HERITAGE TOURISM: Home l Toolkit l Workshops
BLM Heritage Tourism
Heritage Tourism is traveling to experience the places and activities that authentically
represent the stories and people of the past and present. It includes historic, cultural,
and natural resources. — National Trust for Historic Preservation
Recreation (including tourism) is identified as one of the top three industries within all western BLM states. Heritage tourism is one the fastest growing segments of the travel and tourism industry, and BLM lands offer numerous opportunities for heritage tourism. The total economic impact of travel-related expenditures for recreation and tourism on BLM lands is estimated to run into the billions of dollars annually, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and thousands of businesses.
Investment in BLM heritage tourism programs will help support sustainable economic growth; assist with diversifying and stabilizing local communities; sustain domestic tourism; provide valuable community amenities and attract businesses; protect fragile cultural resources; and improve the quality of life for both visitors and residents. When properly structured, heritage tourism offers an opportunity to build a constituency for cultural resources while contributing to the sustainable economic growth of America—precisely what E.O. 13287 envisions.
This is a home for all things heritage tourism in the BLM and heritage tourism reference materials. Emphasis will be placed on practical guidance, examples of agreements, economic models, monitoring programs, and de marketing strategies, so that field office personnel can gain the knowledge of the most effective, and recent strategies to develop and promote heritage tourism in a responsible manner
The BLM and USFS are planning to sponsor two regional workshops in heritage tourism, one in the northwest U.S. and another in the southwest U.S. These workshops will offer excellent opportunities to better define the BLM role for heritage tourism in the West and to form the partnerships needed to advance the program. The BLM and U.S. Forest Service are uniquely positioned to substantially boost opportunities to explore tens of thousands of years of preserved human cultural evolution on the public lands. Heritage tourism represents the logical extension of the Bureau’s long-standing “Adventures in the Past” program. When properly structured, heritage tourism offers an opportunity to build a constituency for cultural resources while contributing to the sustainable economicgrowth of America.
HERITAGE TOURISM: Home l Toolkit l Workshops
