STEPHEN MCCOOL

UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA

MISSOULA, MONTANA

Sustainable Tourism at World Heritage Sites

UNESCO World Heritage Forum Series

Sanquinshan Province, China 20-22 May 2015

Enabling Tourism at Natural Heritage Sites:

Principles and Frameworks

Tourism is an essential and

vital part of World

Heritage

Governments hold a

responsibility to both

protect and transmit the

outstanding universal

value at the foundation of

inscription

Sometimes we think of

tourism as an economic

sector

Similar to other

economic sectors, such

as logging, mining,

commercial activity

It is not!

The purpose of tourism

in World Heritage Sites

is to

Protect the site’s

Outstanding Universal

Value

Help build community

resilience

Provide opportunities to

view, appreciate and

learn

Managing tourism and

visitation for the latter

Is focused on providing

opportunities for

transformative

experiences

Transformative experiences

Educate Inspire Empower

Such experiences just don’t happen

Thoughtfully designed

Sensitively implemented

Responsibly monitored

But faced with many challenges

Challenge 1: Managing growing

levels of visitor use and

tourism development is

increasingly

problematic

Challenge 2:The relationship between

tourism and impacts on

natural heritage values is

complex and not linear

Use Level

Impact

Challenge 3:Enhancing community/protected

area/tourism relationships continues to be a

great opportunity

Challenge 4:Building management capacity is key to

enabling sustainable tourism

Population Dynamics

Technology

GovernancePublic Values

Decision Making

Economic Restructuring

ClimateChange

Challenge 5: The context within which tourism

development occurs is increasingly

complex, conflicted and changing

Tourism

What do we need to do to

enable such opportunities?

• Principles

• Framework

• Confidence

• Organization Environment

• Public engagement

• Legal/Institutional

Frameworks and

Principles

Help managers

think critically

Question their

assumptions

Clarify trade offs

Frameworks and

principles help us

dive deeper to

understand …

… how to enable

opportunities for

transformative

experiences

For example

How many is

too many?

What are the

appropriate/acceptable

conditions?

Ask critical questions

Think methodically

Getting the setting right!

What experiences to facilitate?

What environmental conditions?

What social conditions are needed?

What managerial actions are required?

What activities facilitate access?

What conditions

are appropriate for

transformative

experiences?

How would we know if our management is

successful without specific objectives and

standards?

Frameworks provide an

ability to address these

challenging questions

Provide managers, publics

and scientists a route to

address these questions.

Frameworks built

upon principles and

key insights

Recreation Opportunity

Spectrum – the key to

quality is diversity and good

objectives

Limits of Acceptable Change

– quantified standards of what

is acceptable and a process

make it easier for managers to

think through tourism

development

LAC acknowledges the role

of standards and makes them

explicit

Use Level

Impact

Build this thinking into

our World Heritage

management

Enhance capacity

Build confidence

Encourage a

culture of

learning

Conclusion

Keys to enabling

tourism:

Recognize

complexity of

context

Empower

managers with

critical thinking

and confidence

Build organizations that

encourage learning

谢谢Thank you!

Steve McCool

http://pasqueflowerparadigms.blogspot.com/