World Heritage Management Plans as Opportunities to Foster Cultural Sustainable Development: Fact or Myth?

Abstract

Cultural tourism plays a crucial role in facilitating dialogue among cultures, thus enriching cultural diversity and inspiring communities to come together collectively for a common goal; therefore, it represents a tremendous opportunity to advance in the path towards the creative enhancement of cultural heritage, as well as towards a responsible and forward-looking development. At the same time—being the relation between tourism and culture complex and multi-layered—cultural tourism conceals many well-known risks: the obliteration of cultural identities, the eradication of values and the rise of social inequalities, to mention a few. In the case of World Heritage sites, the cohesion and cooperation of heterogeneous communities is not a mere product of proximity and interpersonal contact promoting understanding and respect for diversity, but rather the result of dense intercultural networks that foster a sense of global community, able to deliver key sustainable development outcomes. The way these linkages are formally managed consistently influences the local cultural, environmental and socio-economic effects of tourism. From the above perspective, this paper aims at elaborating on the conceptual framework that gives meaning to the sustainability of cultural tourism. In particular, it explores the strategies exploitable to bring everybody together towards the common cause, which is generally accepted being the conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage through an approach of cultural competence and creativity and, in doing so, improving the quality of life and well-being of both host communities and visitors in an inclusive way. Furthermore, the author seeks to investigate whether or not UNESCO management plans are generally equipped to address cultural sustainable development issues in different scenarios. The ultimate purpose of this contribution is to achieve the following results: (1) opening a debate about the complex issues that surround the relationship between culture and tourism in light of the principles and values contained in declarations, conventions and recommendations adopted by UNESCO, the United Nations and the European Union; (2) defining the objectives upon which the quality of both the design and the implementation of World Heritage site management plans depend in order to involve diverse communities in the enhancement of cultural heritage, and in the achievement of local sustainable development; (3) identifying those general strategies and tools that allow us to include all the above objectives in a management plan, notwithstanding the institutional and normative systems in place.