Americans are planning vacations around their DNA results and family history

It’s called ancestry tourism

A growing number of Americans are planning trips around their family history, and the trend has a name: ancestry tourism. Some call it heritage travel or roots tourism.

It can mean driving to a grandparent’s hometown two states over, or it can mean flying overseas to walk the streets where your ancestors lived a hundred years ago.

Affordable DNA testing, digitized records, and a hunger for travel that actually means something are all pushing it forward.

Travel industry experts named it one of the defining trends for 2026, and the reasons go deeper than you might expect.

One in five Americans spit in a tube

About one in five Americans has taken a mail-in DNA test. If you’re 65 or older, you’re the most likely age group to have done it.

The top reason people take these tests is simple: they want to know where they come from. When your results come back broken down by region and country, something clicks.

You start looking at a map differently.

The whole movement picked up speed in the mid-2010s, when home DNA kits dropped in price and showed up in every drugstore.

Heritage travelers spend more and stay longer

The U.S. heritage tourism market hit roughly $129 billion in 2024, and it’s expected to grow at about 4 percent a year through 2033.

Travelers between 51 and 70 are the biggest spenders, drawn by genealogy and cultural depth. These aren’t quick weekend getaways.

Heritage travelers tend to stay longer, travel more often, and spend more than typical tourists.

Post-pandemic domestic travel has also pushed more people toward lesser-known cultural and historic sites across the country.

40 percent of Americans have an Ellis Island ancestor

About 40 percent of current U.S. citizens can trace at least one ancestor to Ellis Island. Between 1892 and 1954, more than 12 million immigrants walked through that station.

Today, the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration holds a searchable database of nearly 65 million passenger records.

You can pull up ship manifests, find your great-grandmother’s name, and see the actual paperwork from the day she arrived. Outside, the American Immigrant Wall of Honor carries more than 750,000 inscribed names.

Five floors of free genealogy help in Salt Lake City

The FamilySearch Library in downtown Salt Lake City holds records on more than 8 billion deceased people from over 100 countries. The building spans five floors, and everything inside is free and open to the public.

Hundreds of expert consultants and trained volunteers sit ready to help you trace your family tree.

Organized research groups have traveled here for decades, some spending a full week working through records floor by floor.

Dig through census rolls at the National Archives

The National Archives in Washington, D.C. pulls genealogy researchers from all over the country. Inside, you’ll find census records, military service files, immigration documents, and naturalization papers.

The Public Vaults exhibit lets you explore documents tied to family heritage, citizenship, and the nation’s history firsthand. Research facilities open to the public Monday through Friday.

If you can’t make the trip, the Archives also partners with online platforms to make records available remotely.

The Civil Rights Trail spans 14 states and 100 sites

The U.S. Civil Rights Trail links more than 100 sites across 14 states.

You can visit the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, stand on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, and walk the halls of Little Rock Central High School.

Six new sites joined the trail for 2026, including a Virginia courthouse tied to the Loving v. Virginia case.

Many stops are free, with museums, interactive exhibits, and self-guided walking tours. For Black Americans, this trail connects family and community history in a way few other trips can.

33 million Americans claim Irish roots alone

Ireland, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom rank among the most popular destinations for American ancestry travelers. Roughly 33 million Americans claim Irish heritage, which makes Ireland one of the biggest draws.

Some travelers track down ancestral villages, dig through church records, and search local archives for family documents. Others join guided heritage tours that pair genealogy research with cultural experiences.

The pull to visit places tied to your own bloodline runs strongest among Americans over 50.

Billions of records are now a few clicks away

Online platforms like Ancestry. com and FamilySearch have digitized billions of historical records.

You can build a family tree, pull up immigration records, and connect with distant relatives without leaving your couch. For most people, this online research is the first step before booking any travel.

FamilySearch, run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is completely free to use. The growth of these platforms has turned genealogy into one of the most popular hobbies in the country.

Grandparents and grandkids are traveling together

Many ancestry trips now involve multiple generations on the same itinerary.

Grandparents, parents, and grandchildren visit family homelands or historic sites as a shared experience. Travel experts say this multigenerational approach keeps growing every year.

The trips often center on storytelling, with older family members sharing oral history at the actual places where it happened.

For many families, the trip becomes a way to preserve traditions and hand down a sense of identity that no photo album can replace.

Retirees, digitized records and a cultural shift

A broader cultural shift toward meaningful, purpose-driven travel is replacing passive vacationing for a lot of Americans. Baby boomers, many now retired, have both the time and the motivation to dig into their past.

Digitized records keep making it easier to research before and during a trip. Younger generations are getting pulled in too, drawn to culturally rich experiences that feel real.

Heritage tourism also brings money into smaller communities and historic towns that might otherwise get passed over.

Start with what you already know

Gather whatever you have from family members, old photos, letters, and documents before you spend a dime on travel. Free online tools like FamilySearch can help you build a basic family tree from your kitchen table.

If you want to go hands-on, a domestic genealogy center like the FamilySearch Library or the National Archives makes a solid first trip.

Heading overseas to trace your roots takes more planning, and hiring a local genealogist in your country of origin can save you time and unlock records you can’t get on your own.

Be ready for surprises, because many ancestry travelers find connections and stories they never expected.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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