* Ulster-Scots heritage tour forming* *Cultural tourism is coming to Northern Ireland this summer. The Ulster-Scots Society of America is organising an Ulster-Scots heritage tour set for this July. Tour organiser Glen Pratt, from Texas, says this trip will differ from the typical holiday to Northern Ireland. * "We are planning a heritage tour that is focused on the Scots-Irish/Ulster-Scots culture and its connection to America. As far as I know, this is the first tour of this kind," says Glen. "This is a heritage tour specifically organised around Ulster-Scots history. It is made for us in mind. It is totally unique. It will be punctuated with lectures, cultural exhibitions, music, dance, traditional language, and contact with local Ulster-Scots heritage groups. Along the way, we will see some gorgeous countryside, have a chance to shop, relax, have some free time, and get a chance to know the beautiful land and wonderful people of Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is so unique. You get both Scotland and Ireland together in one place." Genealogical research will also be an important aspect of the tour. Pratt is communicating with the Ulster-Scots Agency and groups like the Schomberg Society in Kilkeel to organise presentations on a variety of Ulster-Scots topics that will give the group unique insights into Northern Ireland and its heritage. If you have a local Ulster-Scots heritage group that would like to meet with the tour, contact Glen Pratt. The tour begins the first week-end in July with visits to sites in the Belfast area including a city tour, Carrickfergus Castle, the Andrew Jackson cottage, the murals, the Irish Linen Center, and other sites close by. The group will then move up the coast viewing the Glens of Antrim, Giant's Causeway, Bushmills Distillery, Woodrow Wilson ancestral home, Gray's Print Shop, and the Walls of Londonderry. After travelling through Donegal, a full day is set aside for the Ulster-American Folk Park. The tour will then be based in the Mournes on the Co Down coast. Kilkeel's Reivers Festival is to be a centerpiece of the tour. Here, the group will attend festival activities including a World War II big band dance in honor of the Americans, a special outdoor worship service, and the Eleventh Night street pageant and bonfire. They will also see local natural sites, historical re-enactors, the 17th-century clachan 'Hanna's Close', and tour the Boyne Battlefield. The group will attend the Belfast Twelfth parade and the procession at Scarva. Full trip details are available at www.ulsterscotssociety.com <http://www.ulsterscotssociety.com/>. "We feel really privileged to see these people come over, especially in light of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II and the spirit of how Americans worked with us from 1942-45," says Maynard Hanna, of the Schomberg Society in Kilkeel. Glen Pratt's grandfather was one of the thousands of Americans stationed near Kilkeel during World War II. According to Glen, the genesis of the tour was his attendance of the Reivers Festival in Kilkeel last July at the invitation of Maynard Hanna. "I had such an incredible experience here getting to know the people and discovering the cultural connections between our two countries that I want to share it with others. I felt right at home. It was uncanny." Maynard Hanna notes that Kilkeel's connections with America go back a long way. "This demonstrates the potential economic impact cultural tourism can have on Northern Ireland. It has an unlimited potential just begging to be tapped and the rewards for both us here at home and the visiting Americans are enormous," says Maynard. ÒWe need to be doing everything we can to encourage this kind of vital activity. We stand ready to do our part. We canÕt wait to see them come." "Ultimately, I would like to see two-way heritage travel with visitors coming to see Ulster-Scots sites and events here in the U.S. and meeting their American cousins of Ulster-Scots descent," says Glen. He points out that the tour is open to visitors from Scotland, England, Ireland, and elsewhere.