An Example: Colonial Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, VA, draws about 1.2 mil-lion visitors a year and, in many ways, has become the hub of an attractions industry centered in Williamsburg (similar to what Walt Disney World has been to Orlando). As Colonial Williamsburg developed and drew more and more visitors, other attractions such as Busch Gardens and Kings Dominion, and even other historic attractions like Jamestown and Yorktown, have developed. Today, 9,000 hotel rooms in the area cater to visitors.
Williamsburg had been the capital of the Virginia Colony, which at the time went as far west as the Mississippi River and north to the Great Lakes and was where George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and other founding fathers learned the fundamentals of representative democratic government. After the Revolution, however, the capital was moved to Richmond, and since Williamsburg was not on a river or in a commercial area, had nothing to sustain it. Then, in 1926, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. sought to restore Williamsburg to the days of its greatest glory. He contributed $68 million for the preservation of 88 original structures that had survived to the present time, the reconstruction of another 50 buildings, and the acquisition of additional property to create a protected historic area. What he accomplished then, could not be afforded today.
Colonial Williamsburg is not a theme park it is an institution of education. It is a living history museum, the largest of its kind interpreting eighteenth-century American colonial history, and consists of 400 buildings altogether. (Indeed, 100 of the buildings are occupied, rented out to employees or relatives of employees, which creates an eerie, Brigadoon kind of atmosphere. There are no barricades or locks to keep people out after hours).
Some 4,000 people work at Colonial Williamsburg, including its hotel, restaurants, bakery, and costume shop, in some 850 different job titles that range from typical hospitality specialties (golf maintenance, health and fitness club, and tennis support people) to historic responsibilities. There are 150 people, who are historic interpreters plus 15 historic trade apprentices who wear eighteenth century dress and basically stay in the character of the Colonial Williamsburg resident whom they are portraying.
Most employees, however, are very much a part of the twentieth century, and must deal with contemporary issues in human resources, marketing and sales, information systems, publicity, and personnel. A programs manager for one of Colonial Williamsburg's galleries, for example, is responsible for planning, developing, and implementing various educational programs and special events, as well as media promotions. Considerable sales and marketing activity is directed to the travel market as a source of badly needed revenue, particularly as contributions from government and other funding sources decrease while overhead increases.
Very few entry-level positions are available. While apprentices are technically entry-level, they may take six to eight years to learn their craft well enough to rise to a journeyman's level. Even as apprentices, these people generally have a strong background in their trade and a knowledge of using eighteenth century tools. Many may have been hobbyists who practiced their craft at home, before being recruited by Colonial Williamsburg through a national search, frequently through advertisements in specialty magazines.
Colonial Williamsburg tends to draw people who are very committed to the history and culture of the time there is little movement from one historic attraction to another and little turn-over of positions. Many other people are drawn by the opportunity to work in such a special attraction and to deal with people.
"We try to focus people into jobs they are qualified for, but people can move over into something else," said Lynn Bloch, director of employment. "But it usually takes a year to adjust to this different work environment."
Colonial Williamsburg mainly hires from the immediate area (relocating fewer than a dozen people a year). It offers a day-care facility as a means of attracting and retaining employees and "because we felt it was the right thing to do."
Cultural Tourism
Broadway theaters, Radio City Music Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Lincoln Center are all in the cultural tourism business. More than half of the summer theater goers in New York City are from out of town, and advance bookings from incoming visitors help keep shows going in the early months and sustain them through their runs. Cultural attractions in New York City have been found to be a key motivation for the city's 17 million visitors to make a trip there. Exhibits like "King Tut," "Impressionist Painters," and "Van Gogh" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art draw tourists from throughout the world. Opera festivals are the basis of many tour programs, such as Dailey-Thorpe of New York, and festivals like Tangle wood and Spoleto lure countless visitors.
At the same time, cultural institutions, facing critical funding cuts from government and private sources, have looked to the travel industry to help increase their revenues from attendance and have become more deliberate in their dealings with the travel industry. The New York City Opera, the Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Hall, and the Brooklyn Museum have gone so far as to have travel industry specialists on staff who are responsible for developing packages and marketing programs.
Just how important a market cultural tourism is, was demonstrated by a study by the Cultural Assistance Center and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
- The study showed that 1,900 arts institutions entertained an annual audience of 64 million people in the metropolitan area, 13 million of whom visited from outside the region. Of the visitor audience of nearly 13 million, more than 42 per-cent, or nearly 5.4 million, came to the region specifically for the arts and stayed an average of two days. In addition, another 15.6 percent extended their stay by an average of two days in order to attend cultural events, which represented enormous incremental revenue to the localities.
- It demonstrated that 16 percent of the arts-motivated visitors purchased a package tour, spending an average of almost $75 for the package; 80 percent of the tours included transportation.
- The study estimated that $1.6 billion was generated by the expenditures of visitors who come primarily for or extend their stay for arts and culture and from the portion of the proceeds of touring companies that is returned to the metropolitan economy.
