El Paso Can Benefit from Heritage Tourism

El Paso Can Benefit from Heritage Tourism 
by Jackson Polk

Things are changing all over El Paso, including how we market our historic assets.

It's all good, as the saying goes, and it's about to get even better.

Our region's rich and diverse history and heritage can help turn El Paso into a destination city that's world class.

Our history is unique because it is not one story, but many overlapping and interwoven stories, and many of the events that took place here are considered turning points in North American history.

Did you know there are dinosaur tracks near El Paso that were made 100 million years ago?

Have you been to Keystone Heritage Park, where ancient people lived in a village at least 5,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest settlements in North America?

For the centuries that followed, the riches of the Rio Grande helped sustain life for Native American tribes indigenous to the region.

In 1598, the Spanish came to the El Paso Rio Grande to colonize New Spain.

That event named our city, and set the stage for centuries of Spanish rule, integrating European ways with Native American traditions, building the country's oldest Mission Trail, and ultimately, the cultural foundation of the American Southwest.

El Paso had always been an important north-south route, but it's role in east-west travel grew in the 1840s with the California gold rush, followed by the arrival of the military and then the Indian wars.

But the Pass of the North exploded in the 1880s, when the railroads turned it into a hub of business and transportation.

The railroads also brought gamblers, gunslingers and houses of ill repute, as El Paso became the epicenter of the Wild Old West.

That's just some of our rich treasure trove of history -- so rich that if people knew about it, they would come to visit.

It's almost that easy.

But now we need to start telling them, as we take our rightful place in a growing industry sector called heritage tourism.

Heritage tourists are among the most desirable visitors to any city. And it's not just because they like and seek out locations with history.

It's also because they spend an additional $438 per day, over and above what a typical tourist spends, according to a recent survey by the Texas Historical Commission.

We have the history. Now we need to build and support the services, resources and infrastructure needed to make our rich history and historic treasures available and accessible for tourists.

An important step was taken last March when more than 400 people attended the first El Paso History Summit.

Organized by several local history groups, the summit included a town hall meeting that was streamed live online where people were able to share their views about what's important in El Paso history.

The good news is that another summit with even broader participation is planned for next March, this time called the El Paso Heritage Tourism Summit.

Again the El Paso History Radio Show will partner with the El Paso Heritage Alliance and the El Paso County Historical Commission to organize the summit, joined by the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau.

We are all on a common path to promote El Paso's rich heritage and history.

And there is so much history that I haven't mentioned: architecture, civil rights, Mexican Revolution, Hueco Tanks, geology, the mountains, archaeology.

And El Paso is the gateway to Mexico, as it becomes a good place to visit again.

Imagine what happens when all that is mixed with our world-class art museum, Triple-A baseball and Downtown events.

Tourists will able to choose from a multi-faceted menu of places to go and things to do.

Promoting El Paso's authentic nature can make it a destination city visited by tourists from around the world.

Documentary filmmaker Jackson H. Polk, an El Paso native, hosts a local radio show about El Paso history and makes TV documentaries about the region's history and heritage. www.EPHistory.com

e what a typical tourist spends, according to a recent survey by the Texas Historical Commission.

We have the history. Now we need to build and support the services, resources and infrastructure needed to make our rich history and historic treasures available and accessible for tourists.

An important step was taken last March when more than 400 people attended the first El Paso History Summit.

Organized by several local history groups, the summit included a town hall meeting that was streamed live online where people were able to share their views about what's important in El Paso history.

The good news is that another summit with even broader participation is planned for next March, this time called the El Paso Heritage Tourism Summit.

Again the El Paso History Radio Show will partner with the El Paso Heritage Alliance and the El Paso County Historical Commission to organize the summit, joined by the El Paso Convention and Visitors Bureau.

We are all on a common path to promote El Paso's rich heritage and history.

And there is so much history that I haven't mentioned: architecture, civil rights, Mexican Revolution, Hueco Tanks, geology, the mountains, archaeology.

And El Paso is the gateway to Mexico, as it becomes a good place to visit again.

Imagine what happens when all that is mixed with our world-class art museum, Triple-A baseball and Downtown events.

Tourists will able to choose from a multi-faceted menu of places to go and things to do.

Promoting El Paso's authentic nature can make it a destination city visited by tourists from around the world.

Documentary filmmaker Jackson H. Polk, an El Paso native, hosts a local radio show about El Paso history and makes TV documentaries about the region's history and heritage. www.EPHistory.com