Toward Heritage Tourism in Sussex County, Delaware

Abstract

This research assesses the feasibility of heritage tourism as part of an economic development strategy for Sussex County, Delaware. The research presented within indicates that a program of heritage tourism has a great deal of promise, especially given that there is an already highly developed tourist infrastructure in many areas. In 2003, the county attracted 2.5 million visitors, mostly to the beach and resort communities in the east. There are, however, a relative lack of tourist draws in many other areas of the county. This study identifies seven distinct thematic groupings of heritage resources around which tourism programs may be built. Many of these thematic groupings have a wide geographic range, occurring both in the more populous and visited east as well as the less known regions in the central and western portions of the county. The seven themes are: the natural environment (including the coast), maritime tradition, beach resort communities, historic architecture, agriculture and agri-tourism, small towns, and religion.