AmaWaterways will again partner with Ancestry.com to offer two “Heritage on the River” cruises in 2023, where guests of European heritage can revisit the places from which their ancestors emigrated.
The seven-night heritage cruises will sail from Nuremberg to Budapest on June 17, 2023, and from Amsterdam to Basel on November 2.
Guests will receive a welcome call with a genealogist before each sailing, plus an AncestryDNA Kit and a five-hour Ancestry research and consultation package. Each trip will have a genealogist onboard to offer presentations about genealogy and a customizable excursion highlighting the heritage of the region.
The Captivating Rhine cruise will include an excursion to the Red Star Line Museum in Antwerp, Belgium, from where many immigrants to America sailed. The Legendary Danube river cruise will offer tours in Budapest and Vienna, highlighting sites in the Jewish and Hungarian migrations.
All heritage cruises will offer optional pre-and post-cruise packages.
A recent study by Grand View Research puts the market for heritage travel at $557 billion in 2021, expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 3.8% from 2022 to 2030 (Heritage Tourism Market Size & Share Report, 2022-2030 (grandviewresearch.com)). In 2021 almost 60% of customers came from the 51-to-70 age group segment, and 70% booked through travel agents and other offline channels. The 31-to-50 age group segment also is expected to witness strong growth through 2030, the study says.
