Essay: The importance of Maintaining World Heritage Sites Today

This essay examines the significance of World Heritage Sites in contemporary society, highlighting their creation, selection, and nomination processes. It discusses the social, cultural, and economic advantages of these sites, including their role in tourism, community empowerment, and knowledge dissemination. The essay also addresses the adverse impacts of tourism on these sites, such as cultural and environmental degradation, and proposes recommendations for minimizing these negative effects through strategies like limited visitor entry and behavioral changes. By exploring these aspects, the essay underscores the importance of preserving World Heritage Sites for future generations.

Evaluate the argument that is
important for modern society to
maintain World Heritage Sites

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Importance of conserving World Heritage Sites and discussing the social, economic and
cultural advantages that a World Heritage Site holds..................................................................4
Adverse impacts of the world heritage sites in relation to the tourism industry..........................5
Recommendation steps to be taken for minimizing the negative outcomes of tourism in these
sites..............................................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
World Heritage Sites are the landmarks with a proper legal protection and are engraved
on the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization list of World Heritage.
These sites are said to have an outstanding value in the universe under the concerning group of
protection of world natural and cultural heritage. The whole document was established in 1972
by UNESCO and was agreed by 20 countries first, in order to preserve and protect the natural
areas and cultural treasures whole throughout the world (Migoń., 2018). All the places that have
a physical significance or special cultures comes under the world heritage sites. This includes
ancient structures, buildings, mountains, lakes, forests, deserts, monuments etc. This report
comprises a complete discussion on World Heritage Sites background and why is so important to
preserve the ancient sites and how these are benefiting the social, economic and cultural areas of
the society. The report shows the contrary impacts of World Heritage Sites in relation to the
tourism industry.
MAIN BODY
Discussing the background of world heritage sites by stating the different types and
process of selection, creation and nomination of these Sites
World Heritage Sites are the assets for the entire world. There are many informations that are
important to the society and that are derived from these sites. Heritage Sites either show the
accomplishment that is made by the humanity or showcase the exceptionally beautiful natural
creatures. A record of 1154 Heritage Sites was shown in the month of July 2021 that exists
almost across 167 countries. Out of which most of the Sites are from Italy.
The historic sites are the formal locations where the military, political, social or cultural
history has been crystallized because of their universal value or because of some natural
elegance. These are mostly secured by the laws or by the formal national site status to protect
them for the future generation to look at the ancient period culture (Kim and et.al., 2018). These
are for the youth to visit, appreciate and enjoy the beauty that exists in the world. The idea for
the World Heritage Sites was developed by the United States in order to safeguard the places that
are of a good worth to the world. To preserve the nature, historic sites and scenic areas, World
Heritage Trust was called in 1965 during the White House meeting. There are 3 types of heritage
sites Natural heritage, Indigenous heritage and Historic heritage.

The creation of heritage is concerned with the process of bringing the property which is
inherited and passed forward from the previous generation to the current generation. But as a
matter of culture heritage it isn't passed as some property or money, but are passed in the ways of
values, cultures and traditions. Not every site is counted as the World heritage site, for this there
is a specific criterion that must be followed or the site must hold. The process demands the
property to be of some universal value, international significance or it must hold importance for
the future and the present generations. The heritage site list is made up by the World Heritage
Committee and it is the sole responsibility of the committee to add more. Present list includes the
sites from 21 countries. To come in the list there is a specific process that has to be followed
which is the nomination process, it includes all the steps of first, making a tentative list which
comprises the names of the inbound heritage sites that a country has and then making a
nomination file that is again evaluated by the two advisory bodies. After completing the above
process then it is in the hands of the World Heritage Committee to finally decide weather or not
the following site shall be added to the list.
Importance of conserving World Heritage Sites and discussing the social, economic and cultural
advantages that a World Heritage Site holds
Heritage includes all the important tangible, intangible, cultural, natural, immovable and
movable assets that are passed down from the ancient times. The reason for them getting secured
and preserved is the irreplaceable value. Heritage is the most valuable factor when it comes to
the empowerment of local communities and helping the vulnerable groups to take part in cultural
and social life. The World Heritage also promotes the growth of tourism and enables different
backward areas of the society to retain its culture and earn through the tourism (Jimura., 2018).
Attractive heritage also attracts the right external investment which helps in maintaining the
businesses and not only tourism. These sites have proved out to be a wonderful source of
knowledge for the people of all age groups and is a great source to achieve social inclusiveness.
World Heritage Sites also holds the importance for the youth as it tells about the various cultures
and traditions that were followed in the ancient times and also helps to keep an excitement in the
new generation to learn more and more about the previous structure ((Akın., 2021)). Heritage
helps in shaping the human society as the race of humanity is always depended on the past and
then build its present and future.

