December 19th, 2025
Heritage White Paper Informs 2026 Heritage Visitor Attraction Marketing
Heritage PR and content specialist, Catapult PR, has today published a heritage tourism white paper.
The UK heritage tourism white paper is intended to give heritage visitor attractions, of all types, a head start for their 2026 marketing and messaging. Entitled ‘What Visitors Most Want from a UK Heritage Attraction’, it offers a deep dive into the attitudes of British consumers towards heritage and cultural and heritage visitor attractions.
What the heritage tourism white paper covers
The heritage tourism white paper covers two separate independent consumer research surveys commissioned by the heritage public relations team at Catapult PR between July and October, 2025.
The resulting data is presented in an informative and marketing-friendly format, revealing differences in opinion between various demographics and regions, on a range of heritage tourism topics.
Opinions regarding paid-admission heritage visitor attractions
With specific reactions and responses to stately homes and gardens, to avoid having opinions skewed by referencing ticketed operations, such as free-to-enter museums, public gardens and heritage sites, the cultural and heritage white paper is a highly useful read for any heritage-sector visitor attraction that brings paying visitors through the gate.
Other questions assess opinions of heritage in general and the role it has to play in modern British society.
By reading the heritage white paper, heritage visitor attractions of all types, from heritage steam railways and heritage steamboat operators, to paid-entrance museums, heritage houses, literary homes and history-rich sites, can quickly grasp what it is the British consumer most wants from a heritage visitor attraction.
Learning what heritage-attraction visitors do not want to experience
The white paper equally makes it clear what the heritage visitor does not wish to see and where their sensitivities lie with regard to any links to a darker past.
With a ranking of these factors, not just in terms of what consumers think overall, but by demographic age groups too, the resource quickly provides insight into what a heritage-sector tourism business needs to be doing, to tick the box of its ideal visitor avatar.
Furthermore, the research highlights what might need to be done in future years, to keep the visitor on-side.
Aligning opinions with heritage marketing strategies
The heritage tourism white paper contextualises opinions amongst British consumers in fairly tough economic times, highlighting price and value sensitivities.
However, it also demonstrates that heritage visitor attractions should be devoting much of their attention to the art of heritage storytelling and ensuring that their PR and messaging strategies are working to the full.
Previous heritage research by Catapult PR
The heritage tourism white paper builds on Catapult PR’s previous two heritage surveys, commissioned over the past six years.
Synergies can be found within the first of these – The Castles and Historic Homes Research Survey (2019) – and the second, How to Supercharge Your Heritage Marketing (2023).
However, the white paper delves deeper into cultural issues and heritage consumer sentiment, assessing opinions about some key topics in today’s society and reactions to some parts of the heritage tourism spectrum.
How to access the heritage tourism white paper
The ‘What Visitors Most Want From a UK Heritage Attraction’ is currently available as a sample here.
The full report is currently available to heritage visitor attractions, bodies and authorities, as well as journalists, by downloading here – https://www.catapultpr.co.uk/about/free-downloads/
For a summary of the heritage white paper and what it means for heritage visitor attractions, please listen to the Catapult PR Show podcast episode here.
