TFM was pleased to see a leader outside of the arts community trumpet this new study about the significance of arts & culture tourism on the California economy– read the entire article by Caroline Beteta/

A new study, the first of its kind, confirms that cultural and heritage tourism is huge – and bigger than many of us thought in terms of economic impact. I can tell you as Chair of the U.S. Travel Association that this is great news for just about every destination in the U.S., as all of us have products that will appeal to this market.

Especially noteworthy is that this group is affluent and travels more and further as a whole- which means they are less impacted by the slow economy than other types of travelers.

The study, conducted by Mandala Research for the U.S. Cultural & Heritage Tourism (USCHT) Marketing Council, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Commerce, shows that 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers (118.3 million adults) participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling, spending an average of $994 per trip and contributing to more than $192 billion annually to the U.S. economy.

Caroline Beteta is the President and CEO of the California Travel & Tourism Commission and the current Chair of the U.S. Travel Association.