George Eastman House's curator learning about the new Heritage Travel program at the AASLH meeting in 2008.
Traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present is what heritage tourism is all about. Now there will be one place for people to discover the breadth of heritage travel opportunities available. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has recently created Heritage Travel, Inc., a new, for-profit subsidiary. Heritage travelers and historic destinations will have a national one-stop travel planning resource; an online community where people can find and share heritage-rich experiences and heritage destinations will have a professional forum in which they can network and share best practices regarding tourism development.
Heritage tourism and heritage travel isn’t a new area of interest for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The National Trust has been involved with heritage travel for nearly 40 years through the Heritage Tourism, Historic Hotels of America, Tours programs, as well as our Historic Sites. Now, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is investing millions of dollars in the development of Heritage Travel.
This new effort includes building a management team with unparalleled expertise. John Williams is president and CEO of the venture. Over the past 25 years, including eight years at American Express and three years as CEO of Biztravel.com, Williams has led a number of successful businesses in a variety of industries. Scott Gerloff, Heritage Travel’s vice president for destinations and partner relations, was one of the creators of the National Trust Main Street and Historic Hotels of America programs and directs the National Trust Tours program.
The trends for heritage and cultural travel are strongly positive. Research by the Travel Industry Association in 2003 estimated the combined market for heritage and cultural tourism in the United States at 118 million travelers. Subsequent research by PhoCusWright in 2006 estimates the market for heritage travel alone at approximately $70 billion per year domestically, with 80 million travelers.
“We didn’t undertake this effort without first doing our homework,” said Williams. “For two years we researched and evaluated the heritage travel market. It was evident we could help destinations increase revenue and exposure to heritage-minded travelers, serve today’s consumers with a search-based, highly-interactive website with rich content and support the strategic objectives of the National Trust for Historic Preservation all at the same time.”
Heritage Travel is signing up thousands of heritage destinations throughout the United States to participate in this exciting fee-based program, most recently at the annual meeting of the American Association for State and Local History in Rochester, N.Y. Heritage destinations include cities and towns; downtowns and neighborhoods; historic sites, museums and experiences; bed & breakfasts; heritage events such as historic re-enactments, music festivals, ethnic celebrations, cultural events, and more. Participating destinations must meet a series of standards in the areas of preservation, presentation, and promotion to ensure a positive heritage experience for visitors.
Heritage Travel will provide a variety of benefits to destinations, including: global exposure via an interactive, web-based platform; a substantial annual marketing budget reaching millions of heritage travelers; Web 2.0 opportunities in social media, RSS feeds, blogs and podcasts; and closer affiliation with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Heritage Travel is scheduled to launch in early 2009 with discounts available for destinations that join before December 31, 2008. National Trust regional office staff is working on signing up destinations for this fee-based program. For more information, contact Heritage Travel, Inc., 202-588-6200, 877-588-5511, or Heritage_Travel@nthp.org.
Heritage Travel has just launched its new Web site at http://www.heritagetravelinc.com. It’s still under development, but you can learn more about this program and find a summary of research on heritage tourism by clicking “Become a Member Destination or Attraction”.
Heritage travel is one of the most fascinating concept for tourism. Today people are more inclined to heritage travel that binds you to the roots of a destination. If some organizations are established for the sole cause of heritage tourism and takes care of heritage tourism throughout the country then it sure is a great news for the heritage travelers across the world. I welcome the decision of the National Trust for Historic preservation to open Heritage Travel, Inc. which is a new, for-profit subsidiary of the organization. Organizations like these play a major role in the heritage travel industry in the country.
Thanks
Dhruv Blanc
tokyo