Presentation and Management of Heritage Assets

Sustainable Tourism Programme

• The World Heritage Tourism Programme encourages sustainable tourism actions at World Heritage sites by– developing policies and processes for site management and for the

state parties to the Convention

• Address increasingly important management concern.– It implements actions to preserve sites for future generations– contributes to sustainable development – Encourages intercultural dialogue.

• The Sustainable Tourism Programme cooperates with World Heritage Advisory Bodies

• The Programme engages the tourism industry to maximize tourism's benefits and minimize its impacts.

Mission of the Tourism Programme

Mission:To aid the World Heritage Committee and site managers using tourism as a positive force to retain World Heritage sites values and to help mitigate site threats.

Goals:I. Developing and expanding the WH Tourism Programme Framework to

build management capacity and provide alternative livelihoods to promote conservation;

II. Building strategic partnerships to support sustainable tourism as a conservation tool at WH sites;

III. Aiding the WH Committee, the state parties, the UNESCO Secretariat, WH Centre Regional desk officers, the UNESCO field offices on tourism related issues;

Issues of International Heritage Tourism

Tourism is one of the largest industries and heritage tourism is its most rapidly growing international sector. With millions of tourists visiting the 851 World Heritage sites each year, tourism has become an important cross cutting issue and management concern at most World Heritage sites. However, many times lack trained personnel and local communities and policy makers sometimes lack the experience necessary to use tourism as a tool to contribute to biodiversity and cultural diversity conservation.

The over-riding importance of tourism to World Heritage, both as an opportunity and if poorly managed as a threat, was recognized by the World Heritage Committee when it authorized the Centre, in 2001, to develop the Programme.

The World Heritage Sustainable Tourism Programme focuses on seven activities.

Seven Activities of Sustainability1. Building the capacity of World Heritage site management to deal with

tourism.2. Training local community members in environment and culture

preservation and tourism related activities to receive tourism's benefits.3. Aiding communities around the sites to market their products and use the

World Heritage sites as a lever for local economic social and cultural development.

4. Raising public awareness of World Heritage Outstanding Universal Values and building pride and intercultural dialogue with local communities and visitors through conservation education.

5. Using tourism generated funds to supplement site conservation and protection costs.

6. Spreading the lessons learned to other sites and protected areas.7. Building increased awareness of the objectives of the 1972 World

Heritage Convention and other UNESCO conventions to the Tourism Programmes activities and policies for local and national public tourism authorities, tourism industry officials and tourists.

World Heritage: Challenges for the Millennium

Francesco Bandarin, director. World Heritage: Challenges for the Millennium. January 2007.

"World Heritage Series n°1 - Managing Tourism at World Heritage Sites: a Practical Manual for World Heritage Site Managers”

"A Proposed Framework for the Development of Joint Cooperation On Nature Conservation and Sustainable Tourism At World Heritage Natural sites Between The tourism industry and the UNESCO, World Heritage Centre“

Managing Cultural World Heritage published November 16, 2013

What can go wrong, the international view?

Tourism can increase burdens on local populations without producing mitigating benefits. Tourism revenues often reach a different segment of the population than those who must bear the burden of diminishing resources. Most tourist spending – airfares, hotel and tour operators‘ fees – benefits foreign companies.

3.4.4 Cultural commodification is the erosion of cultural practices until they become meaningless.

3.4.6 Conflicts arise when the economic benefits of tourism are unevenly distributed, especially when resulting disparities in wealth are great.

4.2.7 Overemphasis on involving stakeholder groups can lead to a failure to recognise certain effects on resources.

5.2 Issues of cultural authenticity and natural integrity

5.2.1 The cultural authenticity and/or natural integrity of a site must be considered when developing tourism policy goals and objectives.

5.5.2 Numbers of visitors also affect management objectives and infrastructure and facility design.

5.6 Setting objectives at sites offering multiple activities

5.6.1 At large sites, whether cultural, natural or mixed, management objectives may vary from one area to another within the site.

General carrying capacity issues

6.1.1 The concept of carrying capacity addresses the question of how many people can be permitted into an area without risk of degrading the site and the visitors’ experience of it.

6.1.3 Planning for visitor management should be based on the idea of limits to acceptable change.

6.1.4 The methodology known as Limits of Acceptable Change (LAC) sets standards and monitoring indicators based on management and stakeholder concerns.

Changing visitor behaviour is not a simple process.

7.2.1 In some areas, even if limits are imposed, measures to concentrate and control visitors are needed to reduce ecological impacts.

7.2.5 Quotas can be used to reduce visitor levels but raise several issues. A point to consider is the financial cost of implementing and administering the quota system.

7.2.7 Not providing facilities can reduce visitor numbers.

7.3.2 Dispersing visitors is seldom simple and may not mitigate impacts.

7.4.1 Increasing a site’s resistance to visitor impacts by installing or modifying infrastructure is generally referred to as site-hardening.