Cultural Heritage Travelers

Market size

Seventy-eight percent, or 118.3 million, US adult travelers attended a cultural activity or event while on a trip in 2009. Within the next 12 months, 24% of US leisure travelers will take a cultural or heritage trip. Individual cultural and heritage travelers took about five trips in the past year compared to noncultural and heritage travelers that took about four trips in the past year.

Activities

A 2009 U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism Marketing Council study found that:

• Two-thirds of cultural and heritage travelers visited some sort of historic site.
• More than half visited museums or galleries.
• 58% of the travelers want their trip to be educational.
• 65% of cultural and heritage travelers seek travel experience where the "destination, its buildings and surroundings have retained their historic character."
• Cultural and heritage travelers are more likely to partake in culinary activities.
• Other cultural and heritage activities include: visiting historic sites (66%), attending historical re-enactments (64%), visiting museums and galleries (54%), attending an arts and crafts fair or festival (45%), attending a professional dance performance (44%), visiting a state or national park (41%), shopping in museum shops (32%), and exploring urban neighborhoods (30%).

Expenditures

• Cultural and heritage travelers spend about $994 per trip compared to $611 spent on the average U.S. trip.
• 45% spend more of their money on cultural and heritage activities than they do on anything else while on their trip.
• 37% would pay more for lodging if it somehow reflects the culture or heritage of the destination they are visiting.

Associations/organizations

• Cultural Heritage Tourism (Colorado)
• Cultural & Heritage Tourism Alliance
• Cultural Heritage Tourism (Department of Community & Culture, Utah)
• Heritage Area Resources (Various services, North Carolina)
• Cultural Tourism Resources via the National Assembly of State Art Agencies

Cultural Heritage Tourism Survival Toolkit-National Trust for Historic Preservation

• U.S. President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
• National Trust for Historic Preservation

Select publications

• Economic Contribution of Museums in Minnesota: A Report of the Economic Impact Analysis Program (.pdf)
• Technical Report on the Recreational, Cultural, and Spiritual Values of Water:  A White Paper for the Water Sustainability Planning Process (.pdf)
• Cultural Heritage Tourism Assessments (Article: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2008)
• Killing the tourism goose (Article: Economist, 2/16/2008)
• Cultural Heritage Tourism 2007 Fact Sheet (Article: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 04/2007)
• Heritage/Cultural Attraction Atmospherics: Creating the Right Environment for the Heritage/Cultural Visitor (Research: Journal of Travel Research, 02/2007)
  
• Are cultural heritage visitors really different from other visitors? (Research: Tourism Analysis, 2004)
• Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change (Journal)
• Journal of Heritage Tourism (Journal)
• International Journal of Heritage Studies (Journal)

Local/state/regional studies

• Marketing Crafts and Other Products to Tourists (Contact us)
• Irish Fair of Minnesota: Profile of Attendees 2011
• Profile of 2007 Irish Fair Attendees (.pdf)
• Midwest Cultural Tourism (Articles web: Pulliam School of Journalism-Franklin College, 2008)
• Starting a Cultural Heritage Tourism Program (Article: Downtown Economics, University of Wisconsin-Extension, 05/2007)
  

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