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HAIFA University workshop

23 – 25 May 2011

UNESCO Tourism programmeand the cooperation with the

UNESCO / UNITWIN network“Culture, tourism and

development” Hervé BarréUNESCO

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Tourism in UNESCO programmes

• Tourism is not is the mandate of UNESCO

• Tourism development affects UNESCO’s programmes in culture

• Number of sites to visit increase slowly

• Conciliate two missions:

- Preserving the values of tangible and intangible heritage

- Providing access to the largest public

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Goals and objectives

• In cooperation with UN Agencies and public and private partners, academics and experts, the objective of UNESCO is to provide its Member States with policy guidelines to aid them to take up the challenge of heritage preservation, community participation, local development and tourism

• UNESCO’s comparative advantage: its ability to build bridges between different disciplines and sectors to address this complex challenge

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UNESCO’s tourism activities and

programmes • World Heritage Sustainable Tourism programme• Project of a Recommendation on heritage and

tourism• Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism• Millennium Development Goals “Culture and

Development” projects• Steering Committee on Tourism Development (9

UN Agencies) • UNITWIN/UNESCO Programme

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World Heritage Sustainable Tourism programme

• Decision of the WH Committee, Brasilia 2010• WH Committee 35th session to decide of a road

map with the following objectives:- Adopt standards and principles - Support incorporation of appropriate tourism

management - Support development of training and guidance

materials- Provide advice on the cost benefit impact of WH

inscription- Complete Operational Guidelines on tourism

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MDG “Culture and Development” 18 projects

• Implemented by UN teams in 18 countries in 4 years. Budget of 3 to 8 M $

• Objective is harnessing culture for developmentExamples of titles of projects:• “Creative industries support programme”, Cambodia • “The China Culture and Development framework” • “The Dahshur WH site mobilization for cultural heritage

for community development”, Egypt • “Harnessing Diversity for Sustainable Development and

Social Change”, Ethiopia • “Alliance for Cultural Tourism in Eastern Anatolia” Turkey

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Tourism Special event4th United Nations Conference on the Least

Developed Countries, Istanbul 10 MayUNESCO, member of the Steering Committee on Tourism

for Development with 8 UN Agencies (UNWTO, ILO, UNCTAD, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, World Trade Organization, International Trade Centre)

UNESCO contributed to the report “Tourism and Poverty Reduction Strategies”

“Appropriate forms of tourism development and preservation of environmental and cultural assets should proceed hand in hand” (page 7)

“Tourism is a powerful engine for socio-economic development and an instrument to safeguard biodiversity and cultural heritage, especially in LDCs” (page 10)

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Recommendation on heritage preservation and sustainable development of tourism

• Decision of the WH Committee, Brasilia 2010• The Committee “….invites the Director General of

UNESCO to consider the feasibility of a Recommendation on heritage conservation and sustainable tourism”

• Preliminary study on the technical and legal aspects to demonstrate the need of a Recommendation on the subject of tourism

• Executive Board (May 2011) and General Conference (October 2011) to adopt the preliminary study and ask Director General to propose a draft of a Recommendation

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Objectives of a UNESCO Recommendation on tourism

• Help Member States to build appropriate policy framework for preserving heritage values for dialogue and development

• The Recommendation will regulate a set of principles and policies at the international level that States could integrate in their legislation and policies

• Bridge the gap between the Conventions on heritage preservation and tourism

• The beneficiaries would be the States, the site managers, the tourism industry, the tourists and the resident population living nearby the sites

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Objectives…

• Promote on the international stage UNESCO’s specific approach to tourism, sensitive to heritage values

• Improve quality tourism policies • Help States to mitigate the threats on heritage values

caused by growing pressure of tourism• Contribute to preserving attractiveness of destinations in

a context of international competition• Degradation of 200 renowned sites costs 100 billion $ in

lost revenues to developing countries

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Rationale

• Existing Recommendations, Resolutions, Charters… do not address at the proper level – UN, international level - the very issues of heritage preservation and sustainable development of tourism (UNWTO Code of Ethics, ICOMOS Charter on Cultural Tourism, Council of Europe Recommendation on the Promotion of Tourism, EU Charter on Natural Heritage Preservation Areas…

• The only Recommendation addressing the widest range of issues in one single document: all forms of heritage – natural, intangible and tangible cultural heritage, commoditization of heritage values, indigenous peoples and societies, intercultural dialogue, interpretation of heritage, community development and ethics of tourism, partnership and cooperation with tourism industry and stakeholders

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Some key proposals

• Integrate heritage preservation and management issues in tourism strategies, policies and projects

• Propose a fair and transparent cooperation with the public and private tourism stakeholders

• Make tourism an ally in preserving heritage values and implementing Conventions

• Include the issue of financing heritage preservation by tourism “users” of heritage

• Give an equal priority to heritage preservation and tourism development

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UNITWIN cooperation with UNESCO tourism programme

• 706 UNESCO Chairs and 69 UNITWIN Networks involving 820 institutions and 131 countries

• Dual function of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks: think tank and bridge builders between the academic world and policy makers

• Realignment with UNESCO’s priorities and programmes• Stimulate triangular North-South-South cooperation• Creation of regional or sub-regional poles of innovation

and excellence

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Cooperation with UNESCO programmes

• Yearly workshop at UNESCO on World Heritage and tourism issues

• Module on tourism at WH sites • Participation in the first annual meeting of Category II

centres and UNESCO chairs and UNITWIN networks in cooperation with World heritage, Bahrain

• Expert meeting – December 2011 – on WH ST programme

• Two Statutory expert meetings for preparing the Recommendation on heritage and tourism