Genealogy tourism, sometimes called roots tourism, is a segment of the

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

market consisting of tourists who have ancestral connections to their holiday destination. These

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

tourists travel to the land of their ancestors to reconnect with their past and "walk in the footsteps of their forefathers". Genealogy tourism is a worldwide industry, although it is more prominent in countries that have experienced mass emigration at some time in history and thus have a large worldwide diaspora community.

Europe

Genealogy tourism has been prominent in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

; recorded genealogy tourism peaked in the year 2000 as 116,000 genealogical visitors traveled to the island. The

Irish Tourist Board Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

ceased recording genealogy visitors numbers in 2004, and its present levels are now unknown.

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

staged a homecoming festival in 2009 to appeal to genealogy tourists. Genealogy tourism is very common to countries of

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

where

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

caused mass migrations of population. In particular, Jewish genealogy tourism is very popular and on the rise. Scottish diaspora and genealogical tourism has always been a large part of Scottish tourism.

Africa

Many African Americans and other diaspora Africans in the Americas were motivated to travel to their traditional African homelands following the release of Alex Haley's best-selling book '' Roots: The Saga of an American Family'' in 1976.Mensah, I (2015): The roots tourism experience of diaspora Africans: A focus on the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles, Journal of Heritage Tourism, DOI:10.1080/1743873X.2014.990974 Areas frequently visited include Cape Coast and

Elmina Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, situated on a bay on the Atlantic Ocean, west of Cape Coast. Elmina w ...

in Ghana, Goree Island in Senegal, Juffureh in Gambia and

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

in Brazil. African governments recognized this opportunity for development in tourism. Successive governments in Ghana, for example, have made efforts through the Ministry of Tourism to attract Diaspora Africans to Ghana, including the African African-American summit in 1999, the biannual Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival, Emancipation Day celebrations and

Juneteenth Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Deriving its name from combining "June" and "nineteenth", it is celebrated on the anniversary of General Order No. 3, i ...

Genealogy

Genealogy tourists often participate in tracing their ancestral lineages; digital access to historical records, as well as DNA studies in recent years, have allowed an increasing number of people to identify the homelands of their ancestors.Higginbotham, G. (2012). Seeking roots and tracing lineages: constructing a framework of reference for roots and genealogical tourism. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 7(3), 189-203.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Genealogy Tourism

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

Types of tourism Diasporas

Europe

Africa

Genealogy

See also

References