Making heritage tourism appeal to more than just history buffs
http://bit.ly/u3a5SX
Excerpt from David Mikula:
It tells me that this already large segment of the travel industry can be staggeringly huge if the marketing is done right. At this blog we preach about how tourism marketing in general needs to sell experiences and emotions not just facts, stats, rates and amenities. It's even more important to make history come alive when promoting heritage tourism. Potential visitors have to understand more than just the headlines. They need to get to know the human personalities involved, the heroic feats accomplished, the monumental adversity that was overcome and exactly what it was like on that fateful day, month or period in history. What was the weather like? What sights, sounds and smells filled the air? What did the people know or not know about their fate? Perhaps most importantly, why does it still matter to society? Historic sites and museums, by and large, do a great job of interpreting history for visitors. Isn’t time the marketing did the same? When you advertise with that level of emotion and power you increase your target audience exponentially from more than just self-described "history buffs" to people who are inquisitive and like unique experiences. People like me..