Between market and memory: cultural and creative tourism and the sustainability of artisanal craft in peripheral regions of Northeastern Brazil

This article examines how cultural and creative tourism shapes the sociocultural sustainability of artisanal craft in Northeastern Brazil, a region characterized by strong cultural traditions and pronounced territorial inequalities. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with public managers, institutional technicians, and representatives of craft organizations, the study analyzes the mechanisms through which tourism policies and market dynamics interact with artisanal production. The findings reveal an ambivalent configuration. While tourism expands visibility and market access by integrating craft into tourist routes, fairs, and promotional events, it also accelerates production rhythms, promotes aesthetic standardization, and weakens the territorial and symbolic foundations of craft practices. Based on the empirical evidence, the article advances two analytical concepts: craft touristification, referring to the reorganization of artisanal practices, identities, and spatial arrangements in response to tourism demands; and craft souvenirization, denoting the reduction of craft to standardized, easily reproducible objects oriented toward tourist consumption. These processes illuminate how tourism reshapes both the cultural meaning and material form of craftwork, often marginalizing master artisans and undermining intergenerational knowledge transmission. The study concludes that strengthening sociocultural sustainability requires intersectoral, territorially grounded, and participatory public policies that position artisans as cultural agents rather than mere suppliers of tourist commodities.