Cultural Heritage Tourism Assessments

As noted in Four Steps for Successful and Sustainable Cultural Heritage Tourism, the first step your community or region should take in planning for a new or expanded cultural heritage tourism program is assessing your potential. Assessments include evaluating attractions, visitor services, organizational capacity, preservation of resources and tourism marketing.

The Heritage Tourism Program can assist by providing an objective, comprehensive assessment and making recommendations for development of your cultural heritage tourism program. In the past 15 years, the Heritage Tourism Program has conducted assessments in dozens of communities and regions across the country. Our approach is based on the Five Principles for Cultural Heritage Tourism Development and focuses on working closely with the community to identify challenges and opportunities and to craft effective strategies for program development.

Assessment Objectives

The main objectives of an assessment are:

  • to gather a wide variety of opinions and suggestions from stakeholders
  • to learn about the community's history and culture
  • to evaluate the current visitor experience
  • to evaluate current visitor services including signage, operating hours, hospitality, etc.
  • to evaluate current local marketing efforts
  • to assess the level of public and private support for tourism
  • to meet with organizers and assess organizational capacity for program development

Planning an Assessment

Advance preparation is essential for a successful assessment visit. Steps in the planning process include:

  1. Consultant selection. The Heritage Tourism Program will assign one of its staff members to conduct the assessment. If additional consultants are needed to address specific areas, the staff member will identify consultants with the necessary expertise.
  2. Background materials. The local organizing committee will provide an information packet including (as available) visitor research, marketing plans, promotional materials, community histories and other materials to familiarize the consultants with the area in advance of the site visit.
  3. Conference call. A call will be scheduled between local organizers and the consultants to identify issues, establish goals for the assessment and prepare a draft of key sites and meetings to include on the itinerary. Organizers will also determine if a public meeting is desired as part of the assessment.
  4. Itinerary Development. Local organizers will develop and schedule an itinerary for the assessment:
    • Schedule tours of all selected attractions.
    • Schedule tours of sites that have potential for tourism development.
    • Determine meeting locations for stakeholder interviews.
  5. Organize Logistics. Local organizers will arrange and confirm assessment logistics:
    • Obtain a contact person and contact number for each stop.
    • Select a location for the public meeting. Provide LCD projector, screen (or blank wall), easels, flip charts and markers.
    • Recommend overnight accommodations for consultants.
    • Provide transportation and accompany consultants for meetings and tours.

Planning the Itinerary

Assessments are generally two or three days depending on the size of the community, the number of communities involved, and the geographic area. If the area is very large, additional days may need to be added to adequately complete the assessment. The site visit will include several activities:

Consultant Reconnaissance

Upon arrival, the consultant spends several hours touring the community unaccompanied. This allows the consultant to gain an impression of how visitor ready the community is before meeting and touring with stakeholders.

Community or Regional Tour

This tour will be given by the local project leader and other stakeholders as needed to provide information about the area and sites that are included on the tour. Sites can include the following:

  • Scenic drives
  • Downtowns (walking and/or driving tours)
  • Historic sites
  • Cultural sites
  • Parks or other natural resources
  • Meeting facilities
  • Hotels/motels/bed and breakfast inns
  • Unique restaurants
  • Unique retail shops or artists' studios
  • Gateways or entrances into the community
  • Visitor information centers

Stakeholder Interviews

Interviews allow the consultants to gather historical information, to understand residents' perceptions about tourism, and to explore residents' visions that can be developed for cultural heritage tourism. Interviews are generally no more than 45 minutes unless there is a large group participating in the interview. Interview categories may include:

  • Convention and visitors bureau or chamber of commerce (tourism offices)
  • Arts council directors (city agencies or community nonprofit arts groups)
  • Historic site and museum directors, staff, board
  • Event organizers
  • Artists
  • Historical societies
  • Preservation organizations
  • Cultural or civic organizations
  • Local business owners
  • Main Street staff and board members
  • Parks and recreation (local and/or state)
  • Government officials – mayor, county executive, council persons
  • City or county economic development staff
  • University or community college staff
  • Local media
  • Churches

Public Meetings

A public meeting can be scheduled as part of the assessment if desired by local organizers. The meeting site should allow easy access for participants. Depending on the timing of the meeting in the assessment visit, the meeting may include preliminary observations and recommendations for discussion. Meetings generally last approximately two hours and have the following format:

