In Tourism, Old Stories and New Opportunities

"Because tourism doesn't have an industry code, there are not enough universal methodologies. That's definitely a challenge in the industry," says Esra Calvert, director of research at the Virginia Tourism Corporation. "But it's part of the growing pains."

Measuring and understanding tourism's economic impact could become especially important as the industry makes up a larger part of rural economies. Gartner argues that tourism presents an opportunity for rural economic development. Historically, manufacturing, mining, and agriculture made up the largest share of rural economies. As these industries continue to shrink, tourism's economic importance has grown. Tourism not only increases outsiders' spending in rural regions, but also spurs the development of businesses that can capture local dollars. "If you get more visitation, if you get more businesses developing in these rural areas, then you have a greater opportunity to capture what we would call economic leakages: money that would necessarily have to go out of the region to buy new supplies or inventory," Gartner says.

Adjusting to this structural change, however, can be difficult for communities that have depended on manufacturing and mining for generations. "This shift to more of a tourism-based economy is a major shift, and it's not something that necessarily all of the residents agree with or want," says Douglas Arbogast, a West Virginia University Extension specialist in rural tourism development. His work focuses on involving local communities in tourism development, with an emphasis on improving quality of life, not just increasing economic impact.

"It's not all about profit. You're also looking at the state of the environment and the state of the society," Arbogast says. "If it's a place that visitors would want to come, then our hope is that it's also a place where young people want to stay and people might want to relocate to."

Cultural Heritage Tourism

Cultural heritage tourism, which includes historical tourism, is especially relevant to the Fifth District. Nine of the 55 areas designated as National Heritage Areas by Congress, chosen because they represent the United States' mix of diverse historic, cultural, and natural resources, are located in the District.

West Virginia is a case in point. The Wheeling National Heritage Area in West Virginia generated $86.6 million in economic impact in 2017 (the most recent data available). Of overnight travelers to West Virginia surveyed in 2018, 28 percent marked visiting historic places as an activity of special interest, 6 percentage points more than the national average.

Cultural heritage tourists visit monuments and historic buildings and participate in experiences like outdoor markets, live music, and craft fairs. A report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization emphasized cultural tourists' desire to be immersed in the authentic daily life of the places they visit. "Consumers' trips include many different activities, and culture is at the center of it," Calvert says. "They want to understand the local culture and be immersed in the local culture."

Yet the share of the U.S. population that reports visiting historic sites has declined since the 1980s. Gartner attributes this decline to younger generations' diminishing interest in history, at least as it is traditionally presented.

While conducting research for the Minnesota State Historical Society, he and his team found that younger generations are less likely to visit historical cultural sites than older generations. He attributes this to younger generations' exposure to new types of media. "They have all these ways to interpret the world that the older generation never had." For this reason, Gartner says, "static museums" are in danger of no longer capturing their attention.

Younger generations are not solely responsible for the decline in historical tourism. The National Endowment for the Arts reported a decline in visitation across all age groups, except those 75 years and older, since 1982. It also found a significant gap in historical visitation between educational levels. Seventeen percent of people with a high school diploma reported visiting a historic site in 2017, compared with 43 percent of college graduates. Other indicators, though, are more mixed. The National Park Service reported an increase of almost 50 million in the number of recreational visits to historic sites over the same period. And, while historic visitation numbers in 2017 were 8.9 percentage points lower than in 1982, they were 4.4 percentage points higher than in 2012.

Simon Hudson, a professor at the University of South Carolina who chaired the South Carolina SmartState Center for Tourism and Economic Development until August 2019, attributes the decline in heritage tourism to ineffective marketing. "Tourists today are curious and are looking for learning and enrichment opportunities on vacation. Heritage tourism is therefore growing. But our research showed us that potential visitors outside of South Carolina are just not familiar with the rich culture that the state has to offer," he says. One of the challenges for destination marketers is keeping up with technology, particularly social media, which is quickly becoming a dominant form of communication. "In a rapidly changing environment," he says, "it is critical that destination marketers stay on top of consumer trends."

The Way We Tell Our Stories

Cultural heritage tourists' tastes and methods of communication may be shifting, but destinations are changing to meet them. "Museums are changing the way they tell their stories," says Calvert. "They're bringing perspectives to their stories. They're humanizing the experience."

The International African American Museum in Charleston is expected to open in 2021. Located at Gadsden's Wharf, where almost half of enslaved Africans first set foot in the United States, it will include several interactive exhibits, videos, and touch screen displays. Its mission explicitly pushes back against the idea that the main purpose of museums is to house old relics. Instead, it aims to "play an active role in shaping current dialogues."

Rural areas, too, are developing new attractions. Fifteen years after writing his paper on rural tourism, Gartner notes, "We're seeing new activities developing that are taking people out of the cities and into the rural areas." He gives wineries as an especially notable example, although he also points to the National Park Service's efforts to draw international audiences to national parks.

As a living history museum, Colonial Williamsburg is already far from being a static collection of relics. However, it, too, is taking steps to ensure that it remains relevant. In 2014, the foundation launched the $600 million "Campaign for History and Citizenship," intended not only to preserve and expand existing exhibits, but also to reach a more diverse audience, using digital technology among other means. The campaign includes a $41.7 million expansion of Colonial Williamsburg's two art museums. Over a quarter of the funding is to be used to update the town's "living history" programming, in part by delving into the stories of African Americans and Native Americans.

"Society is changing. So, within that change, I think we need to balance how we tell the history and connect past and future so that we keep it relatable to consumers," says Calvert. "I think there is opportunity everywhere."

Readings

Gartner, William. "A Perspective on Rural Tourism Development." Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, 2005, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 33-42.

"Historic Site Visits." American Academy of Arts and Sciences, August 2019.

Kido-Cruz, Antonio, Teresa Kido-Cruz, and James Killough. "Economic Impact Assessment: A Review of Literature on the Tourism Industry." Global Journal of Management and Business Research: Economics and Commerce, 2015, vol. 15, no. 11, pp. 1-8.

Weiss, Thomas. "Tourism in America before World War II." Journal of Economic History, June 2004, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 289-327. (Article available with subscription.)