A Dozen Tips For Selling Heritage Travel, Part 2

Mullaghmore in County Sligo, Ireland.

Heritage travel is a growing and diversifying market. Where once it meant travelers of a certain ethnicity returning to the country from which their ancestors came, now it might include a bar mitzvah at a Mexico all-inclusive, a search for Africa roots in South America or a multi-generational Christmas cruise.

Here are six more tips on growing your heritage travel business.

Cox said that on a 10-day trip, for example, a family from County Cork might spend three days in Ireland, and then move on.

Pat Nimer of Wyllys Travel, who does Greek Orthodox heritage programs, said that trips are “partly based on heritage and partly what I would like to see if I were going. If they’re very focused on their ethnicity they might spend more time visiting the town where their father or a famous writer was born. Otherwise we will create a well-rounded trip for them.”

4. Make it meaningful
Susan Weissberg, CEO of Wyllys Travel, said that with regard to heritage travel to Israel, “What we’re finding is that instead of a big, lavish party, families are looking for more meaningful experiences. We set up bar or bat mitzvahs in the Old City of Jerusalem. Then we might do something like a twinning ceremony where we match a bar or bat mitzvah child with a child of the Holocaust who did not live to celebrate. The bar mitzvah child carries the name of the child who perished in perpetuity; this is very meaningful to a 13-year-old. “

5. Look for niches within niches
Ellen Paderson, owner of Smiles and Miles Travel, is expanding in to a new market, “special needs children, who ordinarily don’t have the ability to read or do other tasks associated with a bar or bat mitzvah. We are able to find people to work with them on that. We can even have our cantor give them bar mitzvah lessons via Skype.”

And don’t overlook niches that have a lower profile. Everybody has some kind of heritage, so think about your own or your associates’ backgrounds. At Wyllys Travel, Nimer has a Greek Orthodox background and sends clients with similar backgrounds to Greece and Cyprus where they visit Byzantine churches, as well as meet locals of similar heritage, speaking the language if they can. “People love to see all the iconography of the religion,” Nimer said. “We can even go to see iconographers working or visit with priests and deacons.”

Farewell points out that “a lot of North Americans do not come from Europe. Many come from South America—so that’s a huge opportunity.”

To that point, Stephanie Schneiderman of Tia Stephanie Tours is seeing a large growth in African Heritage tourism to Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, much of it coming from African heritage museums. She thinks this will be spurred further with the opening in September of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

“Just knowing about and learning about the African presence in Mexico is a big eye-opener for travelers,” Schneiderman said. “Many people are completely unaware that Mexico even has an African-descendant population. Unlike Cuba, Colombia and other countries, the African descendant presence in Mexico is less visible, as they live in specific regions.”