  • Introductions of participants and consultants
  • Powerpoint presentation by consultants explaining the assessment process
  • National overview of cultural heritage tourism trends
  • Discussion with participants about a vision for cultural heritage tourism
  • Consultant team documents ideas and suggestions

The public meeting should be scheduled at a convenient time for target participants and should be publicized to attract the broadest participation possible including:

  • Press releases to all local media two weeks in advance
  • Emails or postcard notices to stakeholder organizations

Suggested Timeline for Planning an Assessment

Note: This proposed timeline is provided to give structure to planning for the assessment and to give an idea of the amount of time needed to prepare for the site visit.

  • Week 1 - Planning committee formed. Choose representatives who are familiar with the community or region.
  • Week 2 – Committee identifies sites for tour and identifies key stakeholders to interview; identify location for public meeting.
  • Week 3 – Committee circulates list of tour sites and stakeholders to participants; make contacts to reserve facility for public meeting.
  • Week 4 – Stakeholders submit suggestions, additions, etc. to the committee.
  • Week 5 – Committee finalizes tour route and stakeholder interview list; begin making contacts to schedule tours and interviews; confirm arrangements for public meeting.
  • Week 6 – Distribute press releases to all local media; mail or email invitations to public meeting; subcommittee reviews draft itinerary; make changes to itinerary as needed.
  • Week 7 – Finalize itinerary for site visit; determine which committee member will provide transportation for each part of the site visit; provide itinerary to consultants; committee member to visit public meeting location to outline set up needs and confirm availability of A/V, chairs, flip charts, etc.
  • Week 8 – Contact each interview participant to confirm interviews; make any changes as needed.
  • Week 9 – Provide finalized itinerary to consultants.
  • Week 10 – Assessment visit – committee member should monitor schedule to keep interviews and touring on time; at each stop, contact the person at the next stop to update time schedules as needed. A committee member should arrive at the public meeting location in advance to oversee set up of the room, A/V, etc.

Conducting the Assessment

After becoming familiar with the community or region through advance preparation including materials review, internet research and committee conference calls, the consultants will be prepared to undertake the following activities as part of the assessment:

  • Tour heritage and cultural tourism sites and evaluate the visitor experience for development and promotion opportunities.
  • Identify opportunities for development of heritage and cultural resources to increase offerings to visitors.
  • Assess visitor services including wayfinding signage and maps, guidebooks and other collateral materials, hospitality of frontline tourism employees, availability and quality of accommodations and restaurants, hours of operation of tourism-related retail businesses, etc.
  • Meet with stakeholders such as attraction representatives, artists, festival planners, historical societies, preservation organizations, service providers, government officials and tourism promoters to discuss organizational capacity for program development and plans for the community's cultural heritage tourism program.
  • Conduct a public meeting to explain the process of cultural heritage tourism program development and to hear residents' visions for their community and to assess the extent of broad-based community support for tourism.

Preparing an Assessment and Recommendations Report

Following the assessment visit, the consultants will prepare a written report including assessments and recommendations. The report will be provided to the community within 45 days of the site visit. The report will include a candid assessment of the community's cultural heritage resources and its organizational capacity for program development. Short and long-term recommendations will be included. The report can include:

  • Assessment of cultural heritage resources and the experience currently offered to visitors.
  • Recommendations for enhancement or improvement of existing cultural heritage resources.
  • Identification of resources that have the potential for development as cultural heritage attractions.
  • Evaluation and recommendations for visitor services such as signage.
  • Recommendations for customer service/hospitality training for frontline tourism employees.
  • Recommendations of needed action for preservation of cultural and historic resources.
  • Recommendations for expanded or new programming opportunities such as festivals and events.
  • Recommendations for expanding organizational capacity including new partnerships and communications systems.
  • Evaluation of current marketing efforts and recommendations for new marketing strategies.
  • Examples of "best practices" from other communities that could be applicable to the local community.

Report Presentation and Planning

The assessment process can also include a one-day follow up visit by the consultant(s). This follow-up visit would include a presentation by the consultants of the major findings and recommendations in the report and a work session with local organizers to determine next steps for program implementation.

More Information

For more information on scheduling an assessment visit for your community and to discuss assessment fees, contact Amy Webb at 303.413.1986, or Carolyn Brackett at 615.226.4078.