The World Heritage Sites enjoy certain benefits in the form of social, cultural, and
economic aspects that boost the already existing waves of tourism. For instance, these heritage
sites immediately receive international recognition which also hints at a collective form of social
acknowledgement of heritage preservation. Some of these advantages are as follows:
SOCIAL ADVANTAGES
There are many social benefits that get demonstrated within the world heritage tourism.
These include the preservation of ethnic practices and indigenous cultures that both the tourists
and the locals alike enjoy to their benefits. It also adds up to the heritage factor of the
country/city/regional landscape. It also adds up to a shared social value (Gordon, 2018).
CULTURAL ADVANTAGES
The value of world heritage sites can also be seen in the form of the cultural benefits that
it entails. The cultural heritage impacts various niche markets and helps in enhancing local,
traditional, and creative aesthetics of those particular places. Sites such as The Giza Pyramids in
Egypt or the Schoenberg Palace of Austria get culturally influenced.
ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES
World heritage tourism also opens up several new doors of employment opportunities in
its associated market segments. For instance, there are a multitude of job seekers belonging to
various niches and sectors such as hospitality, food and beverages, cleaners, etc. This entire
demographic gets good chance of employment due to these globally recognized heritage sites
(Rasoolimanesh and et.al., 2019).
Adverse impacts of the world heritage sites in relation to the tourism industry
There are a range of threats that adversely impacts the world heritage sectors. A majority
of them belong to the ill effects of the tourism industry. Some of them have been discussed
below.
CULTURAL AND TRADITIONAL DISORDER
Some negative socio-cultural impacts of tourism namely the prevalence of racism,
increase in crime rates with tourists, superstitious and biased opinions on indigenous tribes, etc.
Leads to a lack of moral understanding of heritage culture. At times the local culture gets
overshadowed by sporadic violence by hooligans, vagabond criminals, and people with
delinquent behaviour.
ENVIRONMENTAL THREAT

One key negative environmental effect of growing contemporary tourism is that of
mismanagement of waste material that constantly get dumped onto roads. This not only leads to
pollution but also diminishes the cultural landscape value. The discharge of waste water in
nearby lakes, oceans and water bodies majorly contribute in disrupting age-old ground table
resources. It further reduces the authenticity of the site which is a central factor that lists it under
UNESCO's world heritage (Dastgerdi and et.al., 2019).
UNMONITRED TOURISM ACTIVITIES
The increasing development of the tourism industry is not only poorly managed and
controlled by the government bodies, rather it is negatively impacting the socio-cultural
dimensions of the world heritage sites. One example of this mismanagement can evidently be
seen in the all time prevalence of thefts, robberies, and illegitimate trade activities in traditionally
rich travel zones.
Recommendation steps to be taken for minimizing the negative outcomes of tourism in these
sites
As has been discussed above, the World Heritage Sites consistently get affected by the
developing tourism industry in adverse ways. Thereby it becomes imperative for the heritage
supervisors to devise certain strategies to curb these negative impacts. Some recommendations
have been provided below for an effective tourism management at these sites -
LIMITED VISITOR ENTRY
This step can be considered a direct management approach of handling the number of
tourists at a particular heritage site. For instance, sites like the 'Palace and Gardens of Versailles'
in France or the 'Taj Mahal' in India should be supervised in such a manner that the protocol of
visitor limitation should be applied. In this way the visitation figures could be reduced along with
ensuring the maintenance of cultural, ecological, and traditional balance at these heritage places
(Adie and et.al., 2020).
ACCOMODATING CHANGES
Some indirect tourism management strategies can be changing the behavioural attitude of
visitors or tourists by making them understand the need of going through the heritage
preservation programs before visiting. This can be done by distributing instructional pamphlets
or with the help of informative itineraries in conjunction with appointing physical guides.

CONCLUSION
The above report has succinctly observed the world heritage sites discourse in all of its
traditional, cultural, and contemporary aspects. The essay has analysed the world heritage sites in
its entirety by exploring first the various processes and steps that go into their creation, selection
and nomination. It has also discussed the gradual evolution and development of the world
heritage sector by depicting the importance of preserving their historical value. The study has
next described the varied social, cultural, and economic advantages of these heritage sites.
Furthermore, the essay has acutely analysed and illustrated several negative and adverse
influences that the economic, environmental, and social and cultural factors have on these sites
due to developing tourism. This has been done by describing the impact which is followed by a
some recommendation steps of how these impacts can be subsided and managed on a global
basis. Some examples have also been included to support and justify the statements.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Adie, B.A., and et.al., 2020. Overtourism as a perceived threat to cultural heritage in Europe.
Current Issues in Tourism. 23(14). pp.1737-1741.
Akın, Ö.Z.E.N., 2021. Evaluation of tourist reviews on TripAdvisor for the protection of the
world heritage sites: Text mining approach. Journal of multidisciplinary academic
tourism. 6(1). pp.37-46.
Dastgerdi, A.S., and et.al., 2019. Climate change challenges to existing cultural heritage policy.
Sustainability. 11(19). p.5227.
Gordon, J.E., 2018. Geoheritage, geotourism and the cultural landscape: Enhancing the visitor
experience and promoting geoconservation. Geosciences. 8(4). p.136.
Jimura, T., 2018. World Heritage Sites: Tourism, local communities and conservation activities.
CABI.
Kim, H. and et.al., 2018. Assessing the economic values of World Heritage Sites and the effects
of perceived authenticity on their values. International Journal of Tourism Research.
20(1). pp.126-136.
Migoń, P., 2018. Geoheritage and world heritage sites. In Geoheritage (pp. 237-249). Elsevier.
Rasoolimanesh, S.M., and et.al., 2019. Does living in the vicinity of heritage tourism sites
influence residents’ perceptions and attitudes?. Journal of Sustainable Tourism.
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