The Archival Research of Roots Tourists: Profiles, Objectives, and Motivations

Traveling to explore family origins has become one of the contemporary ways to enjoy leisure tourism. Although academic research has been conducted, little attention has been paid to profiling individuals who travel to investigate their family history in archives. Data from a self-administered questionnaire to Hispanic-American genealogists was analyzed through descriptive and latent class analysis to profile genealogical tourists. Based on their sociodemographic characteristics and motivations, two types arise: roots genealogical tourist—primarily interested in connecting with the family's place of origin—and researcher genealogical tourist—who focuses on archival research tasks and acquiring family history knowledge.