Heritage Tourism
Heritage Tourism Opens Doors
Travelers enjoy learning about
different cultures by attending
events such as this Native
American pow wow in Wisconsin.
The National Trust defines cultural heritage tourism as traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. It includes cultural, historic and natural resources.
The Heritage Tourism Program provides assistance ranging from how-to cultural heritage tourism publications to consulting services tailored to meet the needs of individual clients. The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Heritage Tourism Program provides fee-for-service assistance in heritage tourism development, management, and marketing. The staff also works at the national level to track national trends, provides how-to training tools and programs, and advocates for increased national support for heritage tourism.
Through years of experience the Heritage Tourism Program has developed five guiding principles for successful and sustainable cultural heritage tourism development as well as four steps for getting started. These principles and steps have been adopted broadly across the United States and are also being used in Canada and several other international destinations. These principles and steps serve as the foundation of all of the work of the Heritage Tourism Program.
What are the benefits of cultural heritage tourism? Studies have consistently shown that cultural heritage travelers stay longer and spend more money than other kinds of travelers. A good cultural heritage tourism improves the quality of life for residents as well as serving visitors.
Resources
- Heritage tourism success stories.
- The Cultural Heritage Tourism Fact Sheet (pdf).
- Toolkit for the National Trust's Dozen Distinctive Destinations communities.
- The Heritage Tourism Program's Assessment and Recommendations for St. Augustine, Florida (pdf).
- Community assessment visits and recommendation reports.
- Workshops on a variety of cultural heritage tourism topics.
- Learn more about successfully developing, promoting, and managing cultural heritage tourism at culturalheritagetourism.org—a website managed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Heritage Tourism Program on behalf of Partners in Tourism.
