Tourism habits are changing. Today, experiences are focused on interaction as opposed to passive participation. This shift, along with other topical subjects, were addressed at the 2019 Heritage Tourism Summit this past Saturday.

The Washington County Heritage Alliance hosted the summit for a second time after the inaugural event in 2018. Donna Holdorf, executive director of the National Road Heritage Corridor, believes it’s important for local businesses to understand the change in tourism.

“The focus [of the summit was] how to create great, immersive experience—that’s really the trend in tourists,” Holdorf said. “What they are seeking when they go places: They aren’t really interested anymore in stop-stand-stare. If they go to a winery, they want to, at the very least, see the process of the grape crushing or do it themselves.”

The summit began in the morning and had two different sessions, which were followed by networking opportunities in the afternoon. Each session offered different workshops registrants could attend. The topics of these workshops ranged from building successful events to adequate marketing techniques.

The summitt’s main attraction, said Holdorf, was keynote speaker, Laury Ward. Ward is the president of the Finger Lakes Wine Country, an organization she’s been with since 2013. At the event, Holdorf said Ward presented on meeting tourist’s expectations and how to create unique experiences for visitors. In total, there were 15 other speakers at the event.

Another one of the event’s panelists was Lena Galing, owner of Lippencott Alpacas. At the summit, she spoke on a panel about local businesses. For Galing, being a successful business owner comes down to one specific aspect.

“It’s not for everyone, but basically for any job you have to have one word and that is ‘passion,’” Galing said. “That is the big word as far as I’m concerned.”

The decision to bring back the summit for the second year in a row was primarily due to the strong attendance from last year, Holdorf said. This year, the event achieved similar success, selling out completely.

“The decision was based on the interest we had attend last year and the hope that we would do it once again,” he said. “This group of people have really never been brought together before for any type of conversation.”

Holdorf said bringing together a unique group of business owners, created a networking atmosphere. Due to this, a business from Scenery Hill w produce a second successful event last year. The themed evening was so successful it’s happening again this year, Holdorf said.

“Last year, [when] we did this, the folks from Scenery Hill came and were trying to create an experience related to the history of the area and they ended up doing a Great Gatsby evening, which was a huge success and sold out,” Holdorf said. “People are already looking to buy their tickets for this upcoming year.”

Reflecting back on the summit, Galing said the diversity of presenters reminded her of the purpose she serves.

“At first, I felt out of place because I [thought] ‘what am I doing here?’” she said. “We are all professionals in our own businesses. It’s such a wide range of businesses that it added to the summit. I was thrilled to be there—to add my two cents.”