heritage tourism in the world

World Heritage

• The Convention

Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with today, and what we pass on to future generations. Our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage , adopted by UNESCO in 1972.

What makes the concept of World Heritage exceptional is its universal application. World Heritage sites belong to all the peoples of the world, irrespective of the territory on which they are located.

50th anniversary of World Heritage

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Live retransmission of the committee sessions

Follow the new inscriptions of World Heritage properties, during the World Heritage Committee 2023 in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) from the 10th to 25th September

Today, 195 countries adhere to the World Heritage Convention, as it is commonly known, and have become part of an international community united in a common mission to identify and safeguard our world’s most significant natural and cultural heritage.

The Convention is unique in that it links together the concept of nature conservation and the preservation of cultural sites. Strongly emphasizing the role of local communities, the Convention serves as an effective tool in addressing climate change, rapid urbanization, mass tourism, sustainable socio-economic development and natural disasters and other contemporary challenges.

The "Five Cs" of the World Heritage Convention

Strengthen the Credibility of the World Heritage List, as a representative and geographically balanced testimony of cultural and natural properties of outstanding universal value.

Ensure the effective Conservation of World Heritage properties.

Effective Capacity-building measures: assistance for preparing the nomination of properties to the List, the understanding & implementation of the World Heritage Convention and related instruments.

Increase public awareness, involvement and support for World Heritage through communication.

Enhance the role of communities in the implementation of the World Heritage Convention.

Saving our World Heritage

Our world is full of wonders. From historic cities, castles and cathedrals to magnificent mountains, rainforests and oceans, the world’s greatest treasures belong to all humankind. This is our world heritage. But our heritage is constantly under threat – from natural disasters, wars, climate change, construction, pollution and mass tourism. In this book, we visit over 70 World Heritage Sites in 52 countries. We find out how communities, governments and organisations are working to save this extraordinary inheritance. And we meet the people involved – the experts patiently restoring great works of art, park rangers risking their lives to defend rare wildlife, and young volunteers learning to protect the environment.

Discover our publications and learn more about the World Heritage

Latest News

Discover the World Heritage Volunteers Initiative and join the 2024 campaign!

Ukraine: Nearly 30 States pledge to support UNESCO's efforts in the recovery of the cultural sector

Call for Proposals: African World Heritage Fund Research Grant

Join the World Heritage Volunteers 2024 Campaign

The World Heritage emblem represents the interdependence of the world’s natural and cultural diversity. It is used to identify properties protected by the World Heritage Convention and inscribed on the official World Heritage List, and represents the universal values for which the Convention stands.

• WORLD HERITAGE

Here’s how World Heritage status helps destinations around the world

UNESCO’s annual list adds 34 sites, bringing commitments for preservation into the future.

UNESCO recently added a number of new listings of “outstanding universal value” to its vaunted World Heritage List .

The Trans- Iranian Railway, the great spa towns of Europe , a lighthouse in France , 14th-century frescoes in Italy , adobe mosques in Côte d’Ivoire , an ancient solar observatory in Peru , and a “floating brick” temple in India are among the 34 new sites (37 including previously recognized places with significant boundary changes), based on nominations from 2020 and 2021.

Nations work hard to get their wilderness areas, archaeological treasures, and cultural sites on the list, which includes some 1,153 properties around the world. Inscription brings prestige and public awareness, and it can lead to all sorts of good things: tourism revenue, renewed commitments to preserve irreplaceable assets, and public and private funding for restoration work.

In 2022, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the treaty known as the World Heritage Convention. Its continuing goal is to foster global collaboration in identifying and preserving invaluable cultural and natural properties .

UNESCO officials do not see the list as a mere trophy case of superlative places. World Heritage status commits the home nation to protect the designated location. The 194 lands that have adhered to the World Heritage Convention are tasked not only with identifying future inscriptions, but also monitoring how an already-inscribed property is protected and managed.

( Here are 24 incredible photos of heritage sites in the U.S. )

If a site—through natural disaster, war, pollution, underfunding, or aggressive redevelopment—begins to lose its value, nations that have signed the treaty must assist, if possible, in emergency aid campaigns.

The World Heritage program has scored high-profile preservation successes. It exerted pressure to halt a highway near Egypt ’s Giza Pyramids , block a salt mine at a gray whale nursery in Mexico , and cancel a dam proposal above Africa’s Victoria Falls . Its funds, provided by dues from the treaty's signers, have hired park rangers, bought parkland, built visitor centers, and restored temples. It relies on persuasive powers more than legal threats, but over a period of nearly five decades, the World Heritage initiative has quietly become a force for appreciating and safeguarding the world’s special places.

( Inside the ambitious push to protect a third of the world’s oceans .)

But what happens when a destination loses its World Heritage status, which happened recently when Liverpool was dropped from the list? As reported in   Smithsonian , “the English city argued that redevelopment of its waterfront shouldn’t disqualify it from the list.” The argument didn’t sway a U.N. committee, which pointed to “the irreversible loss of attributes conveying the outstanding universal value of the property.”

Liverpool is one of three sites that have been dropped from the list, joining the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman and the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany . But there are rising concerns that other sites—including Stonehenge and the Great Barrier Reef —might be delisted in the future.

Threats to our global treasures are mounting, and sadly the list of World Heritage in Danger now includes 52 sites. Not all of them are as far-flung as the rainforests of the Atsinanana , in Madagascar , which are threatened by illegal logging and lemur hunting.

( These breathtaking natural wonders no longer exist .)

In the U.S. , Everglades National Park is on the list, due to serious degradation of its aquatic ecosystem. The Florida site was added to the endangered list at the request of the U.S., which suggests that international cooperation might help solve some of the world’s most pressing conservation problems.

Another UNESCO list recognizes and helps to protect fragile cultures, traditions, skills, and knowledge integral to a particular place. The List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity recognizes homegrown music styles, festivals, crafts, and foods. To get on it, countries nominate and promote their cultural practices before a UNESCO committee weighs in on whether, say, Chinese shadow puppetry or Argentine tango merits a spot.

( Singapore’s iconic, but endangered, street food, now has UNESCO status .)

As of 2020 (the most recent update), there are 584 practices on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list . These include the Uzbek art of wit performed at festivals, Kyrgyzstan yurt building , and the Brazilian capoeira martial art . The French gastronomic meal is on the list, recognizing its structure (apéritif, starter, main, cheese, dessert, liqueurs); appropriate wine pairings; and an elegant table setting. Passed from one generation to the next, the tradition cements social ties and marks French identity. Other inscriptions include Mexico’s Day of the Dead ceremonies , the Peking opera , and Portuguese fado .

More are added each year, with the committee set to review 2021 nominations at its 16th session, this November. It all goes back to UNESCO’s mission to promote peace through respect of the world’s varied cultures and common humanity.

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Related topics.

• WORLD HERITAGE SITES
• CULTURAL CONSERVATION
• PEOPLE AND CULTURE
• CULTURAL TOURISM
• HISTORIC PRESERVATION
• FOOD CULTURE

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Heritage Tourism

The late Alan Gordon was professor of history at the University of Guelph. He authored three books: Making Public Pasts: The Contested Terrain of Montreal’s Public Memories, 1891–1930, The Hero and the Historians: Historiography and the Uses of Jacques Cartier and Time Travel: Tourism and the Rise of the Living History Museum in Mid-Twentieth Century Canada.

• Published: 18 August 2022
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Heritage tourism is a form of cultural tourism in which people travel to experience places, artifacts, or activities that are believed to be authentic representations of people and stories from the past. It couples heritage, a way of imagining the past in terms that suit the values of the present, with travel to locations associated with enshrined heritage values. Heritage tourism sites are normally divided into two often overlapping categories: natural sites and sites related to human culture and history. By exploring the construction of heritage tourism destinations in historical context, we can better understand how and through what attributes places become designated as sites of heritage and what it means to have an authentic heritage experience. These questions are explored through heritage landscapes, national parks, battlefield tourism, architectural tourism, and the concept of world heritage.

