GWU iITS 2026 Cultural Heritage tourism program

It was an honor this past week to serve as an instructor with International Institute of Tourism Studies at George Washington University for the Professional Certificate in Community-Centered Cultural Heritage Tourism program.

The 'Experiential Product Development for Cultural Heritage Tourism' course brought together an impressive group of tourism industry professionals from around the globe to explore this critical ingredient at the center of cultural heritage tourism.

We explored community-centered planning, storytelling, co-creation, stewardship, sustainability and collaboration. Each of those principles translate into developing & delivering experiences that create lasting value for residents, communities and visitors - and the work is more critical today than ever before.

A big thank you to Sonya Bradley of Visit Sacramento, who was our guest lecturer 📚 - and brought these ideas to life through Sacramento’s cultural tourism journey, demonstrating the important role destination organizations can play in connecting and supporting cultural partners, neighborhoods and communities.

A special thank you to Seleni Matus for the partnership, friendship and the opportunity to contribute to this critical program. 👏🏼 And thank you Stephanie Westhelle and Jonathan Whitehead for your collaborations all along the way! #TeamEffort

And finally - a sincere thank you to the tourism professionals who participated in the course from communities and destinations around the world. 🌎 Your questions, perspectives and willingness to share insights from your own work and life experiences made the learning richer—and reinforced that while every destination is different, the opportunity to connect people, culture and place is truly global.

For me, education is an important element of my day-to-day work: sharing what we are learning in the field, creating space for tourism professionals to challenge conventional thinking, and helping strengthen the next generation of cultural heritage tourism development.

When we connect education with real-world practice, we don’t just teach cultural heritage tourism—we help shape what it can become.

#CulturalHeritageTourism #CulturalTourism #TourismEducation #ExperientialTourism #CommunityBasedTourism #DestinationDevelopment #DestinationStewardship #Storytelling #USCHMC #GeorgeWashingtonUniversity