Working with the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, we developed and implemented a program for tourism businesses and other local organizations in three locations around Bosnia & Herzegovina (BiH).

The program centered around a series of 2-day workshops in which more than 150 participants learned about models and opportunities for immersive cultural heritage tourism, market trends and dynamics within the sector as well as tips and tricks for storytelling and engaging with visitors. During the program, participants also went through a step-by-step process of conceptualizing the specific tourism experiences they wished to offer (or enhance), identifying and researching the stories and cultural practices they wished visitors to learn about and organizing the flow and components of the tourism experience. At the end of the program, participants also practiced pitching their tourism experience and packaging it for visitors.

Participants left the program with a clear roadmap for development of their own tourism experience, using a template that was filled in as they progressed through the materials. Examples of tourism experiences that were conceptualized through the program included craft activities, food experiences, nature and cultural site explorations and historical tours.