{"id":275202,"date":"2026-08-30T11:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/275202\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T11:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:58:07","slug":"opinion-plan-to-promote-bethlehem-tourism-needs-buy-in-from-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/275202\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: Plan to promote Bethlehem tourism needs buy-in from community"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Larry Eighmy<\/p>\n

Bethlehem has earned a place among the world\u2019s most significant historic destinations with its inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Now, the community must work together to ensure that the tourism growth the designation brings is managed well.<\/p>\n

There are 1,273 World Heritage status worldwide, including just 27 in the U.S. and three in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

The work now is not to celebrate that designation, but to build the welcome, infrastructure, and community benefit that must come with it.<\/p>\n

Bethlehem\u2019s World Heritage status will undoubtedly lead to tourism growth. But unguided growth causes issues for travelers and locals alike, while a well-informed, collaborative plan makes the city better for everyone.<\/p>\n

The plan to create a world-class tourism experience in Bethlehem<\/a> requires partnering with the local community, not imposing on it. Growing without a plan creates friction; growing with residents at the table creates durability.<\/p>\n

Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites is committed to a transparent, collaborative planning process, one that listens before it builds.<\/p>\n

Working together, Bethlehem certainly has the potential to be a world-class tourism destination, and that\u2019s not just marketing speak. Consider the San Antonio Missions World Heritage Site, which paraphrasing its own reporting has generated close to $500 million in investment and drawn more than a million visitors a year, supporting roughly 1,100 jobs.<\/p>\n

Bethlehem holds a comparable story of innovation, industry and community, one the world has already recognized once. The question is not whether Bethlehem can matter on that scale. It is whether we will build the plan to make it happen.<\/p>\n

The concern we hear most often, and the one this plan has to answer directly, is that growth without a plan means more traffic and a visitor experience that overwhelms rather than enhances the community it is meant to celebrate.<\/p>\n

That is a legitimate worry, not a reason to slow down, but a reason to plan well. A real welcome area, clear parking and improved pedestrian routes are not just amenities for tourists; they are the tools that keep growth from becoming congestion.<\/p>\n

HBMS is the steward of 20 historic properties, all listed on the National Register of Historic Places, seven of which are part of the UNESCO World Heritage inscription achieved in 2024<\/a>. That stewardship traces back to residents who settled the banks of the Monocacy in 1741, and more recently to the preservation leadership of Ralph Grayson Schwarz and, later, former HBMS President Charlene Donchez Mower, who led the first petition for inscription. This history is the foundation. It is not, by itself, the plan.<\/p>\n

The plan starts with basics: a real welcome area with parking, restrooms and accessible paths, including improvements to the difficult and often inaccessible route from Main Street.<\/p>\n

It includes a proper gathering space for Celtic Classic and Musikfest, which take place \u201cunder the bridge\u201d rather than on the grounds of HBMS and the site of several of the inscribed buildings.<\/p>\n

It includes connecting the Colonial Industrial Quarter to Burnside Plantation, SteelStacks, downtown and the D&L Trail, and restoring the Monocacy Creek to a place of prominence rather than an afterthought.<\/p>\n

None of this requires guessing what works \u2014 cities from Denver to Burlington, Vermont, to Quebec City have already shown how reclaiming space for people over cars can anchor a destination without drowning it in traffic.<\/p>\n

Enhancing the visitor experience by adding convenience and providing interpretation has proven beneficial. Look at transportation solutions like the funicular in Quebec City, the gondola in Cologne or the autonomous shuttles used at the World Cup games for convenience. The \u201cLuminiscence in Philadelphia,\u201d playing at the Cathedral Basilica, provides interpretive context. Places like Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Fallingwater; and James Madison\u2019s Montpelier in Virginia provide both amenities and context particularly well; in short, they elevate the visitor experience.<\/p>\n

To get there responsibly, HBMS has commissioned Place Economics to complete an economic impact study and established an advisory council, with dozens of civic, business, neighborhood and community groups, to guide the process. That study will inform the scale of what is possible and will be included in the request for proposals to a select group of planners. The advisory council will help choose the firm that turns this designation into an implementable plan, not just a news release.<\/p>\n

The designation has already been earned. The destination, and the trust of the community that will live alongside it, still has to be built. That work starts now. I hope you will join in planning what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n

This is a contributed opinion column. Larry Eighmy is a longtime resident of Bethlehem who works as managing principal of the Stone House Group, a facilities planning firm, and is a volunteer board member of Historic Bethlehem Museum and Sites, and treasurer and co-chair of the strategic planning committee. The views expressed in this piece are those of its individual author(s), and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of this publication. For more details on commentaries, read our guide to guest opinions at themorningcall.com\/opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Larry Eighmy Bethlehem has earned a place among the world\u2019s most significant historic destinations with its inscription…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,1559],"class_list":["post-275202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=275202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}