ABSTRACT
This chapter dicusses existing knowledge about heritage tourism by examining one of the most pervasive yet least understood elements of heritage tourism, namely personal roots tourism and its specific component, family history travel. Tourism is often said to be the largest industry in the world. The quest for personal heritage is one of the most salient resources and motives for travel today as people in the developed world become increasingly aware of their personal pasts through genealogy and family history research. Much of this growth can be attributed to increasing interest in genealogy, but it is also influenced by sheer interest among diasporic people to experience the lands of their ancestors. In recent decades there has been a surge of interest among Americans, Canadians, Australians, Chinese and many others of diasporic descent in discovering their personal heritages through family history and genealogy research.
