New Visit Native California Program Encourages Travelers to Connect With State’s Indigenous Cultures

Tribal leaders from throughout California and the US gathered with state tourism officers in Palm Springs on Wednesday to announce a landmark initiative for the state—the launch of Go to Native California. Created in partnership with Go to California, the state’s tourism advertising and marketing company, the brand new effort goals to straight join vacationers with native-led and -designed applications throughout the Golden State. The last word aim is to encourage guests to discover California’s Indigenous cultures with purposeful journeys and experiences that transcend Native-owned resorts and casinos.

California boasts a wealthy Indigenous historical past and there are at the moment 109 federally acknowledged tribes all through the state, representing about 720,000 individuals—the very best Native American inhabitants of any state within the nation. The sizes of tribes varies enormously; the Yurok group of Northern California, one of many few tribes to have by no means been faraway from their ancestral homelands, have round 6,300 enrolled members, whereas the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians have the smallest inhabitants, with simply 11 registered members. Although some languages have been misplaced, California was as soon as dwelling to 64 distinct Native languages.

Whereas many tribes have promoted their tourism experiences regionally, previous to the launch of Go to Native California, there wasn’t a state-level company targeted on selling and advertising and marketing Native-led journey experiences, equivalent to Montana’s Tribal Tourism Growth Undertaking or North Dakota’s Native Tourism Alliance (which date again to 2017 and 2016, respectively). The brand new initiative goals to turn into the go-to useful resource for details about Native cultural tourism alternatives and hopes to assist tribes throughout the state carve out an area for themselves in California’s profitable tourism market.

Funding for the venture comes from a $1 million federal grant from the American Rescue Plan Act, laws signed into regulation by President Joe Biden in 2021 that seeks to alleviate financial and public well being impacts of the pandemic. Within the venture’s preliminary phases, cash might be put towards constructing Go to Native California’s on-line platform in addition to selling curated itineraries, museums, eating places, out of doors actions, and cultural facilities by way of social media and on-line influencers. This “first wave” of content material is ready to debut in March 2023. In its later phases, funding might be put towards serving to tribes design extra experiences—though there’s already present tradition programming all through California, together with redwood dugout canoe journey excursions of the Klamath River hosted by the Yurok individuals and guided strolling excursions with the Me-Wuk tribe in Tuolumne County.

“Because the state with the very best inhabitants of Native Individuals, and one of many nation’s main tourism locations, California is poised to drastically enhance nationwide Native tourism promotion and curiosity with this endeavor,” Sherry Rupert, CEO of the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Affiliation, acknowledged in a launch. Rupert was additionally in attendance on the Go to Native California launch. “We’ve seen the financial advantages that come from uniting beneath a standard banner, however extra importantly we see the facility of cultural tourism to assist preservation and perpetuation of our tradition.”

The headquarters of the operation might be in Palm Springs on the Agua Caliente Cultural Plaza, set to formally debut subsequent spring. Spanning six acres within the metropolis’s downtown, the brand new facility might be dwelling to a museum devoted to the historical past and tradition of the Agua Caliente individuals, intensive gardens, and the “Spa at Séc-he,” the place guests can take pleasure in such therapeutic therapies as massages and halotherapy. The Agua Caliente individuals have lived within the Palm Springs area for 1000’s of years—there are about 500 members in the present day.

“This venture and this web site offers my tribe the chance, the flexibility to share our tradition,” stated Reid D. Milanovich, chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, on the press convention. “That is us.”

The Go to Native California launch comes throughout a time of therapeutic and restoration for California’s tourism trade because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020 alone, California was projected to have misplaced $72.8 billion in tourism spending. Tribal communities had been among the many hardest hit within the state each economically and in regard to public well being. The brand new initiative guarantees to be a manner for tribes to not solely financially profit but additionally assist share their cultures with new audiences who’re wanting to have deeper and extra significant connections after they journey.

“After we share our tradition, we assist protect it,” stated Milanovich.