Worldheritage Forum

The Muscat Declaration on Built Environments for Sustainable Tourism

Posted on 10. May 2005 um 15:50 Uhr

The topic sustainable tourism is especially for UNESCO World Heritage Cities of great importance. Often a sensitive built environment with a large number of listed buidlings is attracting a high number of tourists.

Beside positive impacts of tourism like the creation of new jobs, more publicity of the city, etc. there are also negative ones like physical damage, emissions through traffic, supression of functions, congestion, etc.

Theories of sustainable tourism ty to minimize the negative effects.

The problem is often the quantification of the parameters.

Important issues are adressed in The Muscat Declaration on Built Environments for Sustainable Tourism , that was agreed upon at a conference in Muscat , Oman.

For UNESCO World Heritage Sites i think the following topics are of major importance:

At the stategic level:
(...)
2. Adopt policies and strategies relating to the development of tourism infrastructure that ensure a better urban environment for both residents and tourists;
(...)
7. Provide information and guidance that allows visitors and
residents to interpret the distinctive built environments of
individual destinations;
8. Monitor the impact of tourism on the built environment utilizing indicators by the World Tourism Organization in relation to economic, cultural, and environmental sustainability;
(...)
On Adaptive Re-use of Heritage for Tourism Purposes:
(...)
11. Promote constructive dialogue between respectively those
authorities responsible for heritage conservation and tourism development;
(...)
13. Ensure in doing so that sustainability of the heritage and of its new functions are properly addressed, avoiding thus the transformation of this heritage into objects of visit with limited economic impact on its surroundings;
(...)
On Urban and Local Regeneration:
(...)
22. Involve the tourism sector in the overall regeneration of built ensembles, including renovation of the infrastructure;
(...)
reference:http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/doc/DeclarationOman-e.pdf

Alltogether i can only support this declaration.

Only sustainable tourism can - particurlarly at UNESCO World Heritage Sites- secure the right balance beetween economical exploitation through tourism and the conservation of the cultural assets.

(Picture: Grand Mosque in Muscat, reference: Wikipedia)

worldheritage heritage culture tourism, sustainability