Ancestral Tourism in Scotland: Past, Present and Future

Event Date: 10 December 2014

Speakers: Matthew Alexander, Sam Murdy and Derek Bryce

Time: 2pm

Location: Graham Hills Building, room 511.

Abstract:

For descendants of emigrants from the highlands and islands to Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand, the idea of Scotland often evokes particularly heightened feelings of nostalgia for an imagined, ancestral home. Research has shown that there are at least 10 million people with Scottish ancestry, with 40% of them looking to research and/ or travel to Scotland within the next 2 years (which could be worth £2.5 billion to the Scottish Economy). Recently there has been a huge increase in interest relative to the researching of family history (Yakel, 2004). This is reflected in one of the fastest growing segments of the heritage tourism market which will be referred to as ancestral tourism (Basu, 2004; Santos & Yan, 2010). Furthermore, there is a lack of literature considering the added value that ancestral tourism can provide to a destination. Timothy (1997) suggested that local tourism businesses and entire communities could benefit from further research into personal heritage, and ancestral tourism. Especially where destinations had a focus on key attractions relative to the context; such as cemeteries, centres focused on genealogy and historic churches, buildings and memorials.

The first stage involved interviews with 32 curators, archivists and volunteers responsible for the delivery of the ancestral tourism experience throughout Scotland. A second stage was a questionnaire collected to refine a scale developed from the first stage, and resulted in 157 usable responses from ancestral tourists travelling throughout Scotland.  As such, this study explores the development of scale of ancestral tourist motivations, and a preliminary stage of analysis has resulted in the identification of 4 factors: exploring ancestral links; entertainment and attractions; locally produced; and general country attributes. The final stage of scale development will be completed in September of 2015.

Published: 20 March 2018