Lab 852 (Zagreb/Croatia) choose the thematic « music & tourism ». The following is a quick state of play of this creative sector.
Croatia is at the top of the EU countries’ list of tourism shares in GDP. According to WTTC, in 2016. Croatia had 24,7 % travel & tourism’s total contribution share in GDP with predictions to grow for another 6% in 2017. EU average was 10,2, where the share of traditional European tourist superpowers’ ranges from 8,9 in France to 11,1 in Italy.
These are good indicators for potential investors in the industry, but economic analysts warn us that Croatian flattering numbers could be compared with Thailand, Maldives or Seychelles which in addition to high share of tourism in GDP, also have one other thing in common: they are countries with huge social differences and a large number of poor people.
While our project is not dealing with the change of national GDP’s structure yet, we would like to explore the role of a tourism as the main driving force for the wider economy. Participants of the program are expected to work with the tools of social imagination and new technologies and to dig into music & tourism’s transformative potential for local communities.