Over 60 travel and tourism organizations are making specific recommendations for reopening travel and tourism in Europe, including the establishment of a Commission-led task force to restore free movement

  • As a result of the pandemic, 90% of the countries closed all or part of their World Heritage Sites
  • The UNWTO calls on the cultural tourism sector to create participatory governance structures. Bringing together artists, creators, tourism and culture professionals, the private sector and local communities for open dialogue, data sharing and real-time solutions
  • Loss of income has a strong impact on communities, cultural heritage sites, cultural events, spaces and institutions and at the same time weakens the competitiveness and market differentiation of travel destinations

The shared values ​​and close relationships between tourism and cultural actors mean that both sectors can work together to ensure inclusive access to cultural heritage as countries around the world recover from the pandemic.

In recognition of this mutually reinforcing relationship, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and UNESCO have worked together to create a series of new guidelines that will focus on the responsible restart of cultural tourism.

The UNWTO invited the United Nations Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) to contribute to the UNWTO’s Guide to Integrative Restoration, Issue 2: Cultural Tourism. This is the second set of guidelines on the socio-cultural impact of COVID-19 issued by the UNWTO and which will be further revised as the situation evolves.

Make cultural tourism relevant to recreation

The publication draws on the knowledge and expertise of the two UN agencies to analyze the impact of the pandemic on their respective sectors. This includes how lost revenue strongly impacts communities, cultural heritage sites, cultural events, spaces and institutions while weakening the competitiveness and market differentiation of travel destinations. The cultural tourism guidelines also highlight the need for support from policy makers to ensure the relevance of culture to emergency and contingency planning in tourism destinations.

Working together for a better future

In addition to the new guidelines, the UNWTO calls on the cultural tourism sector to create participatory governance structures in which artists, creators, tourism and culture professionals, the private sector and local communities come together to enable open dialogue, data exchange and real-time solutions. The document also advocates better urban-rural links to ensure that the benefits of culture and tourism are exploited as much as possible.

As a result of the pandemic, 90% of the countries closed all or part of their World Heritage Sites. In many cases, places of particular importance to humanity have been closed to the public for the first time in decades. At the same time, the pandemic has highlighted the relevance of tourism and culture. The sudden drop in tourist arrivals is being felt around the world as millions of people have turned to virtual cultural experiences for convenience and inspiration.

The guidelines are being published as part of the International Year of Creative Industries for Sustainable Development 2021, a UN initiative designed to recognize how various forms of culture, including cultural tourism, can contribute to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) .