CULTURAL 
        HERITAGE 
        TOURISM
     www.livable.org
                                    ABOUT PARTNERS 
                                    FOR LIVABLE 
                                    COMMUNITIES
                                    Partners for Livable Communities is a non-profit 
                                    leadership organization working to improve the 
                                    livability of communities by promoting quality 
                                    of life, economic development, and social equity. 
                                    Since its founding in 1977, Partners has helped 
                                    communities set a common vision for the future, 
                                    discover and use new resources for community 
                                    and economic development, and build public/
                                    private coalitions to further their goals. For more 
                                    information visit www.livable.org
    2   •   Cultural Heritage Tourism
                                  TABLE OF CONTENTS
                                  INTRODUCTION   
                                  CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM   |   5
                                  1      
                                  CULTURAL HERITAGE AS INTERPRETATION   |  10
                                  2     
                                  PARTNERS’ COMMUNITY BUILDING APPROACH TO 
                                  CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM   |   14
                                  3      
                                  CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM ABROAD   |   25
                                  4      
                                  HERITAGE TOURISM FOR ALL   |   28
                                  5      
                                  HOw TO CREATE A LOCAL CULTURAL HERITAGE 
                                  TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PLAN: PARTNERS’ 
                                  ExPERIENCE IN wASHINGTON, DC   |   34
                                  6      
                                  MODEL ExPERIENCES IN CULTURAL HERITAGE 
                                  TOURISM FROM ACROSS THE UNITED STATES   |   39
                                  ENDNOTES   |   62
                                  Copyright © 2014
                                  Partners for Livable Communities
                                  1429 21st Street, NW
                                  Washington, DC 20036
                                  www.livable.org
                                  Co-writers
                                  Robert McNulty
                                  Russell Koff
                                  Photo Credits 
                                  Cover: Stuart Monk
                                  Inside Cover: Kim Seidl
                                                     Cultural Heritage Tourism   •   3
           FORwARD
           On our 35th year as an organization helping to empower communities with the tools to put them on 
           the map as leaders in livability, Partners for Livable Communities is pleased to present this updated 
           publication on cultural heritage tourism.
           As the tourism industry has boomed in the decades since Partners for Livable Communities began its 
           cultural heritage tourism initiatives, communities have become increasingly eager to find ways attract 
           tourists and capture the dollars they bring with them. However, when hard times come, it can be a 
           challenge to persuade those among us of the benefits of preserving culture, heritage, and their artifacts 
           from the past.
      “Tourism is too                This guide represents the culmination of our experience and 
                                     knowledge on an issue that has such a great potential for 
      important a resource           community development. More than three decades ago, some 
      to be left to the tourism      of the first initiatives in which Partners engaged focused on 
      professionals. Tourism         identifying and leveraging local cultural assets as tourism 
                                     drivers. Our keystone program dating to the late 1970’s called 
      needs to be part of a          Culture Builds Communities, a collaborative effort with the 
      community mobilization         National Endowment for the Arts, the National League of Cities, 
      strategy that can reinvent     the US Conference of Mayors and other groups, is an example 
                                     of such an initiative. Partners continued to outline its approach 
      the role of heritage so        to small-scale tourism development oriented around unique 
      that it serves the needs of    cultural and natural assets in a 1990 article I wrote in the Journal 
                                     of Tourism Management. The article laid forth Partners’ belief 
      everyone.”                     that small-scale tourism is often far more beneficial to local 
                                     economies than the rapid expansion of massive resort enclaves 
      Bob McNulty                    that dominate many tourism-dependent regions.
      President, Partners for Livable Communities
                                                        With this publication, our hope is to 
                                                        demonstrate how cultural heritage 
                                                        is not just something to preserve 
                                                        for future generations, but is in fact 
                                                        an asset that can be leveraged to 
                                                        bring real economic benefits to the 
                                                        community.
                                                        Sincerely,
                                                        Bob McNulty
           Little Italy in New York City. Little Italy and Chinatown were listed in a single historic 
           district on the National Register of Historic Places. Photo credit: SeanPavonePhoto.
      4   •   Cultural Heritage Tourism