Heritage is one of the most difficult, complex, and expansive words in the English language because there is no simple or unanimously accepted understanding of what heritage encompasses. 1 We can pair heritage with a vast range of adjectives, such as cultural, historical, physical, architectural, or natural. What unites these different uses of the term is their reference to the past, in some way or another, while linking it to present-day needs. Heritage, then, is a reimagining of the past in terms that suit the values of the present. It cannot exist independently of human attempts to make the past usable because it is the product of human interpretation of not only the past, but of who belongs to particular historical narratives. At its base, heritage is about identity, and the inclusion and exclusion of peoples, stories, places, and activities in those identities. The use of the word “heritage” in this context is a postwar phenomenon. Heritage and heritage tourism, although not described in these terms, has a history as long as the history of modern tourism. Indeed, a present-minded use of the past is as old as civilization itself, and naturally embedded itself in the development of modern tourism. 2 The exploration of that history, examining the origins and development of heritage tourism, helps unpack some of the controversies and dissonance it produces.

Heritage in Tourism

Heritage tourism sites are normally divided into two categories: natural sites and sites of human, historical, or cultural heritage. the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) separates its list of world heritage sites in this manner. Sites of natural heritage are understood to be places where natural phenomena such as wildlife, flora, geological features, or ecosystems, are generally deemed to be of exceptional beauty or significance. Cultural heritage sites, which represent over three quarters of UNESCO-recognized sites, are places where human activity has left a lasting and substantial physical impact that reveals important features of a culture or cultures. Despite the apparent simplicity of this division, it is not always easy to categorize individual sites. UNESCO thus allows for a category of “mixed” heritage sites. But official recognition is not necessary to mark a place as a heritage destination and, moreover, some authors point to versions of heritage tourism that are not tightly place-specific, such as festivals of traditional performances or foodways. 3

The central questions at the heart of heritage tourism ask what it is that designates something as “heritage” and whether tourists have an “authentic” heritage experience there. At its simplest, heritage tourism is a form of cultural tourism in which people travel to experience places, artifacts, or activities that are authentic representations of people and stories from the past. Yet this definition encompasses two, often competing, motivations. Heritage tourism is both a cultural phenomenon through which people attempt to connect with the past, their ancestors, and their identity, and it is an industry designed to profit from it. Another question surrounds the source of the “heritage” in heritage tourism. Many scholars have argued that heritage does not live in the destinations or attractions people seek. Heritage is not innate to the destination, but is rather based on the tourist’s motivations and expectations. Thus, heritage tourism is a form of tourism in which the main motivation for visiting a site is based on the traveler’s perceptions of its heritage characteristics. Following the logic of this view, the authenticity of the heritage experience depends on the traveler rather than the destination or the activity. Heritage features, as well as the sense of authenticity they impart, are democratized in what might be called a consumer-based model of authenticity. 4 This is a model that allows for virtually anything or any place to be a heritage destination. Although such an approach to understanding heritage tourism may well serve present-day studies, measuring motivations is more complicated for historical subjects. Long-departed travelers are not readily surveyed about their expectations; motivations have to be teased out of historical records. In a contrasting view, John Tunbridge and Gregory Ashworth argue that heritage attractions are created through marketing: they are invented to be heritage attractions and sold to a traveling public as such. Yet, heritage attractions, in this understanding, are still deemed authentic when they satisfy consumer expectations about heritage. 5 This insight also implies that heritage tourism destinations might be deceptions, and certainly there are examples of the fabrication of heritage sites. However, if motivations and expectations are arbiters of heritage, then even invented heritage can become authentic through its acceptance by a public. While not ignoring the motivations and expectations of travelers, for historians, any understanding of heritage tourism must include the process by which sites become designated as a places of heritage. It must encompass the economic aspects of tourism development, tourism’s role in constructing narratives of national or group identity, and the cultural phenomenon of seeking authentic representations of those identities, regardless of their origins. Such a practice might include traveling to sites connected to diasporas, places of historical significance, sites of religious pilgrimages, and landscapes of scenic beauty or cultural importance.

Scholarly interest in heritage, at least in the English-speaking world, dates from the 1980s reaction to the emergence of new right-wing political movements that used the past as a tool to legitimize political positions. Authors such as David Lowenthal, Robert Hewison, and Patrick Wright bemoaned the recourse to “heritage” as evidence of a failing society that was backward-looking, fearful, and resentful of modern diversity. 6 Heritage, they proclaimed, was elitist and innately conservative, imposed on the people from above in ways that distanced them from an authentic historical consciousness. Although Raphael Samuel fired back that the critique of heritage was itself elitist and almost snobbish, this line continued in the 1990s. Works by John Gillis, Tony Bennett, and Eric Hobsbawm, among others, concurred that heritage was little more than simplified history used as a weapon of social and political control.

At about the same time, historians also began to take tourism seriously as a subject of inquiry, and they quickly connected leisure travel to perceived evils in the heritage industry. Historians such as John K. Walton in the United Kingdom and John Jakle in the United States began investigating patterns of tourism’s history in their respective countries. Although not explicitly concerned with heritage tourism, works such as Jakle’s The Tourist explored the infrastructure and experience of leisure travel in America, including the different types of attractions people sought. 7 In Sacred Places , John Sears argued that tourism helped define America in the nineteenth century through its landscape and natural wonders. Natural tourist attractions, such as Yosemite and Yellowstone parks became sacred places for a young nation without unifying religious and national shrines. 8 Among North America’s first heritage destinations was Niagara Falls, which drew Americans, Europeans, Britons, and Canadians to marvel at its beauty and power. Tourist services quickly developed there to accommodate travelers and, as Patricia Jasen and others note, Niagara became a North American heritage destination at the birth of the continent’s tourism trade. 9

As the European and North American travel business set about establishing scenic landscapes as sites worthy of the expense and difficulty of travel to them, they rarely used a rhetoric of heritage. Sites were depicted as places to embrace “the sublime,” a feeling arising when the emotional experience overwhelms the power of reason to articulate it. Yet as modern tourism developed, promoters required more varied attractions to induce travelers to visit specific destinations. North America’s first tourist circuits, well established by the 1820s, took travelers up the Hudson River valley from New York to the spas of Saratoga Springs, then utilizing the Erie Canal even before its completion, west to Niagara Falls. Tourist guidebooks were replete with vivid depictions of the natural wonders to be witnessed, and very quickly Niagara became heavily commercialized. As America expanded beyond the Midwest in the second half of the nineteenth century, text and image combined to produce a sense that these beautiful landscapes were a common inheritance of the (white and middle-class) American people. Commissioned expeditions, such as the Powell Expedition of 1869–1872, produced best-selling travel narratives revealing the American landscape to enthralled readers in the eastern cities (see Butler , this volume). John Wesley Powell’s description of his voyage along the Colorado River combined over 450 pages of written description with 80 prints, mostly portraying spectacular natural features. American westward exploration, then, construed the continent’s natural wonders as its heritage.

