Connection: Northwest Tourist Stop

Native American culture is a draw for many German tourists who visit the Inland Northwest, said Hubertus Guenther, honorary consul for Germany in Spokane.

“The interest is very keen among Germans for the American West,” Guenther said. “We have a fair share of Germans who are coming because of that.”

German tourists were “absolutely fascinated” with the Museum of Native American Culture in Spokane before it closed, he said. They often make trips to surrounding reservations, visit Western and Indian gift shops and collect Indian art.

Interest in the American West starts for many Germans when they are children, Guenther said. A series of fiction books that featured Indians and German pioneers was written around the turn of the last century and remains popular today.

Little is done to promote Spokane as a destination spot for Germans interested in the American West, he said. But German tourists who arrive in Seattle or San Francisco often stop here as they travel around the West, and those who are in the area when events such as this weekend’s Spokane Pow Wow occur almost certainly attend.