion of festivals
with interactive events
among the total number
of festivals of this genre
(%)
Music
35
26
20
Theatre
9
2
7
Dance
10
10
26
Cinema
13
8
16
Mixed
27
47
45
Considering the rapid development of media technologies, cinema and theatre festivals
showed a surprisingly low levels of interactivity. The low level of creativity of theatre festivals
is indicated by the lack of contest procedures; the proportion of theatre festivals among
festivals featuring contests is only 10%. Another interesting trend was revealed in the course
of the study: festivals organized by state-owned legal entities tend to include more
interactive events in the festival programme than non-state organizers (Table 3).
Table 3. Festival ownership and interactive events
Type of organization form
The percentage of festivals held
by this kind of organization out
of the total percentage of
festivals (%)
The percentage of festivals held
by this kind of organization out
of the total percentage of
festivals with interactively
formatted events (%)
Non-governmental
organizations
27
23
State
34
43
Commercial
26
24
Mixed festivals
13
10
The differences between state and non-state organizations are probably related to the fact
that state cultural organizations have more experience in conducting festival activities, and
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they have more secure financial and social standing. Festivals that originated within the past
three years also tend to be twice as interactive as those with a longer history.
Another factor worth mentioning is that festivals with interaction-oriented events account for
41% of the overall number of festivals organized with creative educational institutions as
partners. However, the total number of festivals in which creative educational institutions
participate as organizers is rather low – there are only thirty seven of these. Nineteen more
festivals are organized with the participation of other kinds of educational institutions. It is
evident that there is a great deal of potential for further development in the area of festival
creativity.
Cultural cluster formation in St. Petersburg
Gordin and Matetskaya’s (2010) study of the distribution of art organizations and creative
industries in St. Petersburg and its suburbs uncovered the following existing and potential
cultural clusters: culture heritage clusters; creative clusters; ethnocultural clusters; mass-
cultural clusters and art incubators. We wouldd like to further consider the role played by
certain cultural clusters in forming creative tourist products. Cultural heritage clusters, which
are mostly represented by architectural monuments, museums, and historic sights, do not
seem to be promising in terms of contributing to the creation of creative tourist products.
Nevertheless, historic areas like these have a certain cultural aura which arouses tourist
interest. Even minor social interactions can have this effect. Thus this effect can come about
as a result of brief communication exchanges with the locals who may be either people who
happen to be interested in sightseeing or specially trained people, or volunteers, who may
share with the tourists their fragmentary reminiscences relevant to the object of sightseeing.
It is important to note that despite the fact that other clusters offer more interactive forms of
communication with tourists, the impressions produced upon tourists within cultural heritage
clusters are the strongest.
Creative clusters include various cultural institutions and represent the performing arts,
creative workshops and laboratories, design and fashion studios, and other forms of creative
self-expression which may be weakly institutionalized. It goes without saying that this type of
cluster provides the strongest potential support for creative tourist products. Many cultural
organizations that comprise creative clusters focus not only on meeting tourist demands but
tend to provide full-scale entertainment. For instance, a customer may be offered the
opportunity to make his or her own version of a souvenir using a ready-made model or to
paint a souvenir, or to affix his or her own photo to a picture of a St. Petersburg place of
interest. Unfortunately, most souvenirs are very generic and lack personality, and truly
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creative products are rare. However, if a tourist is lucky enough to come across a creative
product, they become a participant in a truly creative process.
Ethnocultural clusters have not yet been significantly developed in St. Petersburg. Despite
the rapid growth of ethnic migrant population, it is unlikely that a Russian version of a
Chinatown will appear in the centre of St. Petersburg. However, given that St. Petersburg is
a multicultural and a multi-religious city, certain historical residential areas of different
nationalities have been preserved in the city. For instance, there are residential quarters
where Germans, Swedes and Finns lived for several centuries. Nowadays confessional
buildings, authentic restaurants, shops and drugstores in these quarters are being restored;
previously, these buildings were either ruined or changed in order to be used for other
purposes. Historical venues not only enjoy popularity among certain groups of tourists, but
also create an environment that provides opportunities for make-believe ethnohistoric
experiences for tourists.
Mass culture clusters target general audiences, including both tourists and residents. This
kind of cluster is characteristic mostly of residential areas, although some of these are
created in recreational areas visited by tourists as well. From the point of view of creative
tourism, these clusters offer favourable conditions for communication between tourists and
residents in informal environments, such as night clubs, discos, internet-cafés and other
places frequented by young people.
Art incubators are institutions organized by higher educational establishments to assist their
graduates in their professional adaptation. Our prediction is that art incubators will become
the driving force behind launching creative tourism projects in which rich cultural heritage
and advanced IT technologies would be combined.
Conclusion
In this paper, we analyzed the current state of creative tourism in St. Petersburg. We would
like to emphasize that creative tourism serves as a basis for the development of cultural
tourism in St. Petersburg. We identified the major factors that interfere with tourism
development in St. Petersburg. Our analysis of the interactions between creative tourism
and other forms of tourism enabled us to draw conclusions concerning the prospects of
creation of integrated tourism products. For example, these products can be created through
MICE-tourism, and through event based and cruise tourism as well. We have also proposed
some new options for offering creative services and tourist products. We also provided an
analysis of creative approaches to organizing festivals, which are numerous in St.
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Petersburg. As a basis for this analysis, we have developed new criteria for festival
creativity. The authors also explored the territorial aspects of creative tourism development
potential through classifying cultural clusters that are currently emerging in St. Petersburg,
and through describing their role in creative tourism development in the city.
Acknowledgements
This study was implemented in the framework of the Basic Research Programme at the
National Research University - Higher School of Economics in 2011–2012 (Laboratory of
Cultural Economics).
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Author details: Valery Gordin is Professor and Head of the Laboratory of Cultural
Economics, National Research University - Higher School of Economics 190008, Souza
Pechatnikov, 16 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Email: vegordin@gmail.com
Marina Matetskaya is a Researcher and Associate Professor National Research University
- Higher School of Economics 190008, Souza Pechatnikov, 16 Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Email: mmatetskaya@hse.spb.ru