In America, heritage landscapes often obscured human activity and imagined the continent as nature untouched. But natural heritage also played a role in early heritage tourism in Britain and Europe. Many scholars have investigated the connection between national character and the depiction of topographical features, arguing that people often implant their communities with ideas of landscape and associate geographical features with their identities. In this way, landscape helps embed a connection between places and particular local and ethnic identities. 10 Idealized landscapes become markers of national identity (see Noack , this volume). For instance, in the Romantic era, the English Lake District and the mountains of the Scottish Highlands became iconic national representations of English, Scottish, or British nationalities. David Lowenthal has commented on the nostalgia inherent in “landscape-as-heritage.” The archetypical English landscape, a patchwork of fields divided by hedgerows and sprinkled with villages, was a relatively recent construction when the pre-Raphaelite painters reconfigured it as the romantic allure of a medieval England. It spoke to the stability and order inherent in English character. 11

Travel literature combined with landscape art to develop heritage landscapes and promote them as tourist attractions. Following the 1707 Act of Union, English tourists became fascinated with Scotland, and in particular the Scottish Highlands. Tourist guidebooks portrayed the Highlands as a harsh, bleak environment spectacular for its beauty as well as the quaintness of its people and their customs (see Schaff , this volume). Over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, tourist texts cemented the image of Highland culture and heritage. Scholars have criticized this process as a “Tartanization” or “Balmoralization” of the country by which its landscape and culture was reduced to a few stereotypes appealing to foreign visitors. Nevertheless, guidebook texts described the bens, lochs, and glens with detail, helping create and reinforce a mental picture of a quintessential Highland landscape. 12 The massacre of members of the Clan MacDonald at Glencoe, killed on a winter night in 1692 for insufficient loyalty to the monarchy, added romance. Forgotten for over a century, the event was recalled in the mid-nineteenth century by the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, and quickly became a tragic tale associated with the scenic valley. At the same time the Highlands were being re-coded from a dangerous to a sublime landscape, its inhabitants became romanticized as an untainted, simple, premodern culture. The natural beauty of the landscape at Glencoe and its relative ease of access, being close to Loch Lomond and Glasgow, made it an attraction with a ready-made tragic tale. Highlands travel guides began to include Glencoe in their itineraries, combining a site of natural beauty with a haunting human past. Both natural and cultural heritage, then, are not inherent, but represent choices made by people about what and how to value the land and the past. On France’s Celtic fringe, a similar process unfolded. When modern tourism developed in Brittany in the mid-nineteenth century, guidebooks such as Joanne’s defined the terms of an authentic Breton experience. Joanne’s 1867 guide coupled the region’s characteristic rugged coastlines with the supposedly backward people, their costumes, habitudes, beliefs, and superstitions, who inhabited it. 13 Travel guides were thus the first contributors in the construction of heritage destinations. They began to highlight the history, real and imagined, of destinations to promote their distinctions. And, with increasing interest in the sites of national heritage, people organized to catalog, preserve, and promote heritage destinations.

Organizing Heritage Tourism

Among the world’s first bodies dedicated to preserving heritage was the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), organized in England in 1877. Emerging as a result of particular debates about architectural practices, this society opposed a then-popular trend of altering buildings to produce imaginary historical forms. This approach, which was most famously connected to Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc’s French restorations, involved removing or replacing existing architectural features, something renounced by the SPAB. The society’s manifesto declared that old structures should be repaired so that their entire history would be protected as part of cultural heritage. The first heritage preservation legislation, England’s Ancient Monuments Protection Act of 1882, provided for the protection initially of 68 prehistoric sites and appointed an inspector of ancient monuments. 14 By 1895, movements to conserve historic structures and landscapes had combined with the founding of the National Trust, officially known as the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, as a charitable agency. Much of the Trust’s early effort protected landscapes: of twenty-nine properties listed in 1907, seventeen were acreages of land and other open spaces. 15 Over the twentieth century, however, the Trust grew more and more concerned with protecting country houses and gardens, which now constitute the majority of its listed properties.

British efforts were duplicated in Europe. The Dutch Society for the Preservation of Natural Landmarks was established in 1904; France passed legislation to protect natural monuments in 1906. And in Sweden, the Society for the Protection of Nature was established in 1909, to name only a few examples. Nature was often connected to the spirit of “the folk,” an idea that encompassed a notion of an original ethnic core to the nation. Various European nationalisms of the period embraced the idea of an “authentic” national folk, with each folk considered unique due to its connection with a specific geography. Folklore and the celebration of folk culture offered Europeans links to imagined national heritages in a rapidly modernizing world, as modern, middle-class Europeans turned their attention to the romanticized primitive life of so-called simple peasants and linked notions of natural and human heritage. Through the concept of the folk, natural and human heritage combined to buttress emerging expressions of nationalism. 16

Sweden provides an instructive example. As early as the seventeenth century, Swedish antiquarians were intrigued by medieval rune stones, burial mounds, and cairns strewn across the country, but also saw these connected to natural features. Investigations of these relics of past Nordic culture involved a sense of the landscape in which they were found. This interest accelerated as folk studies grew in popularity, in part connected to nationalist political ambitions of Swedes during the growing tensions within the Kingdom of Sweden and Norway, which divided in 1905. Sweden’s preservation law required research into the country’s natural resources to create an inventory of places. Of particular interest were features considered to be “nature in its original state.” The intent was to preserve for future generations at least one example of Sweden’s primordial landscape features: primeval forests, swamps, peat bogs, and boulders. But interest was also drawn to natural landmarks associated with historical or mythical events from Sweden’s past. Stones or trees related to tales from the Nordic sagas, for example, combined natural with cultural heritage. 17

Although early efforts to protect heritage sites were not intended to support tourism, the industry quickly benefited. Alongside expanding tours to the Scottish Highlands and English Lake District, European landscapes became associated with leisure travel. As Tait Kellar argues for one example, the context of the landscape is crucial in understanding the role of tourism in the German Alps. 18 Guidebooks of the nineteenth and early twentieth century did not use the term “heritage,” but they described its tenets to audiences employing a different vocabulary. Baedeker’s travel guides, such as The Eastern Alps , guided bourgeois travelers through the hiking trails and vistas of the mountains and foothills, offering enticing descriptions of the pleasures to be found in the German landscape. Beyond the land, The Eastern Alps directed visitors to excursions that revealed features of natural history, human history, and local German cultures. 19

Across the Atlantic people also cherished escapes to the countryside for leisure and recreation and, as economic and population growth increasingly seemed to threaten the idyllic tranquility of scenic places, many banded together to advocate for their conservation. Yet, ironically, by putting in place systems to mark and preserve America’s natural heritage, conservationists popularized protected sites as tourist destinations. By the second half of the nineteenth century, the conservation movement encouraged the US government to set aside massive areas of American land as parks. For example, Europeans first encountered the scenic beauty of California’s Yosemite Valley at midcentury. With increasing settler populations following the California Gold Rush, tourists began arriving in ever larger numbers and promoters began building accommodations and roads to encourage them. Even during the Civil War, the US government recognized the potential for commercial overdevelopment and the desire of many to preserve America’s most scenic places. 20 In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant, designating acres of the valley protected wilderness. This set a precedent for the later creation of America’s first national park. In 1871, the Hayden Geological Survey recommended the preservation of nearly 3,500 square miles of land in the Rocky Mountains, in the territories of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. Ferdinand V. Hayden was concerned that the pristine mountain region might soon be as overrun with tourists as Niagara Falls had by then become. 21 The following year, Congress established Yellowstone National Park, the world’s first designated “heritage” site. Yet, from the beginning, Yellowstone and subsequent parks were assumed to be tourist attractions. By 1879, tourists to Yellowstone had established over 200 miles of trails that led them to the park’s most famous attractions. Although thought of as nature preserves, parks were often furnished with railway access, and amenities and accommodations appeared, often prior to official designation. National parks were immediately popular tourist attractions. Even before it had established a centralized bureaucracy to care for them, the United States government had established nine national parks and nearly two dozen national monuments. Canada lagged, but established Rocky Mountain National Park (now Banff) in 1885 to balance interests of resource extraction and conservation. (The world’s second national park was Australia’s Royal National Park, established by the colony of New South Wales in 1879.) By the outbreak of the Great War, Canada and the United States had established fifteen national parks, all but one west of the Mississippi River.

