About partners for livable

---

CULTURAL 
HERITAGE 
TOURISM
www.livable.org

---

2
•
Cultural Heritage Tourism
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

---

Cultural Heritage Tourism
•
3
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

---

4
•
Cultural Heritage Tourism
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.
This guide represents the culmination of our experience and 
knowledge on an issue that has such a great potential for 
community development. More than three decades ago, some 
of the first initiatives in which Partners engaged focused on 
identifying and leveraging local cultural assets as tourism 
drivers. Our keystone program dating to the late 1970’s called 
Culture Builds Communities, a collaborative effort with the 
National Endowment for the Arts, the National League of Cities, 
the US Conference of Mayors and other groups, is an example 
of such an initiative. Partners continued to outline its approach 
to small-scale tourism development oriented around unique 
cultural and natural assets in a 1990 article I wrote in the Journal 
of Tourism Management. The article laid forth Partners’ belief 
that small-scale tourism is often far more beneficial to local 
economies than the rapid expansion of massive resort enclaves 
that dominate many tourism-dependent regions.
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
“