Heritage Brings Visitors, Dollars

Chock-full of historic attractions, Northwest Arkansas has plenty to draw the growing number of people who spend vacation time — and money — learning about the past.

Battlefield sites, museums, cemeteries and monuments are among popular destinations in the tourism industry niche known as heritage tourism.

A key component of heritage tourism in Northwest Arkansas is the Heritage Trail — actually three routes that played important roles in the history of the region. The Heritage Trail comprises the 2,800-mile Butterfield Overland Mail Route, Civil War troop movements and the various routes of the Trail of Tears through Northwest Arkansas.

The Heritage Trail Plan was adopted in 2002 as part of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission’s 2025 Long-Range Transportation Plan. In 2004, Heritage Trail Partners Inc. was formed to implement the Heritage Trail Plan.

Marilyn Heifner, executive director of the Fayetteville Advertising & Promotion Commission and a member of Heritage Trail Partners, has spent about 10 years working to get the trails recognized by the state and federal governments.

“Because of my job promoting tourism, I saw the value of bringing people who wanted to follow those trails and reconnect with that history to increase tourism,” Heifner said.

In 2011, the state hosted more than 23 million visitors who spent nearly $5.7 billion during their stay, according to a 2012 economic impact report by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. The state’s travel industry directly employed 58,657 people, and paid $1.1 billion in wages and salaries.

Figures for 2012 will be presented next month at the 39th annual Arkansas Governor’s Conference on Tourism, which will be held March 3-5 in Hot Springs.

Industry experts say it’s hard to estimate just how much of the state’s tourism is heritage-related because trips to cultural and historic sites are often combined with other activities. Still, surveys show about 17 percent of Arkansas’ tourists visit a museum or historic site, said Richard Davies, the parks and tourism department’s executive director.

“Research about heritage tourists shows they tend to be better repeat visitors,” Davies said. “The other thing is they spend more money.”

 

By the Numbers

The parks and tourism department’s 2012 report shows the state’s tourism industry grew in 2011. Travel expenditures increased 4.3 percent, from $5.45 million in 2010 to $5.69 million. The number of visitors rose 1.1 percent, from 22.77 million to 23.02 million.

The department’s marketing campaign includes placing ads about Arkansas in magazines including American Heritage, American Legacy and Smithsonian.

The report also provides some clues to the impact of heritage tourism in the state. While its 2011 statistics don’t specify the number of visitors drawn by historical events or sites, an “Internet conversion” survey of people who traveled to Arkansas after viewing the department’s website indicated how many visited historic sites and museums.

Surveys were emailed to 50,902 households, and of those that responded, 11.6 percent visited historic sites in 2011, and 5.5 percent visited museums.

Another survey, of travelers who register at one of the state’s 13 welcome centers, found in 2011 that 24 percent planned to visit historic sites and 15 percent planned to visit museums. Those figures were similar to 2010’s, when 23 percent planned visits to historic sites and 16 percent planned museum visits.

Sightseeing topped the list of planned activities, followed by shopping and “attractions.” Historic sites ranked fourth and museums fifth.

The top five Arkansas counties listed as a final destination in 2011 were Pulaski, Garland, Carroll, Fulton and Benton.

 

Happy Trails

The man behind the Heritage Trail Plan is John McLarty, a transportation planner with the regional planning commission. McLarty was asked to lead the commission’s Heritage Trail initiative, which later became Heritage Trail Partners.

McLarty also is president of the Arkansas chapter of the Trail of Tears Association, a national support network for the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail. The trail commemorates the forced removal of the Cherokee and other  tribes from their homelands in the southeastern U.S. to Indian Territory — present-day Oklahoma — in 1838-1839.

HTP’s projects have included installing signs throughout Northwest Arkansas marking the routes of the Butterfield Stage, the Trail of Tears and Civil War troops.

The group also has held events like stagecoach rides, and is planning an event sometime this spring near the Bentonville square, McLarty said. The Cherokee National Youth Choir, from Tahlequah, Okla., has been invited to perform.

In 2007, Heifner testified to a congressional subcommittee on natural resources regarding a feasibility study on adding the Butterfield route to the National Trails System. McLarty said getting that route designated a National Historic Trail “would be huge for tourism in Northwest Arkansas.”

HTP’s efforts paid off in a big way in 2009, when the Arkansas Legislature approved the Arkansas Heritage Trails System, which includes the Trail of Tears and Butterfield routes.

On the federal level that year, President Obama signed the Omnibus Land Act that added the Arkansas routes of the Trail of Tears to the Department of the Interior’s National Trails System. The act also directed the National Park Service to conduct the feasibility study on adding the Butterfield route as well.

HTP just learned earlier this month the park service plans to release the findings of its study late this year or early in 2014, Heifner said.

“Following that, it takes another congressional act for it to become a National Historic Trail,” she said.

What that designation will mean depends on how the legislation is written, Heifner said. The park service will provide signage, and could also provide for interpretation areas along the trail.

“It means the federal government will have an interest in that trail, and the more we promote that trail, the more tourism it will bring to Northwest Arkansas,” she said.

 

Coming Up           

At next month’s governor’s conference on tourism, one of the breakout sessions on the agenda is titled “Living History: Attracting Visitors with Colorful Characterizations.” Sponsored by the Department of Arkansas Heritage, the session will feature actors portraying historical figures like Fort Smith “madam” Miss Laura and famed U.S. marshal Bass Reeves.

 Many current and upcoming activities revolve around the ongoing observance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The project started in 2011, and will run through 2015. Each month, the Arkansas Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission releases a roster of planned activities around the state.

Events set in Northwest Arkansas include the Arkansas History Commission’s traveling exhibit “Fought in Earnest: Civil War Arkansas,” on display at the Pea Ridge National Military Park through Feb. 26; and the annual re-enactment of the Battle of Pea Ridge, which will take place March 22-24.

Looking farther out, the planned U.S. Marshals Museum to be built in Fort Smith “will be a national draw,” Davies said.

A $50 million capital campaign started last year to build the 50,000-SF museum. Set along the Arkansas River, the museum will include 20,000 SF of exhibit space, gallery space for temporary and traveling exhibits, classroom and meeting space, and a hall of honor paying tribute to U.S. marshals killed in the line of duty.

Museum officials have said they hope to break ground on the project in 2014.

Existing tourist attractions include the Clinton House Museum in Fayetteville and the Museum of Native American History in Bentonville — which Davies said is one of the best he’s visited. And he points out the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art “is also history.”

Both Davies and Heifner said an increased interest in genealogy, especially among the huge baby boomer generation, will continue to drive heritage tourism. Baby boomers also often have more discretionary income and are more likely to travel for pleasure, contributing to the industry’s growth.

“I see the future for heritage tourism to be really bright,” Heifner said.