Establishing parks was one component of building a heritage tourism infrastructure. Another was the creation of a national bureaucracy to organize it. The Canadian example reveals how heritage and tourism drove the creation of a national parks service. Much of the mythology surrounding Canada’s national parks emphasized the role of nature preservationists, yet the founder of the parks system, J. B. Harkin, was deeply interested in building a parks network for tourists. 22 Indeed, from early in the twentieth century, Canada’s parks system operated on the principle that parks should be “playgrounds, vacation destinations, and roadside attractions that might simultaneously preserve the fading scenic beauty and wildlife populations” of a modernizing nation. 23 Although Canada had established four national parks in the Rocky Mountains in the 1880s, the administration of those parks was haphazard and decentralized. It was not until the approaching third centennial of the founding of Quebec City (now a UNESCO World Heritage Site) that the Canadian government began thinking actively about administering its national heritage. In 1908, Canada hosted an international tourist festival on the Plains of Abraham, the celebrated open land where French and British armies had fought the decisive battle for supremacy in North America in 1759. The event so popularized the fabled battlefield that the government was compelled to create a National Battlefield Commission to safeguard it. This inspired the creation of the Dominion Parks Branch three years later to manage Canada’s natural heritage parks, the world’s first national parks service. By 1919 the system expanded to include human history—or at least European settler history—through the creation of national historic parks. These parks were even more explicitly designed to attract tourists, automobile tourists in particular. In 1916, five years after Canada, the United States established the National Parks Service with similar objectives.

As in Europe, nationalism played a significant role in developing heritage tourism destinations in America. The first national parks were inspired by the series of American surveying expeditions intended to secure knowledge of the landscape for political control. Stephen Pyne connects the American “discovery” of the Grand Canyon, for example, to notions of manifest destiny following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) that ended the Mexican-American War and ceded over 500,000 square miles of what is today the western United States. Popularized by the report of John Wesley Powell (1875) , the canyon began attracting tourists in the 1880s, although Congress failed to establish it as a national park. 24 Tourism was central to developing the Grand Canyon as a national heritage destination. Originally seen by Spanish explorers as an obstacle, and as a sacred place by the Navajo, Hopi, Hualapai, and Havasupai peoples, the canyon came to mark American exceptionalism. Piece by piece, sections of the canyon were set aside as reserves and finally declared a national park in 1919. By then, the park had been serviced by a railway (since 1901) and offered tourists a luxury hotel on the canyon’s south rim.

Archaeology also entered into the construction of American heritage. Almost as soon as it was annexed to the United States, the American southwest revealed to American surveyors a host of archaeological remains. For residents of the southwest, the discovery of these ancient ruins of unknown age pointed to the nobility of a lost predecessor civilization. By deliberately construing the ruins as being of an unknown age, Anglo-American settlers were able to draw distinctions between the ancients and contemporary Native Americans in ways that validated their own occupation of the territory. The ruins also had commercial potential. In Colorado, President Theodore Roosevelt established Mesa Verde National Park in 1906 to protect and capitalize on the abandoned cliff dwellings located there. These ruins had been rediscovered in the 1880s when ranchers learned of them from the local Ute people. By the turn of the century, the ruins had attracted so many treasure seekers that they needed protection. This was the first national park in America designated to protect a site of archaeological significance and linked natural and human heritage in the national parks system. 25

If, as many argue, heritage is not innate, how is it made? Part of the answer to this question can be found in the business of tourism. Commercial exploitation of heritage tourism emerged alongside heritage tourism, but was particularly active in the postwar years. Given their association with tourism, it is not surprising that railways and associated businesses played a prominent role in promoting heritage destinations. Before World War II, the most active heritage tourism promoter was likely the Fred Harvey Company, which successfully marketed, and to a great degree created, much of the heritage of the American southwest. The Fred Harvey Company originated with the opening of a pair of cafés along the Kansas Pacific Railway in 1876. After a stuttering beginning, Harvey’s chain of railway eateries grew in size. Before dining cars became regular features of passenger trains, meals on long-distance trips were provided by outside business such as Harvey’s at regular stops. With the backing of the Santa Fe Railroad, the company also developed attractions based on the Southwest region’s unique architectural and cultural features. The image capitalized on the artistic traditions of Native Americans and early Spanish traditions to create, in particular, the Adobe architectural style now associated with Santa Fe and New Mexico. 26 These designs were also incorporated into tourist facilities on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon, including the El Tovar hotel and the Hopi House souvenir and concession complex, designed to resemble a Hopi pueblo.

Relying on existing and manufactured heritage sites, North American railways popularized attractions as heritage sites. The Northern Pacific Railroad financed a number of hotels in Yellowstone Park, including the Old Faithful Inn in 1904. In 1910, the Great Northern Railroad launched its “See America First” campaign to attract visitors (and new investments) to its routes to the west’s national parks. In Canada, the Dominion Atlantic Railway rebuilt Grand Pré, a Nova Scotia Acadian settlement to evoke the home of the likely fictional character Evangeline from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1848 poem by the same name. In the poem, Evangeline was deported from Acadia in 1755 and separated from her betrothed. By the 1920s, the railway was transporting tourists to Grand Pré, christened “Land of Evangeline,” where reproductions stood in for sites mentioned in the poem. 27 However, following World War I, heritage tourism in North America became increasingly dependent on automobile travel and the Dominion Atlantic eventually sold its interest to the Canadian government.

Conflict as Cultural Heritage

Tourism to sites of military history initially involved side trips from more popular, usually natural, attractions. Thomas Chambers notes that the sites of battles of the Seven Years’ War, Revolutionary War, and War of 1812 became tourist attractions as side trips from more established itineraries, such as the northern or fashionable tours. War of 1812 battlefields, many of them in the Niagara theater of the war, were conveniently close to the natural wonders people already came to see. By visiting the places where so many had sacrificed for their country, tourists began attaching new meaning to the sites. Ease of access was essential. Chambers contrasts sites in southern states with those in the north. In the south, the fields of important American Revolution victories at Cowpens and King’s Mountain were too remote to permit easy tourist access and long remained undeveloped. 28 In a contrary example, the Plains of Abraham, the scene of General Wolfe’s dramatic victory over France that led to the Conquest of Canada, was at first a curiosity. The visit to Quebec, a main destination on the northern tour, was originally based on its role as a major port and the attraction of the scenic beauty of the city on the cliffs, compared favorably to Cintra in Portugal. 29 Ease of access helped promoters convert an empty field near the city into the “hallowed Plains.”

Access to battlefields increased at almost the exact moment that one of the nineteenth century’s most devastating wars, the American Civil War, broke out. Railway travel was essential to both the success of the Union Army in reconquering the rebelling Confederacy, and in developing tourism to the sites of the slaughter. Railway travel made sites accessible for urban travelers and new technologies, such as photography and the telegraph, sped news of victories and defeats quickly around the nation. Gettysburg, the scene of a crucial Union victory in July 1863, became a tourist attraction only a few days later. Few would call the farmland of southeastern Pennsylvania sublime, but dramatic human history had unfolded there. The battle inspired the building of a national memorial on the site only four months later, the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. At the inauguration of the cemetery Abraham Lincoln delivered his “Gettysburg Address,” calling on the nation to long remember and cherish the “hallowed ground” where history had been made.

Gettysburg sparked a frenzy of marking sites of Civil War battles and events. Battle sites became important backdrops for political efforts at reunion and reconciliation after the war and attracted hundreds and later thousands of tourists for commemorative events and celebrations. Ten thousand saw President Rutherford Hayes speak at Gettysburg in 1878 and, for the 50th anniversary of Gettysburg, some 55,000 veterans returned to Pennsylvania in July 1913. What had once been a site of bloody, brutal combat had been transformed into a destination where tourists gathered to embrace their shared heritage, north and south. As the years progressed, more attractions were added as tourists began to see their heritage on the battlefield. 30

The conflict that most clearly created tourist attractions out of places of suffering was the World War I. Soon after the war ended, its sites of slaughter also became tourist attractions. As with the Civil War in America, World War I tourists were local people and relatives of the soldiers who had perished on the field of battle. By one estimate 60,000 tourists visited the battlefields of the Western Front by the summer of 1919, the same year that Michelin began publishing guidebooks to them. Numbers grew in the decades following the war. Over 140,000 tourists took in the sites of the war in 1931, which grew to 160,000 for 1939. Organizations such as the Workers’ Travel Association hoped that tourism to battle sites would promote peace, but the travel business also benefited. Travel agencies jumped at the chance to offer tours and publishers produced travel guides to the battlefields. At least thirty English guidebooks were published by 1921. 31

This interest in a conflict that killed, often in brutal fashion, so many might seem a ghoulish form of heritage tourism. Yet Peter Slade argues that people do not visit battlefields for the love for death and gore. They attend these sites out of a sense of pilgrimage to sites sacred to their national heritage. Organized pilgrimages reveal this sense of belonging most clearly. The American Legion organized a pilgrimage of 15,000 veterans in 1927 to commemorate the decade anniversary of America’s entry to the war. The following year 11,000 Britons, including 3,000 women, made a pilgrimage of their own. Canada’s first official pilgrimage involved 8,000 pilgrims (veterans and their families) to attend the inauguration of the Vimy Ridge Memorial, marking a site held by many as a place sacred to Canadian identity. Australians and New Zealanders marched to Gallipoli in Turkey for similar reasons. 32 As with the sites of the Western Front, Gallipoli and pilgrimages to it generated travel accounts and publishers assembled guidebooks to help travelers navigate its attractions and accommodations. In these episodes, tourism was used to construct national heritage. In the interwar years, tourist activity popularized the notion that sites of national heritage existed on the battlefields of foreign lands, where “our” nation’s history was forged. National heritage tourism, then, became transnational.

