18 April 2017: International Day for Monuments and Sites

Every year on 18 April, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) celebrates the International Day for Monuments and Sites, established by the 22nd UNESCO General Conference in 1983.

In 2017 the theme is “Cultural Heritage & Sustainable Tourism” chosen in conjunction with the United Nations International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, and in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

The worldwide ICOMOS networks of Committees are encouraging activities to celebrate the positive outcomes of the partnerships between sustainable tourism development and cultural heritage conservation. On this day ICOMOS encourages local communities and individuals to consider the importance of cultural heritage to their lives, identities and communities, and to promote awareness of its diversity and vulnerability and the efforts required to protect and conserve it.

“Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism” celebrates the exponential growth in cultural tourism. Cultural exchange fosters peaceful coexistence and focuses on sustainable tourism initiatives that can empower communities and re-inforce their sense of place, self-worth and their identities.

Topics range from the strategic management of World Heritage sites to the protection of rights-based heritage; cultural festivals; sharing cultural practices in restaurants, hotels and on public transport; the development of cultural products visitors want to buy; and the immediacy of the visual image in a digital world as a tool for recording and broadcasting events.

The first ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Charter was in 1976 and the second – endorsed by the UN General Assemby in Mexico – in 1999. During 2017, the ICOMOS International Scientific Committee Cultural Tourism is conducting a Review of the Charter.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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