Heritage Travel: What it is & How it Can Benefit You

Door post after door post was pointed out to me. We stopped in a court yard that had tenement style houses surrounding it on all sides. We stepped inside what seemed nothing more than a run down, dingy entrance looking practically near collapse. Peering closely at the entrances, I saw an empty carved out space, diagonal in the shape of a mezuzah (a scroll with Hebrew verses on it from the Torah, inside a decorated case). I saw two circles placed perfectly across from each other, showing where once a mezuzah had hung. 

This was Praga. Located across the Vistula River opposite Warsaw’s Old Town, this area, sometimes referred to as “alternative Warsaw,” has been called dangerous. But, in years past, this was also the home of Warsaw’s Jews. As a Jew myself, I didn’t expect to learn about this place while interning abroad in Warsaw—a place where the majority of my people once lived. We walked through Praga and our tour guide pointed out different types of traces on doorposts of former Jewish family homes. Unlike the rest of the city, this area was barely destroyed during the war, leaving the homes of families in tact and the authentic representation of Jewish life in Warsaw prior to the war still in existence. 

Exploring the mezuzah traces through heritage travel allowed me to learn the stories of Jewish families who had lived in Warsaw, not from the structure of something that was rebuilt, but from the actual traces of what remained. 

There’s never been a better time to participate in heritage travel—and participating in historical travel during travel programs abroad just makes sense. Read on to learn how YOU can incorporate heritage tourism into your next great international adventure, like I did.

FAQs on heritage travel

What is Heritage Tourism? 

According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Heritage Tourism is “traveling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past and present. It includes cultural, historic, and natural resources.” In other words, Heritage Tourism is a type of travel where you search for an authentic understanding of how something, or a people, was like. 

The three main types of Heritage Tourism sites are natural, cultural, and built. Natural heritage sites include landforms and rural scenery, cultural heritage tourism involves attending festivals or a place that sells traditional products, and built heritage sites encompass places such as monuments and historic homes. Through studying, volunteering, interning and teaching abroad there are several different ways in which you can engage with the different types of historic travel and heritage tourism. 

• Study Abroad. Studying abroad provides a unique opportunity to live what you are studying. For example, instead of sitting in school reading about the Holocaust, if you study abroad in Europe, your classroom becomes your surroundings and you can visit places from a textbook firsthand. You can walk on the natural grounds where your ancestors once lived and enter still standing historic synagogues and other places of worship. Study abroad is a great time to explore cultural heritage tourism!
  
• Volunteer Abroad. Protecting special places is valuable to humanity. If you hope to spend time volunteering abroad maybe consider volunteering on a conservation project anywhere in the world, that assists in protecting a heritage site for generations of travelers to come. This type of volunteering will be beneficial as it ensures that heritage travel can continue to provide meaningful experiences for others. 
  
• Intern Abroad. During my time doing an internship in Warsaw, I went with the office I worked for to a cemetery clean up at the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw, to a day of memorial ceremonies in Jedwabne, Poland at seven different memorials, and on a bike ride from the gates of Auschwitz-Birkenau to the Jewish Community Center in Krakow. Naturally, internships you do abroad will come with similar opportunities to visit heritage sites as part of your work hours. Additionally, you can take advantage of your temporary backyard to spend weekends traveling to visit heritage sites and learning as much as possible about the people who live or lived in the country you are working in. You will benefit from seeing a full dimension view of the country. 
  
• Teach Abroad. You can learn about your own heritage by fully integrating into a local community! In teaching abroad you can craft your own experience by specifically signing up for an English teaching program that places you with indigenous people at a heritage site. There, you can preserve their culture and help to sustain their local environment, while also getting to know your own family history through cultural heritage tourism.
  

Who participates in heritage travel? 

Anyone and everyone with a desire to learn can participate in heritage travel! People of all ages and backgrounds can think about doing heritage tourism during short school breaks, gap years, or family trips. 

Popular examples of heritage tourism involve religious travel or pilgramages. For instance, many Catholic students might enjoy visiting the Vatican while studying abroad in Italy, or some Muslim volunteers might tack on a hajj to Mecca while volunteering abroad in the Middle East. If you're a first generation immigrant from Latin America or East Asia, you might double-dip your internship abroad to learn your family's native tongue or get to know your family's culture or history in a new way. As a Jewish student abroad, I was keen to learn more about Jewish history—visiting pre-war synagogues and learning the stories of Jewish families past. 

The major benefits of heritage travel 

1. Memorability

Whenever you return from a trip, you are bound to face the question: So, what did you do on your trip? Usually, people are looking for more than just a general answer, but want an example of something specific you experienced and why you enjoyed it. Heritage travel will provide you with an instant, and ongoing, answer! Travelers say that trips with heritage activities are more memorable than trips without them, because they learn something concrete and new.  

2. Strengthens local economies 

A study conducted by the Travel Industry Association showed that heritage travelers spend more time and money at their destinations than other types of travelers. This helps to develop sustainable local economies which often don’t get as much popularity as large tourist attractions. Visiting heritage sites creates jobs in local organizations while simultaneously promoting community pride through the opportunities locals have to work together to improve cultural development. 

3. Diversifies the tourism experience

Relaxing at the beach is nice, but think how many more stories there are to tell when there is content and substance involved in a trip. Beyond the traditional ocean and sand vacation, heritage travel allows you to expand your horizons and spread the places people visit beyond a few locations. 

4. Reinforces identity and creates understanding 

Heritage tourism provides a whole new angle to traveling and can make an experience both fun and educational. You can learn more about yourself, your ancestors, and people of your race, religion, or culture, while also learning more about cultures and backgrounds different than your own. What we learn in a classroom can be difficult to understand; when you interact with sites in person you have the opportunity to really comprehend what a specific identity means. 

5. Increases your learning capacity—especially when done in conjunction with a program abroad

The best part of formal programs abroad isn’t that your itinerary is taken care of (although being free of planning those logistics IS pretty great!), it’s the fact that you have the right container for doing deep thinking and reflecting on what you’re learning. Instead of just witnessing and observing during culture heritage tourism, a program abroad might be able to offer you a stronger framework to participate in the culture. Translating interactions into hard-won lessons is much easier with the help of a trusty mentor or dedicated time for reflection. 

That’s why pairing heritage tourism with a program abroad can be a win-win on all fronts!

Walk the footsteps of your family

Soon, I started looking for mezuzah traces wherever I went in Europe. I didn't want to ever again walk by a place that had so many hidden stories—that could have been my relatives’ home, or the home of my friends grandparents. Each mezuzah trace told a story that came to life through the Jewish item. 

Looking for mezuzah traces throughout Europe was just one way I was able to connect to the heritage of the Jewish people and learn what Jewish life was like in countries prior to World War II. There are so many ways that heritage travel can enhance your time on programs abroad, even for a short trip, and it will make a difference in how you remember a place once you return home. 

Get Matched with 5 Programs to Enhance Heritage Travel Today

KAHAL Your Jewish Home Abroad is a non-profit organization which connects Jewish students studying abroad to Jewish opportunities, resources and connections abroad. KAHAL aims to create meaningful Jewish experiences for study abroad students, allowing them to interact with local Jewish communities and deepen their Jewish identities. Wherever students travel, KAHAL arranges chances to attend Shabbat dinners, meet Jewish students, attend holiday meals, volunteer and advocate, and provides grant funding and travel assistance.