Since the end of World War II, battlefield tourism has become an important projection of heritage tourism. Commercial tour operators organize thousands of tours of European World War I and World War II battlefields for Americans and Canadians, as for other nationalities. The phenomenon seems particularly pronounced among North Americans. The motivation behind modern battlefield tourism reveals its connection to heritage tourism. If heritage is an appeal to the past that helps establish a sense of identity and belonging, the feelings of national pride and remorse for sacrifice of the fallen at these sites helps define them as sacred to a particular vision of a national past. The sanctity of the battle site makes the act of consuming it as a tourist attraction an act of communion with heritage.

Built Heritage and Tourism

During the upheaval of the Civil War, some Americans began to recognize historic houses as elements of their heritage worthy of preservation. These houses were initially not seen as tourist attractions, but as markers of national values. Their heritage value preceded their value as tourist attractions. The first major preservation initiative launched in 1853 to save George Washington’s tomb and home from spoliation. Behind overt sectional divisions of north and south was an implied vesting of republican purity among the patrician families that could trace their ancestors to the revolutionary age and who could restore American culture to its proper deferential state. The success of preserving Mount Vernon led to a proliferation of similar house museums. By the 1930s, the American museum association even produced a guide for how to establish new examples and promote them as sites of heritage for tourist interest. Historic houses provided tangible, physical evidence of heritage. Like scenic landscapes attached to the stories of history, buildings connected locations to significant events and people of the past. Architectural heritage came to be closely associated with tourism. Architectural monuments are easily identified, easy to promote, and, as physical structures, easily reproduced in souvenir ephemera. Although the recognition of architectural monuments as tourist draws could be said to have originated with the Grand Tour, or at least with the publication of John Ruskin’s “Seven Lamps of Architecture” (1849), which singled out the monuments of Venice for veneration, twentieth century mobility facilitated a greater desire to travel to see historic structures. Indeed, mobility, especially automobility, prompted the desire to preserve or even reinvent the structural heritage of the past.

A driving factor behind the growth of tourism to sites associated with these structural relics was a feeling that the past—and especially the social values of the past—was being lost. For example, Colonial Williamsburg developed in reaction to the pace of urban and social change brought about by automobile travel in the 1920s. Williamsburg was once a community of colonial era architecture, but had become just another highway town before John D. Rockefeller lent his considerable wealth to its preservation and reconstruction. 33 Rockefeller had already donated a million dollars for the restoration of French chateaux at Versailles, Fontainebleu, and Rheims. 34 At Williamsburg, his approach was to remove structures from the post-Colonial period to create a townscape from the late eighteenth century. By selecting a cut-off year of 1790, Rockefeller and his experts attempted to freeze Williamsburg in a particular vision of the past. The heritage envisioned was not that of ordinary Americans, but that of colonial elites. Conceived to be a tourist attraction, Colonial Williamsburg offered a tourist-friendly lesson in American heritage. Rockefeller, and a host of consultants convinced the (white) people of Williamsburg to reimagine their heritage and their past. America’s heritage values were translated to the concepts of self-government and individual liberty elaborated by the great patriots, Washington, Madison, Henry, and Jefferson. The town commemorated the planter elites that had dominated American society until the Jacksonian era, and presented them as progenitors of timeless ideals and values. They represented the “very cradle of that Americanism of which Rockefeller and the corporate elite were the inheritors and custodians.” 35

Rockefeller’s Williamsburg was not the only American heritage tourist reconstruction. Canada also underwent reconstruction projects for specifically heritage tourism purposes, such as the construction of “Champlain’s Habitation” at Port Royal, Nova Scotia or the attempt to draw tourists to Invermere, British Columbia with a replica fur trade fort. 36 Following World War I and accelerating after World War II, the number and nature of places deemed heritage attractions grew. Across North America, all levels of governments and private corporations built replica heritage sites with varying degrees of “authenticity.” Although these sites often made use of existing buildings and landscapes, they also manufactured an imaginary environment of the past. The motivation behind these sites was almost always diversification of the local economy through increased tourism. Canada’s Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site is perhaps the most obvious example. It is a reconstructed section of the French colonial town, conquered and destroyed in 1758, built on the archaeological remains of the original. Constructed by the government of Canada as a means to diversify the failing resource economy of its Atlantic provinces, the tourist attraction was also designated a component of Canada’s national heritage. The US government also increased its interest in the protection of heritage destinations, greatly expanding the list of national historic landmarks, sites, parks, and monuments. As postwar governments became more concerned with managing their economies, tourism quickly came to be seen as a key economic sector. The language of national heritage helped build public support for state intervention in natural and historic artifacts and sites that could be presented as sacred national places.

In Europe, many historic sites were devastated by bombardment during World War II. Aside from pressing humanitarian issues, heritage concerns also had to be addressed. In France, the war had destroyed nearly half a million buildings, principally in the northern cities, many of which were of clear heritage value. The French government established a commission to undertake the reconstruction of historic buildings and monuments and, in some cases, entire towns. Saint-Malo, in Brittany, had been completely destroyed, but the old walled town was rebuilt to its seventeenth century appearance. Already a seaside resort, the town added a heritage site destination. In the 1920s and 1930s, European fascist states had also employed heritage tourism. In Mussolini’s Italy and Nazi Germany, workers’ leisure time was to be organized to prevent ordinary Italians and Germans from falling into unproductive leisure activities. Given the attachment to racialized views of purity and identity, organized tourism was encouraged to allow people to bond with their national heritage. Hiking in the Black Forest or the alpine Allgau might help connect Germans to the landscape and reconnect them to the traditional costumes and folkways of rural Germany. As Kristin Semmens argues, most studies of the Nazi misappropriation of the past ignore the displays of history aimed toward tourists at Germany’s heritage sites. Many museums and historic sites twisted their interpretations to fit the Nazi present. 37 In ways that foreshadowed the 1980s British left’s critique of heritage, fascist regimes made use of heritage tourism to control society. After the war, a vigorous program of denazification was undertaken to remove public relics of the Nazi regime and in formerly occupied territories, as was a program of reconstruction. In the communist east, blaming the Nazis for the destruction of German heritage was an ideological gift. It allowed the communist regime to establish itself as the true custodian of German identity and heritage. 38 In the capitalist west, tourism revived quickly. By early 1947, thirteen new tourist associations were active in the Allied occupation zone. Tourism rhetoric in the postwar years attempted to distance German heritage from the Nazi regime to reintroduce foreign travelers to the “real Germany.” Despite this objective, Alon Confino notes that traces of the Nazi past can be located in postwar tourist promotions that highlighted Nazi-era infrastructure. 39

