Irish, Italian, Lithuanian, French Canadian, Polish and other immigrants labored in factories that m

In this circa 1915 photo provided by the Manchester Historical Society, a man operates a jacquard loom in the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company in Manchester, Conn. State officials have funded a project to boost tourism by highlighting the stories of where immigrants, lived and worked in ethnic communities and mill towns in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In this circa 1915 photo provided by the Manchester Historical Society, a woman sews neckties in the Cheney Brothers Silk Manufacturing Company in Manchester, Conn. State officials have funded a project to boost tourism by highlighting the stories of where immigrants, lived and worked in ethnic communities and mill towns in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — More than a century after waves of Europe's working class left for jobs in New England mills and other prospects in the U.S., their homes, communities and traditions are providing fresh opportunities to promote tourism in Connecticut.
Irish, Italian, Lithuanian, French Canadian, Polish and other immigrants labored in factories that made silk in Manchester, thread in Willimantic, cruises hawaii hats in Danbury and numerous other Connecticut mill towns in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Economic development officials now want to tell the immigrants' stories to draw tourists.
Initially costing $100,000, the project stems from an emerging marketing strategy known as cultural or ethnic tourism. With more than 100 heritage or cultural organizations, Connecticut has a strong base of support to launch a cultural tourism initiative, said Kip Bergstrom, cruises hawaii deputy economic development commissioner.
As states compete fiercely for tourist dollars, marketing officials are looking for any angle to promote their communities. In Connecticut, tourism generates about $11.5 billion cruises hawaii in spending, $1.15 billion in state and local tax revenue and employs nearly 111,000 workers, according to 2011 statistics, the most recent.
Two phases are planned for Connecticut's project. The first, which will extend through cruises hawaii mid-June 2013, will document the historical links between people of various ethnic communities and their neighborhoods, cruises hawaii buildings, shops and other sites.
Mary Donohue , executive director of the Manchester Historical Society , said historic preservationists in Connecticut have worked with scholars to identify African-American historic sites and partnered with the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Hartford to identify cruises hawaii historic synagogues, provide tours and highlight Jewish-owned farms and resorts.
European immigrants who arrived cruises hawaii during the Industrial Revolution will not be the only focus of cultural tourism. Indian sites dating back centuries or more recently established Latino communities also will be included in efforts promoting Connecticut.
And New Canaan's Modern Homes designed by famed architects such as Philip Johnson are marketed with state money linked to cultural tourism, said Janet Lindstrom , executive director of the New Canaan Historical Society .
In Manchester, cruises hawaii where former cruises hawaii silk mills have been redeveloped into apartments and are part of a historic district cruises hawaii intended to draw visitors interested in New England's industrial past, can be a "gold mine" for tourist-related activities, cruises hawaii Donohue said.
Dunne said Connecticut tourism officials have looked at what other states are doing. But Bergstrom said the state's Freedom Trail, which celebrates how 19th century black Americans escaped slavery and found freedom cruises hawaii in Connecticut, served as a model for other forms of cultural tourism in the state.
Carol Shull , interim keeper of the National Register of Historic Places , said generating tourism revenue has the added benefit of boosting historic preservation because "communities see there's a reason to preserve their historic places."
The National Park Service posts 54 online travel itineraries promoting 2,500 sites of the National Register of Historic Places to tap into a growing interest in cultural cruises hawaii and historic tourism, she said.
And Cheryl cruises hawaii Hargrove of HTC Partners , a Washington, D.C., consulting group focusing on cultural and heritage tourism, said more than three-quarters of Americans who travel include some kind of cultural or heritage-related attraction to their holiday. For example, literary tourism is used to lure book enthusiasts to authors' homes, she said.