Objective: Creative tourism, as an increasingly important component of the broader tourism industry, can contribute substantially to local empowerment, economic diversification, and the creation of new employment opportunities in rural areas. It may also provide a foundation for strengthening sustainable rural entrepreneurship and stimulating linkages with other economic sectors. Accordingly, this study seeks to identify the key factors and driving forces through which creative tourism can contribute to the development of sustainable rural entrepreneurship.
Methods: This applied study adopts a descriptive–analytical design within a futures-studies framework. Data were collected through a combination of documentary and field-based methods. Documentary data were obtained from books, scholarly articles, and relevant official documents, whereas field data were gathered through a structured expert questionnaire. The questionnaire covered five dimensions: socio-cultural, economic, environmental, physical-spatial, and institutional-organizational. The study population consisted of 25 experts and specialists in creative tourism, sustainable entrepreneurship, and rural development. The validity of the instrument was assessed through expert review, and the collected data were analyzed using MICMAC structural analysis to determine the degree of direct and indirect influence and dependence among the identified variables.
Results: The analysis identified 20 key drivers among the 91 factors examined. These drivers included strengthening intergenerational cooperation, raising public awareness of cultural and social values, fostering a sense of local identity and pride, revitalizing traditional arts and handicrafts, reducing economic dependence on agriculture, creating new export opportunities, strengthening local markets, increasing women’s employment, enhancing tourists’ environmental awareness, promoting green businesses, restoring native species, developing sustainable agriculture, establishing nature-based campsites, developing cultural and tourism centers, improving public transportation, creating tourism information centers, establishing an entrepreneur database, increasing financial transparency, facilitating the licensing process, and developing a system for evaluating tourism businesses.
Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that creative tourism has considerable potential to contribute to sustainable rural entrepreneurship. The structural analysis indicates that strengthening social cooperation, revitalizing handicrafts, reducing excessive dependence on agriculture, and creating new economic opportunities are particularly important for fostering sustainable rural enterprise. The simultaneous interaction of cultural, economic, environmental, physical-spatial, and institutional factors suggests that sustainable rural entrepreneurship requires an integrated policy approach. Accordingly, supporting creative activities, developing cultural and tourism infrastructure, and streamlining institutional procedures can facilitate sustainable rural development based on creative tourism.