Postwar Heritage Tourism

As tourism became a more global industry, thanks in no small part to the advent of affordable air travel in the postwar era, heritage tourism became transnational. Ethnic heritage tourism became more important, and diaspora or roots tourism, which brought second- and third-generation migrants back to the original home of their ancestors, accelerated. Commodifying ethnic heritage has been one of the most distinctive developments in twenty-first century tourism. Ethnic heritage tourism can involve migrants, their children, or grandchildren returning to their “home” countries as visitors. In this form of tourism, the “heritage” component is thus expressed in the motivations and self-identifications of the traveler. It involves a sense of belonging that is rooted in the symbolic meanings of collective memories, shared stories, and the sense of place embodied in the physical locations of the original homeland. Paul Basu has extensively studied the phenomenon of “roots tourism” among the descendants of Scottish Highlanders. He suggests that in their trips to Scotland to conduct genealogical research, explore sites connected to their ancestors, or sites connected to Scottish identity, they construct a sense of their heritage as expatriate Scots. 40 Similar “return” movements can be found in the migrant-descended communities of many settler colonial nations. For second-generation Chinese Americans visiting China, their search for authentic experiences mirrored those of other tourists. Yet, travel to their parents’ homeland strengthened their sense of family history and attachment to Chinese cultures. 41 On the other hand, Shaul Kellner examines the growing trend of cultivating roots tourism through state-sponsored homeland tours. In Tours that Bind , Kellner explores the State of Israel and American Jewish organizations’ efforts to forge a sense of Israeli heritage among young American Jews. However, Kellner cautions, individual experiences and human agency limit the hosts’ abilities to control the experience and thus control the sense of heritage. 42

Leisure tourism also played a role in developing heritage sites, as travelers to sunshine destinations began looking for more interesting side trips. Repeating the battlefield tourism of a century before, by the 1970s access to historic and prehistoric sites made it possible to add side trips to beach vacations. Perhaps the best example of this was the development of tourism to sites of Mayan heritage by the Mexican government in the 1970s. The most famous heritage sites, at least for Westerners, were the Mayan sites of Yucatan. First promoted as destinations by the American travel writer John Lloyd Stephens in the 1840s, their relative inaccessibility (as well as local political instabilities) made them unlikely tourist attractions before the twentieth century. By 1923, the Yucatan government had opened a highway to the site of the Chichén Itzá ruins, and local promoters began promotions in the 1940s. It was not until after the Mexican government nationalized all archaeological ruins in the 1970s that organized tours from Mexican beach resorts began to feature trips to the ruins themselves. 43

Mexico’s interest in the preservation and promotion of its archaeological relics coincided with one of the most important developments in heritage tourism in the postwar years: the emergence of the idea of world heritage. The idea was formalized in 1972 with the creation of UNESCO’s designation of World Heritage Sites. The number of sites has grown from the twelve first designated in 1978 to well over 1,000 in 167 different countries. In truth, the movement toward recognizing world heritage began with the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, which did not limit its activities to preserving only England’s architectural heritage. Out of its advocacy, European architects and preservationists drafted a series of accords, such as the Athens Charter of 1931, and the later Venice Charter of 1964, both of which emerged from a growing sense of cultural internationalism. These agreements set guidelines for the preservation and restoration of buildings and monuments. What UNESCO added was the criterion of Outstanding Universal Value for the designation of a place as world heritage. It took until 1980 to work out the first iteration of Outstanding Universal Value and the notion has never been universally accepted, although UNESCO member countries adhere to it officially. Once a site has been named to the list, member countries are expected to protect it from deterioration, although this does not always happen. As of 2018, 54 World Heritage Sites are considered endangered. This growth mirrored the massive expansion of tourism as a business and cultural phenomenon in the late twentieth century. As tourism became an increasingly important economic sector in de-colonizing states of Asia and Latin America, governments became more concerned with its promotion by seeking out World Heritage designation.

Ironically, World Heritage designation itself has been criticized as an endangerment of heritage sites. Designation increases the tourist appeal of delicate natural environments and historic places, which can lead to problems with maintenance. Designation also affects the lives of people living within the heritage destination. Luang Prabang, in Laos, is an interesting example. Designated in 1995 as one of the best-preserved traditional towns in Southeast Asia, it represents an architectural fusion of Lao temples and French colonial villas. UNESCO guidelines halted further development of the town, except as it served the tourist market. Within the designated heritage zone, buildings cannot be demolished or constructed, but those along the main street have been converted to guest houses, souvenir shops, and restaurants to accommodate the growing tourist economy. Critics claim this reorients the community in non-traditional ways, as locals move out of center in order to rent to foreign tourists. 44 While heritage tourism provided jobs and more stable incomes, it also encouraged urban sprawl and vehicle traffic as local inhabitants yielded their town to the influx of foreign, mostly Western, visitors.

Heritage tourism may hasten the pace of change by making destinations into attractions worth visiting. To accommodate the anticipated influx of global tourists, Luang Prabang airport was renovated and its runway extended to handle larger jets in between 2008 and 2013. The influx of tourists at Machu Picchu in Peru has repeatedly led the Peruvian government to attempt to control access to the site, yet dependent on tourism’s economic contribution, such restrictions are difficult. The temple at Borobudur in Indonesia undergoes near continuous maintenance work to repair the wear and tear caused by thousands of tourists walking its steps every day. Indeed, the preserved ruins are said to be under greater threat than when they were discovered in the early nineteenth century, overgrown by the jungle.

Another colonial aspect of world heritage designation stems from the narratives of the sites themselves. Many critics accuse UNESCO of a Eurocentric conception of Outstanding Universal Value and world heritage. 45 Cultural heritage destinations in non-Western countries are often associated with sites made famous by the projects of European imperialism. The fables of discovering ancient ruins, for instance, prioritize the romance of discovery. Many of the most famous non-Western sites were “discovered” by imperial agents in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Angkor Wat in Cambodia was introduced to the world by the French explorer Henri Muhot in 1860. Machu Picchu, the Mayan sites of Yucatan, and the ancestral Anasazi sites of the American southwest were excavated, in some cases purchased, and their narratives constructed by American and European adventurers. The cultural relics of these ancient places were looted and assembled in Western museums, the stories of adventure and discovery published for Western audiences, and eventually a travel infrastructure was established to bring mostly Western tourists to the destinations. Western tourism thus forms another kind of imperialism, as the heritage of a destination is determined to suit the expectations and motivations of the visitors. This tends to obscure other features of local history, leaving those features of heritage not suitable to the tourist trade less valuable.

Made or Experienced?

Heritage is both made and experienced. Critics of heritage tourism rightly point to the ways in which heritage promotions can manipulate the past to defend specific ideological or commercial values. Yet, at the same time, heritage experiences are honestly felt and fundamental in the shaping of modern national or cultural identities. Thus, the questions of what constitutes “heritage” in a tourist attraction and whether or not the experience is “authentic” are fundamentally connected and contradictory. Neither heritage nor authenticity can be separated from both the process of their construction and the motivations and expectations of visitors. This makes heritage tourism a slippery subject for study. It involves numerous contradictions and complications. Indeed, contradiction and dissonance are at the heart of any notion of heritage tourism; what might be heritage for some is merely leisure and consumption for others. The dissonance comes from this dichotomy: the consumer exploitation of a destination that is held by many to have sacred properties. Yet, as this chapter suggests, the construction of those sacred properties is at times dependent on the consumer culture of the tourism industry.

Further Reading

Ashworth, Gregory J. , and John E. Tunbridge . The Tourist-Historic City: Retrospect and Prospect of Managing the Heritage City . London: Routledge, 2001 .

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Basu, Paul.   Highland Homecomings: Genealogy and Heritage Tourism in the Scottish Diaspora . London: Routledge, 2006 .

Dearborn, Lynne M. , and John C. Stallmeyer . Inconvenient Heritage: Erasure and Global Tourism in Luang Prabang . Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010 .

Hall, Melanie , ed. Towards World Heritage: International Origins of the Preservation Movement, 1880–1930 . Farnham: Ashgate, 2011 .

Hewison, Robert.   The Heritage Industry: Britain in a Climate of Decline . London: Methuen, 1987 .

Harrison, Rodney.   Heritage: Critical Approaches . New York: Routledge, 2013 .

Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara.   Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage . Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1998 .

Lowenthal, David.   The Past Is a Foreign Country: Revisited . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015 .

Miles, Stephen.   The Western Front: Landscape, Tourism and Heritage . Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2017 .

Macdonald, Sharon.   Memorylands: Heritage and Identity in Europe Today . London: Routledge, 2013 .

Park, Hyung Yu.   Heritage Tourism . London: Routledge, 2014 .

Shaffer, Marguerite S.   See America First: Tourism and National Identity, 1880–1940 . Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2001 .

Schama, Simon.   Landscape and Memory . New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1995 .

Sears, John F.   Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions in the Nineteenth Century . Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998 .

Timothy, Dallen J.   Cultural Heritage and Tourism: An Introduction . Bristol: Channel View, 2011 .

Winter, Tim.   Post-Conflict Heritage, Postcolonial Tourism: Culture, Politics and Development at Angkor . London: Routledge, 2007 .

1   Peter J. Larkham , “Heritage As Planned and conserved,” in Heritage, Tourism and Society , ed. David T. Herbert (London: Mansell, 1995), 85 ; Peter Johnson and Barry Thomas , “Heritage As Business,” in Heritage, Tourism and Society , ed. David T. Herbert (London: Mansell, 1995), 170 ; David Lowenthal , The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 94.

2   David C. Harvey , “The History of Heritage,” in Ashgate Research Companion to Heritage and Identity , eds. Brian Graham and Peter Howard (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 22.

3   Deepak Chhabra , Robert Healy , and Erin Sills , “Staged Authenticity and Heritage Tourism,” Annals of Tourism Research 30, no. 3 (2003): 702–719.

4   Tomaz Kolar and Vesna Zabkar , “A Consumer-Based Model of Authenticity: An Oxymoron or the Foundation of Cultural Heritage Marketing?” Tourism Management 31, no. 5 (2010): 652–664.

5   John Tunbridge and Gregory Ashworth , Dissonant Heritage: The Management of the Past as a Resource in Conflict (Chichester: J. Wiley, 1996), 10–13.

6 See Lowenthal, The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History ; Robert Hewison , The Heritage Industry: Britain in a Climate of Decline (London: Methuen London, 1987) ; Patrick Wright , On Living in an Old Country: The National Past in Contemporary Britain (London: Verso, 1985).

7   John A. Jakle , The Tourist: Travel in Twentieth-Century North America (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1985).

8   John F. Sears , Sacred Places: American Tourist Attractions in the Nineteenth Century (Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1998).

9   Patricia Jasen , Wild Things: Nature, Culture, and Tourism in Ontario, 1790–1914 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1995).

10   Simon Schama , Landscape and Memory (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1995), 6–19 ; Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathan (eds.), Landscape, Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives (London and Sterling: Pluto, 2003), 2–3.

11   David Lowenthal , “European and English Landscapes as National Symbols,” in Geography and National Identity , ed. David Hoosen (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), 21–24 ; and David Lowenthal , “Landscape as Heritage,” in Heritage: Conservation, Interpretation and Enterprise , eds. J. D. Fladmark (London: Routledge, 1993), 10–11.

12   Katherine Grenier , Tourism and Identity in Scotland, 1770–1914: Creating Caledonia (London: Routledge, 2005), 5–11.

13   Patrick Young , Enacting Brittany: Tourism and Culture in Provincial France, 1871–1939 (Farnham; Burlington: Ashgate, 2012).

14   Christopher Chippindale , “The Making of the First Ancient Monuments Act, 1882, and Its Administration Under General Pitt-Rivers,” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 86 (1983): 1–55 ; Tim Murray , “The History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Archaeology: The Case of the Ancient Monuments Protection Act (1882),” in Histories of Archaeology: A Reader in the History of Archaeology , eds. Tim Murray and Christopher Evans (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), 145–176.

  National Trust Act, 1907 . 7 Edward 7, Ch cxxxvi, first schedule.

Other countries developed similar programs, especially after World War II: Australia, 1947; United States, 1949; Japan, 1964; and Italy, 1975.

17   Bosse Sundin , “Nature as Heritage: The Swedish Case,” International Journal of Heritage Studies 11, no. 1 (2005): 9–20.

18   Tait Keller , Apostles of the Alps: Mountaineering and Nation Building in Germany and Austria, 1860–1939 (Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press Books, 2015).

19 See Karl Baedeker , The Eastern Alps, Including the Bavarian Highlands, The Tyrol, Salzkammergut, Styria, and Carinthia (Leipsic: K. Baedeker, 1879).

20   Eric Zuelow , A History of Modern Tourism (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), 108–109.

21   M. D. Merrill (ed.), Yellowstone and the Great West: Journals, Letters, and Images from the 1871 Hayden Expedition (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2003), 210–211.

22   Alan Gordon , Making Public Pasts: The Contested Terrain of Montreal’s Public Memories (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2001).

23   John Sandlos , “Nature’s Playgrounds: The Parks Branch and Tourism Promotion in the National Parks, 1911–1929,” in A Century of Parks Canada, 1911–2011 , ed. Claire Elizabeth Campbell (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2011).

24   Stephen Pyne , How the Canyon Became Grand (New York: Viking, 1998), 25–26, 55–60 ; J. W. Powell , The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons (New York: Dover Press, 1875).

25   Linda Rancourt , “Cultural Celebration,” National Parks 80, no. 1 (2006): 4.

26   Charles Wilson , The Myth of Santa Fe: Creating a Modern Regional Tradition (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1997).

27   Ian McKay and Robin Bates , In the Province of History: The Making of the Public Past in Twentieth-Century Nova Scotia (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010), 71–129.

28   Thomas A. Chambers , Memories of War Visiting Battlegrounds and Bonefields in the Early American Republic (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press 2012).

29 See Alan Gordon, “Where Famous Heroes Fell: Tourism, History, and Liberalism in old Quebec,” 58–81 and J. I. Little , “In Search of the Plains of Abraham: British, American, and Canadian Views of a Symbolic Landscape, 1793–1913,” in Remembering 1759: The Conquest of Canada in Historical Memory , eds. Phillip Buckner and John G. Reid (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011), 82–109.

30   John S. Patterson , “A Patriotic Landscape: Gettysburg, 1863–1913,” Prospects 7 (1982): 315–333.

31   David Lloyd , Battlefield Tourism: Pilgrimage and the Commemoration of the Great War in Britain, Australia and Canada, 1919–1939 (Oxford and New York: Berg, 1998), 100–111.

  Lloyd, Battlefield Tourism , 98–100.

33   George Humphrey Yetter , Williamsburg Before and After: The Rebirth of Virginia’s Colonial Capital (Colonial Williamsburg, 1988), 49–52 ; Stephen Conn , Museums and American intellectual life, 1876–1926 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 155.

34   Raymond B. Fosdick , John D. Rockefeller Jr.: A Portrait (New York: Harper, 1956), 356–357.

35   Michael Wallace , “Visiting the Past: History Museums in the United States,” in A Living History Reader , ed. Jay Anderson (Nashville: American Association of State and Local History, 1991), 190.

36   Alan Gordon , Time Travel: Tourism and the Rise of the Living History Museum in Mid-Twentieth-Century Canada (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2016), 65–70 ; Ben Bradley , “The David Thompson Memorial Fort: An Early Outpost of Historically Themed Tourism in Western Canada,” Histoire sociale/Social History 49, no. 99 (2016): 409–429.

37   Kristen Semmens , Seeing Hitler’s Germany: Tourism in the Third Reich (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).

38   Gregory Ashworth and Peter Larkham , “A Heritage for Europe: The Need, the Task, the Contribution,” in Building a New Heritage , ed. Gregory Ashworth and Peter Larkham (London: Routledge, 1994), 127–129.

39   Alon Confino , “Traveling as a Culture of Remembrance: Traces of National Socialism in West Germany, 1945–1960,” History & Memory 12, no. 2 (2000): 92–121.

