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Heritage tourism is about jobs
I’m responding to Edward Evans’ letter to the editor titled, “Forget about tourism; we need good-paying jobs” published in these pages on November 12, 2008. What Mr. Evans fails to realize is that heritage tourism is a new industry for Allegany County and heritage tourism is all about creating local jobs.
It is well known that Allegany County is an economically challenged area of Maryland due to industrial downsizings, plant closures, and the out-migration of our work force. We don’t need to have the same negative statistics tossed at us again.
Mr. Evans needs to understand that the economic conditions of 35 years ago in this area will never return. Cumberland and Allegany County will never again be a major manufacturing center on the scale of 35 years ago. Those jobs are gone and so is the work force that filled those jobs.
Now, I don’t know Mr. Evans personally. But I do know there are many people in this area who think like he does. They see tourism as entertainment for outsiders and they couldn’t care less about that. And, perhaps Mr. Evans, himself, wouldn’t be “entertained” by historical attractions. But I can tell you, Mr. Evans, there are hundreds of millions of people in this country who do seek out historical attractions and wherever they go they bring their wallets and spend billions of dollars.
According to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), tourism is big business. It is the third largest among all retail sales industries (amounting to about $584 billion in 2000). Tourism is one of the nation’s largest employers, with 7.8 million direct employees, and an estimated 11.5 million indirect employees.
The TIA’s National Travel Survey in 2002 found that visiting a historic community or building was the most popular cultural activity listed in the survey. The survey found that nearly 93 million Americans included at least one cultural arts, heritage or historic activity or event while traveling.
Nearly one-third (32 percent) added extra time to their trip specifically for this purpose. They take longer trips, participate in more activities while traveling, and stay more often in hotels, motels and bed and breakfast establishments.
Heritage tourism is one of the fastest growing segments in the tourism industry. More than 88 million people visit historic sites each year. 81 percent (118 million) of U.S. adults who traveled in 2002 were considered cultural heritage travelers.
Visiting heritage sites is ranked in the top two or three reasons people take vacations.
Heritage tourism in Allegany County will give the area an essential economic boost as well as create pride in the region’s history. Improvements in the quality of life and the cultural vitality of the area will attract new businesses and new residents and retain our existing population, especially our youth. And heritage tourism compliments our area’s abundant four season outdoor activities, including hiking/biking, hunting, fishing and boating.
Just in Cumberland alone, heritage attractions include the C&O; Canal Park, Canal Place, the Western Maryland Railroad Station, the Scenic Railroad, the Allegany Museum, the Canal Museum, the Transportation Museum, (part of the Thrasher Carriage Collection, the nation’s third largest carriage collection), the Gordon-Roberts House (a restored mansion), The Brooks-Whiting House, Emmanuel Episcopal Church, The Downtown Mall, and Historic Washington Street, to name some of the top locations.
Contrary to Mr. Evans’ way of thinking, it’s not a question of heritage tourism versus industrial jobs. In fact, not only does heritage tourism directly create new jobs, it attracts new companies with their new jobs.
If Cumberland and Allegany County can become a heritage tourism destination, it will create hundreds of new jobs in construction and renovation, hotels, bed and breakfasts, restaurants and bars, in museums and their staffs, art studios, performance theaters, antique shops, gift shops, and the like. A new pride in our area will result. The quality of life for everyone will improve.
Residential and commercial property values will increase. Local tax revenues will go up and that will translate into improved government services including better streets and funds for new infrastructure projects. National business and industry conventions will want to come here. And companies will have an added incentive to locate here and bring up their children here.
If we make Allegany County a heritage tourism destination will they come? Yes, they will. But all of us must get behind it, even if we are not personally “entertained” by our history, Mr. Evens included.
George Sell
Bowling Green
