The New Jersey Heritage Tourism Task Force was established by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey (P.I.2006,C60). The legislation directed the taskforce to “create a comprehensive heritage tourism master plan for New Jersey.” Working in collaboration with the National Trust Heritage Tourism Division and Hargrove International/The HTC Group, Hanbury Preservation Consulting developed a Heritage Tourism Plan which was adopted in June 2010.
The consultant team conducted extensive stakeholder interviews and delivered public presentations throughout the state to collect insight and receive feedback about key strategies and recommendations. They also researched specific items as directed by the taskforce. The report included guidance for the development of an inventory of historic sites that are “tourism ready.” The need for technical assistance to communities and sites prompted the team to create a Community Toolkit as an additional plan component that provides information on best practices and resources. A historic context document written as part of the plan produced interpretive themes to be used in developing products and marketing statewide. The plan also includes case studies highlighting heritage tourism sites and activities in New Jersey and beyond, marketing strategies to promote New Jersey’s historic sites, and extensive economic impact data and analysis.
The plan is the result of a process that has involved working closely with the task force and its subcommittees to develop a series of recommendations and action steps to strengthen heritage tourism throughout the state and provide concrete steps to develop products, to market to regional, national and international markets and to create management and administrative infrastructure to support the effort as it moves forward.
To see the plan's Executive Summary, click here
