Realising the transformative potential of cultural heritage tourism

The ICOMOS International Charter for Cultural Heritage Tourism: Reinforcing cultural heritage protection and community resilience through responsible and sustainable tourism management was adopted in 2022 by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) General Assembly with unanimous support. Since then, the Charter has been translated and disseminated across the world.

The Charter was at its adoption and possibly remains to date the most aspirational charter set out through ICOMOS and in the cultural tourism domain. Not only does it aspire to guide and improve practice in the context of climate change and an increasingly unpredictable and volatile world; it also calls out the exploitation of tangible and intangible heritage and communities as the heritage stewards under the dominant economic growth dependent development paradigm. While taking the lead in unchartered territory concerning the role of cultural heritage and tourism in a post 2030 agenda, the charter brings ICOMOS in line with a growing body of organisations, networks and individuals recognising the unsustainability of our current operating system and need for transformative change supporting development within planetary boundaries.

The question is of course to what extent the cultural heritage domain, tourism as an economic sector, and let alone individual professionals and practitioners could influence the course of a global system? With the privilege to work in a domain celebrating human ingenuity throughout time, climates and civilizations, there is however no time for despondency or behaviour inertia due to fear of change. Now is the time to come together, to connect practice, and make the cultural heritage and tourism domains relevant in the broader ongoing transformation. 

This Compendium is developed to support Charter application. By introducing a more nuanced terminology, addressing root causes to systemic challenges and elaborating on the conceptual reorientation and foundation of the Charter, it aims to spur individual and collective efforts for the good of current and future generations of living beings.

ICOMOS has engaged with the tourism dimension in heritage protection, conservation and education since the 1970s. The International Scientific Committee on Cultural Tourism (ICTC) established in 1969 pioneered the integration of heritage protection practice and tourism by adopting the first International Cultural Tourism Charter in 1976 followed by the second International Cultural Tourism Charter - Managing Tourism at Places of Heritage Significance in 1999, and ICOMOS Florence Declaration on Sustainable Tourism for Development in 2017. The ICOMOS International Charter for Cultural Heritage Tourism 2022: Reinforcing cultural heritage protection and community resilience through responsible and sustainable tourism management is the most current milestone of international doctrine in this field. The Charter aims to align the work of cultural heritage and tourism stakeholders offering principles for tourism development and visitor management.

As one of the three Advisory Bodies to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention (1972) ICOMOS provides scientific and technical support including evaluation, monitoring and upstream advice on cultural and mixed properties including tourism impacts and management. ICOMOS ICTCs work aligns with and supports the United Nations 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, the UNESCO World Heritage Sustainable Tourism Programme, IUCN Nature Based Solutions Programme, ICCROMs First Aid and Resilience for Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis (FAR) programme and joint initiatives including but not limited to IUCN/ICOMOS Connecting Practice and the ICOMOS / IUCN / ICCROM Nature-Culture Journey.

Facilitate shared understanding and guide interpretation: Ensure that all concerned have a common grasp of the Charter's conceptual framework and interpret the Charter's content consistently.

Structure knowledge: Formalize concepts and relationships (ontology) enabling logical reasoning about the Charter's domain.

Define key concepts: Establish a common vocabulary and understanding of the fundamental concepts within the Charter's scope.

Establish relationships: Explicitly define how different concepts within the Charter's domain relate to one another.

Support reasoning: Provide a framework for considering concepts and practice according to the Charter's call for a transformational and regenerative approach.

Enable interoperability: Help integrate the Charter's concepts with other systems or domains.

The primary objective of ICOMOS charters is to promote and enhance the conservation of cultural heritage. By addressing specific domains, charters serve as aspirational and inspirational institutional statements that outline shared values, standards, and approaches, providing a practical framework for collaboration and cooperation within and across domains.

The ICCHT 2022 build upon ICOMOS earlier charters on cultural tourism from 1976 and 1999. ICOMOS has, through its cultural tourism charters, been in the forefront guiding the balance between heritage protection and the relevance of heritage in sustainable development through tourism. The Charters respectively reflect evolving perspectives and strategies for developing tourism and managing visitors at heritage sites. Collectively they document a progression towards more holistic and inclusive approaches to cultural heritage tourism development and management, adapting to new global challenges while maintaining core conservation values. 

The 2022 Charter is a product of its time. Formulated during the Covid-19 pandemic, in the context of climate change, unsustainable developments and exposed vulnerabilities, it sets out a progressive and potentially transformative approach to cultural tourism development and management. The application compendium should help the reader understand and interpret the 2022 Charter's content and intentions consistently, engage in logical reasoning about the Charter's objectives and principles, and integrate Charter concepts within other domains. 

The Charter Application Compendium for Realising the transformative potential of the ICCHT 2022 is, in addition to ICCHT 2022 as adopted, made up of three parts: Annex 1: Glossary and concept clusters; Annex 2: Foundational reorientation; Annex 3: Application by stakeholder group

1.1 A nuanced vocabulary (Annex 1)

The 2022 Charter includes a number of concepts not mentioned in previous charters. Most of the concepts have over the last decade become mainstream in the development and/or climate domains of direct relevance to heritage and tourism, but not always sufficiently contextualised. By elaborating the deliberate use of terminology applied and introduced in the ICOMOS ICCHT 2022, this document seeks to guide charter implementation within the ongoing effort to adapt and improve practice. Translations of the document including the 2022 Charter will furthermore be an important contribution towards aligning and supporting globally distributed cultural heritage and tourism professionals. The glossary is a useful resource for expanding vocabulary and a more nuanced approach in interpreting and implementing the Charter objectives and principles. The glossary, which specifically seeks to recognize plural values and honouring indigenous knowledge, should help realise the transformative potential of the Charter fostering equitable, place-based approaches that regenerate rather than deplete cultural and natural resources. 

1.2 Foundational reorientation (Annex 2)

Since the Charter’s adoption in 2022, climate change, extractive growth and practices continues to increasingly threaten natural and cultural heritage and their communities making transformative change more urgent than ever. By addressing the growth predicament under Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, referring to the ICOMOS Resolution on the Cultural Dimension of the SDG (21 GA 2023/16) and Global Goal on Adaptation Framework, it provides a context for the conceptual reorientation of the Charter. The Annex also introduces a framework for further exploring the potentials for transformative change through tourism in a post 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

1.3 Application by stakeholder group (Annex 3)

The Charter explicitly states that heritage stewardship through the management of tourism is a shared responsibility, providing guidance for practitioners and decision-makers at all levels, aiming to align their efforts for positive, sustainable outcomes. Annex 3. Application by stakeholder groups specifically identifies leverage points for systems change and suggests how different stakeholders may apply the Charter in support of transformative change. It also offers Charter reflection questions and a Transformative Change Assessment Form. The document provides links to up to date tools and case studies.

Stakeholder Group Potential for Charter application

• Governments >>  Policy, regulation, funding

• Site Management Authorities >>  Day-to-day management, conservation, monitoring, visitor services

• Tourism Businesses/Operators >>  Service delivery, site interpretation, visitor management

• Destination Managers/Marketers >>  Planning, promotion, balancing interests

• Heritage & Tourism Professionals >>  Technical expertise, project design, monitoring

• Land-Use Planners >>  Integrating heritage into spatial planning

• Host Communities / Indigenous peoples >>  Decision-making, knowledge, benefit-sharing, management of territories

• Civil Society >>  Advocacy, awareness, local engagement

• Visitors >>  Responsible behavior, cultural respect

• Educators/Academics/Researchers >>  Knowledge, evaluation, training

• Intergovernmental organisations   >>  Policy, regulation, technical expertise, project design