About partners for livable

Tourism is too 
important a resource 
to be left to the tourism 
professionals. Tourism 
needs to be part of a 
community mobilization 
strategy that can reinvent 
the role of heritage so 
that it serves the needs of 
everyone.” 
Bob McNulty
President, Partners for Livable Communities
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.

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Cultural Heritage Tourism
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5
INTRODUCTION TO 
CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM
TOURISM — A BIG AND GROwING BUSINESS 
Before delving into cultural heritage tourism, one must first understand how tourism in general can act as 
a driver for community revitalization.
Tourism is a huge business both in the United States and the world over. In the US, tourists take more 
than a billion trips each year, and the tourist industry is one of the top three industries by number of jobs 
in 29 states. The US Travel Association estimates that in 2011 foreign and domestic tourists spent $813 
billion on travel-related expenditures in the United States. According to the organization, this spending 
directly supported 7.5 million jobs and generated $124 billion in tax revenue.
Around the world, tourism is booming as well. The UN World Tourism Organization announced the 
arrival of the one billionth tourist in 2012. According to the organization, tourist arrivals have climbed 
remarkably from 674 million in 2000 to 980 million in 2011.
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The economic impact of this activity 
is likewise significant: tourism is directly responsible for five percent of the world’s GDP, and the 
sector employs one out of every 12 people in advanced and emerging 
economies alike. 
Importantly, in the last several decades, along with its scale, the nature 
of tourism has also changed. As social and technological changes made 
tourism more affordable and accessible for millions of people, the 
once-traditional and long-awaited family summer vacation to the shore 
became just one option among many that beckon all year round.
In the first version of this guide, Partners summed up the ongoing 
changes in tourism by noting that tourism wasn’t simply tourism 
anymore. It had become: “a form of developmental, leisure, and 
family bonding that occurs around the framework of visiting places 
that are not in your normal neighborhood. … [I]t is lifestyle, economic 
development, and family values. It is a discovery of self, both physically 
and intellectually.”
This shift in tourism from relaxation to self-discovery is reflected in the explosion of niche market 
designations within the tourism industry. The more widely known include adventure tourism, culinary 
tourism, religious tourism, ecotourism, sustainable tourism, and educational tourism. Cultural heritage 
tourism is one of the fastest growing specialty markets in the industry today.