Get Involved: Heritage Tourism
Working with a wide range of partners, the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor seeks to raise the profile of the entire region as a tourist destination. Our efforts aim to make more strategic use of the region’s heritage resources in order to fill gaps and increase the reach and effectiveness of existing tourism development and marketing efforts.
 
Current Projects
 

• Cultural Heritage Tourism Workshops
  Tourism expert Cheryl Hargrove presented three workshops in 2011 to help heritage sites collaborate more, increase visitation, and take advantage of marketing opportunities for New York State's cultural heritage assets. Workshop resources:
   
  NY Cultural Heritage Tourism Overview [Powerpoint PDF] >
   
  NY Cultural Heritage Tourism Marketing [Powerpoint PDF] >
   
  Many thanks to our co-sponsor NY Cultural Heritage Tourism Network and our local partners: Museumwise, VisitRochester, Oneida County Tourism, and Albany County CVB.
   
  
• Underground Railroad Network to Freedom
  This joint tourism initiative aims to increase visitation to upstate New York by highlighting historic sites, museums, and tours dedicated to interpreting the story of the Underground Railroad (UGRR). Partners include National Park Service; Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor; I LOVE NEW YORK; the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; and local UGRR sites. more >
   
  
• Events
  We co-sponsor several statewide canal-related events each year to promote and celebrate the history, beauty, and recreational appeal of the Corridor. Events include: New York Heritage Weekend (May), Cycling the Erie Canal (July), Canal Splash! (August), and voyages of the canal schooner Lois McClure (2010, 2007) and canal motorship Day Peckinpaugh (2009). more >
   
• Tourism Promotion
  Strategic partnerships forged among tourism promotion agencies and canal-related organizations enable us to more effectively market the canals of New York State to international and national audiences. Each year, we co-host "familiarization tours" with travel operators, attend international travel shows, offer workshops for tourism professionals, and distribute brochures and travel guides throughout the National Heritage Corridor.
   
• Passport to Your National Parks
  

Visitors can record their experiences at designated cultural heritage sites throughout the Erie Canalway with free stamps collected in a special spiral-bound National Park Service Passport. more>
 

• Amtrak and National Park Service Trails and Rails Program
  NPS Ranger-guided interpretive talks are offered on weekends on Amtrak trains traveling through the Corridor. more >
   

• Champlain Canalway Trail Project
  The Champlain Canalway Trail Working Group completed a Champlain Canalway Trail Action Plan in 2011. The Working Group is a volunteer, ad hoc partnership that includes local and regional canal and trail groups, public agencies, and park and preservation organizations, including the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. The plan conveys a vision for the Champlain Canalway Trail corridor and offers recommendations to help support and coordinate regional and community-based efforts to develop the Canalway Trail from Waterford to Whitehall. read the plan >
   
  

Past Projects

• 2009 Quadricentenial Legacy Tour of the Day Peckinpaugh
  The historic canal motor ship Day Peckinpaugh traveled the Hudson-Champlain Corridor in August and September as part of the 2009 Hudson-Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial. The vessel welcomed 8,000 visitors at ports from Burlington, Vt, to New York City. more >
   
• Educational Travel Guide
  A guide to the canals of New York combines educational information with tourism resources targeted to adult learners, as well as primary and secondary schools, and travel planners. The guide has been made possible thanks to a partnership among Canal New York, Canal Society of New York State, Visit Rochester, and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. visit site >>
   

• 2007 Lois McClure Grand Canal Journey
  More than 30,000 people from 40 states and 10 countries toured the 1862 replica canal schooner Lois McClure during the summer of 2007, as part of our grand celebration of the National Heritage Corridor.
  more >
   
  

• PBS Film on New York's Canals
  Erie Canalway collaborated with PBS station WCNY-TV on the production of a one-hour travel documentary on New York's canals, which aired in 2007.