The Importance of Heritage Resources
Heritage is becoming an important segment of the tourism industry. Many communities, groups and organizations are interested in using local heritage to expand the tourism products of an area and as a tool to protect valuable resources. Ideally, heritage resources help keep tourism development authentic while connecting it to the life of a community. An area's heritage resources reflect the distinctiveness of the people and events that are important to the lifestyle and history of a community.

What is Heritage Tourism?
Heritage tourism can be defined two ways. The first is defined by its customers and users, the second by a definition of the heritage resources. A partial definition of heritage tourism includes:

Demand-side
An activity in which people enjoy the discovery of a place's unique identity derived from its history.

Immersion or exposure to authentic, high quality experiences rooted in unique, indigenous culture, heritage, landscapes, or a sense of place of a given local area.

Travel to historic and cultural attractions and sites to learn about the past in an enjoyable way.

Supply-side
A form of tourism based upon the enhancement and protection of cultural resources as an element of tourism resources.

Heritage resources that include natural beauty, architecture and urban forms, performing and fine arts, museums, regional speech, traditional crafts, religion, festivals, as well as the appreciation of each unique sense of place.

Destination activities that typically include meals in rustic local restaurants, festivals, folk dance, performance, and viewing craft demonstrations.

Heritage tourism can be distinguished from other forms of tourism by these factors:

• Its people orientation
• Based on authentic resources
• Its connection to people and community
• Grounded in historical fact
• Focus on protection and preservation
• Provides visitors with information, education, and interpretation

A Heritage Tourism Development Process
Heritage tourism is based on the premises that

1. visitors have fulfilling experiences
2. heritage resources get needed maintenance and attention
3. host communities receive meaningful economic returns

Quality heritage tourism development is a comprehensive process addressing four factors:

1. heritage resources
2. visitor interaction mechanisms
3. visitor experiences
4. benefits

These can be described as:

Heritage Resources: Defined as some type of resource or "input" needed to create a heritage product. The heritage resource component of this model focuses on heritage inventories, assessment, protection, interpretive planning and maintenance of the heritage resource base.

Visitor Interaction Mechanisms: The second step in the process is the process of organizing heritage resources so the public can use them. There are a variety of ways to present heritage resources so people can understand and learn from them. Examples of interactive mechanisms are study tours, reenactments, demonstrations, interactive kiosks, audio tapes, celebrations, lectures, to name a few.

Visitor Experiences: The next step is understanding or organizing the heritage resource so the visitors can have satisfying experiences. These experiences can be emotional, physical, intellectual, or inspirational. People's response to the heritage resource is often the most important element in the long term protection of the resource.? In addition, these experiences can include visitor interaction with traditional handmade products.

Benefits: For heritage tourism to be effective and sustainable, benefits must become available to two groups. These groups include: (1) the visitor who uses the heritage resource or acquires the heritage product; (2) the community that hosts the resource and often is responsible for its maintenance and protection or responsible for the production of the heritage product

Following these four steps or another reasoned planning process can sustain the heritage resources and produce economic return.

Recent Statistics Supporting the Value of Heritage Tourism
(January 2002)
Partners in Tourism, a collaboration of eight national associations and four federal agencies, commissioned the Travel Industry Association of America to add a series of questions to its National Travel Survey. Their report makes it clear that the historic/cultural traveler is a market to which the travel industry needs to pay close attention in the future.

Visiting a historic community or building was the most popular cultural activity listed in the survey. The survey found that nearly 93 million Americans included at least one cultural arts, heritage or historic activity or event while traveling. Nearly one-third (32%) added extra time to their trip specifically for this purpose. They take longer trips, are more likely to fly, participate in more activities while traveling, and stay more often in hotels, motels and bed & breakfast establishments.

• Of the total domestic trips (business and pleasure) 50 miles or more, one-way, away from home or including an overnight stay, 21% included an historic/cultural activity.
• As a result, 18% of Heritage/Cultural travelers say they spend more than $1,000 when they travel compared to 12% of all U.S. travelers.
• Heritage/Cultural travelers spends, on average, $722 per trip ($631 excluding transportation to the destination) compared to $603 ($457 excluding transportation) for all U.S. travelers.
• Heritage/Cultural travelers stay longer, 4.7 nights vs. 3.4 nights on average.
• Heritage/Cultural travelers are more likely to stay in a hotel, motel, B&B, 62% vs. 56%.
• Heritage/Cultural travelers are more likely to fly, 22% vs. 18%.
• Heritage/Cultural travelers are more likely to participate in a wide range of activities, with shopping leading the list at 44% vs. 33%.

For information about Partners in Tourism you may call (202) 218-7719 or send an email to partners@aam-us.org.

Benefits of Heritage Tourism

• Visitors have fulfilling experiences
• Resources get needed maintenance attention
• Hosts receive meaningful economic return
• Historic past is preserved
• Underutilized historic resources are developed
• Ways are found to make attractions out of archaeological traditional values
• Historic and cultural sites attract visitors and rehabilitation of existing buildings is often cheaper than building a new structure

Challenges
There are, however, challenges in developing this industry. Ever-increasing traveling population places more and more pressure on cultural resources. Unless we find ways of developing, managing, and sustaining our cultural heritage, we may find that we have lost the resources which originally attracted the visitors.

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