Heritage tourism: A mechanism to facilitate the preservation of black family farms

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to explore the viability of heritage tourism as an alternative and/or supplementary economic mechanism to help black farmers retain their lands.

Design/methodology/approach – In this case study, a family-owned farm in Virginia was examined to determine why and how people used this black-owned farm to share heritage tourism activities, experiences, and recreational activities. Visitors to the black-owned farm were asked to complete a survey designed to measure various tourism constructs. A total of a 119 surveys were collected from three user groups: a motorcycle recreational group, a correctional officers family day, and horse riders in a Pony Express.

Findings – The results demonstrated there was a significant interest in black heritage tourism (BHT) among survey participants. Furthermore, the results suggest that BHT may be a viable supplement to agricultural production for some black farmers.

Originality/value – This is one of the first chapters to examine the role heritage tourism can play in helping to prevent land loss among black farmers. It will help to stimulate more examination of the possibilities of expanding this genre of tourism in rural areas.