40 See, for example, Paul Basu , Highland Homecomings: Genealogy and Heritage Tourism in the Scottish Diaspora (London: Routledge, 2007).

41   Huang, Wei-Jue , Gregory Ramshaw , and William C. Norman . “Homecoming or Tourism? Diaspora Tourism Experience of Second-Generation Immigrants,” Tourism Geographies 18, no. 1 (2016): 59–79.

42   Shaul Kelner , Tours That Bind: Diaspora, Pilgrimage, and Israeli Birthright Tourism (New York: New York University Press, 2010).

43   Dina Berger , The Development of Mexico’s Tourism Industry: Pyramids by Day, Martinis by Night (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).

44 See, for example, Dawn Starin , “Letter From Luang Prabang: World Heritage Designation, Blessing or Curse?” Critical Asian Studies 40, no. 4 (December 2008): 639–652.

45   Tim Winter , “Heritage Studies and the Privileging of Theory,” International Journal of Heritage Studies 20, no. 5 (2014): 556–572.

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UN Tourism | Bringing the world closer

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• Tourism at World Heritage Sites – Challenges and Opportunities

Yet as cultural heritage attractions are unique and fragile by nature, it is fundamental that tourism authorities study how to best develop these cultural heritage sites while protecting and preserving them for the long-term. With more than 1,000 natural and cultural sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List, the current challenge for the different international organizations is to ensure that their values are safeguarded amidst a rapidly changing and globalized world.

In this respect, the Conference Tourism at World Heritage Sites: Challenges and Opportunities was held in Çeşme (Izmir), Turkey in March 2013, in conjunction with the 55th Meeting of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Commission for Europe. The conference showcased the diverse cultural, natural and historical heritage of the European region, as well as presented various case studies on successful policies for sustainable site management and best practices for cultural tourism development.

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12 Must-Visit Historical Sites Around the World

If you’ll travel far and wide to be awed by a unesco world heritage site, make sure you have these major attractions on your list..

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The 450-foot-tall Great Pyramid at Giza is made of an estimated 2.3 million blocks of stone cut by hand.

Photo by Mustafah Abdulaziz

Certain sites capture the world’s imagination not only because of their beauty and the human ingenuity they exemplify but also because of their unique window into the past. These 13 UNESCO-protected spots, including many of the New Seven Wonders of the World, are among the most sought-after tourist attractions around the globe.

Whenever you visit a new place, you should take special care to carry out what you bring in, stick to assigned trails, and leave the environment better than you found it (even if that means grabbing trash another visitor left behind). But this rule is particularly important when it comes to these protected spaces. Many are vulnerable for a whole list of reasons, including climate impact and fragility due to very old age. Treading carefully and showing respect will ensure that these life-changing places remain for as many generations as possible.

All right, now on to the list. And don’t worry: You don’t have to be a history buff to appreciate these great, historical places around the world.

What kid wouldn’t love a real-life castle that is as colorful as Sintra just outside of Lisbon?

Photo by Shutterstock

1. Cultural Landscape of Sintra

Sintra, Portugal

You probably assume Sintra is on this list for the fairy-tale–inspiring National Palace of Sintra overlooking the city—but that’s only part of it. The city is home to some of the best (and first) examples of Romantic architecture anywhere in the world. The castle at the top of the hill once served as a monastery before Ferdinand II repurposed it as a castle mixing Moorish, Egyptian, Renaissance, and Gothic architectural and design elements. Also very notable is the maze of parks and gardens, which blend local and non-native plant species. You’ll never know what to expect next, whether it’s an intricate wall of azulejos (locally made tiles), a set of mock ruins tucked among the landscaping, or a massive dome overhead.

How to visit

Sintra is easy to reach from Lisbon—two trains make the one-hour journey every day. The most popular route is to take the train from the Rossio Station to the Sintra Station. It’s not recommended to explore the city by car; many of the roads are very narrow and not built for modern transportation, and parking in the surrounding area can be tough during tourist high season (May through October).

Chichén Itzá is located in close proximity to two cenotes (deep limestone sinkholes that expose groundwater).

Photo by Filip Gielda/Unsplash

2. Chichén Itzá

Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Chichén Itzá , a complex of pre-Columbian ruins on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, thrived as one of the largest Mayan cities from 400 C.E. to the 1400s. It’s thought to have had the most diverse population in the Mayan world due to the variety of Mesoamerican architectural styles on-site. Chichén Itzá’s most famous structures include the Great Ball Court, the Temple of the Warriors, and El Castillo (also known as the Temple of Kukulkan), a step pyramid that towers over one of the most beautiful UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Chichén Itzá is a three-hour drive from Cancún and about 30 minutes from Valladolid. Tickets to Chichén Itzá can be purchased on-site. Entry costs approximately $36 for adults; entry for children 12 and under is free. The 16th-century colonial city has a baroque cathedral and a variety of accommodation options, from hotels with cenotes to the Coqui Coqui guesthouse and perfumery.

Jaipur’s magnificent Hawa Mahal palace was built in 1799 by a maharaja.

Photo by Annie Spratt/Unsplash

3. Jaipur City

Jaipur, India

The walled city of Jaipur is eye-catching for many reasons. At the top of the list is its rosy hue—the entire town was painted pink to welcome King Edward VII (then Prince Albert) in 1876, as pink was a color associated with hospitality. The prince supposedly deemed Jaipur the “Pink City,” and it stuck. In 1877, Maharaja Ram Singh took it a step further by passing a law ordering all future buildings to have the same pink exterior, from temples to private residences. Jaipur was the first planned city in India, known for its grid design and symmetrical buildings with even patterns and rows of chhatri (elevated domes sitting atop buildings).

It’s easy to get to Jaipur by train, car, or airplane from major cities in India. Jaipur is part of the Golden Triangle , a route that also includes New Delhi and Agra. You need at least a week to enjoy all that the Golden Triangle cities have to offer.

Rainy season is no joke at Machu Picchu—plan accordingly.

Photo by Stock for you/Shutterstock

4. Machu Picchu

Peru Located in the Peruvian Andes at nearly 8,000 feet above sea level, Machu Picchu cascades down a dramatic mountain spine surrounded by the Sacred Valley’s jagged peaks. Millions of visitors flock to this UNESCO World Heritage site each year to see the terraces and classical dry-stone buildings of the citadel. While it is recognized as one of the top historic, World Heritage sites, Machu Picchu had a short life span. It was built by the Incas around 1450 but abandoned a century later during the Spanish conquest.

You can reach Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Machu Picchu, by train from Cusco. Inca Rail, PeruRail, and the more luxurious Belmond Hiram Bingham train have daily service between the two destinations; the journey takes more than three hours. The Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel is a four-minute walk from the train station and looks like a village with terraced gardens, stone pathways, and guest rooms in adobe casitas.

Another way to visit Machu Picchu is to go on a guided hike of the famous Inca Trail, which can be booked through various tour operators in Cusco. Entry tickets cost approximately $23 for adults and $20 for students and must be purchased in advance for a specific date and time slot.

Angkor Wat is one of the world’s largest religious monuments, with five iconic towers that represent the five peaks of Mount Meru, a sacred mountain in Hindu mythology.

5. Angkor Wat

Siem Reap, Cambodia

With its wide moat and drip sand castle-like towers, Angkor Wat is one of the most scenic World Heritage sites and recognizable religious structures. King Suryavarman II, ruler of Southeast Asia’s former Khmer Empire, directed the construction during the 12th century. The Hindu temple complex, a network of stone temples decorated with intricate carvings of devatas (Hindu deities), is even more impressive when you consider it’s just one of the attractions at the UNESCO-designated Angkor Archaeological Park . Spread across approximately 400 acres in northwestern Cambodia, the complex has many other architecturally significant jungle-intertwined ruins and temples, including a temple featured in Angelina Jolie’s 2001 Tomb Raider film, as well as inhabited villages.

The park entrance is approximately three miles north of the center of Siem Reap. A convenient way to visit Angkor Wat is to hire a tuk-tuk driver for about $20 a day. Visitors can buy tickets at the main entrance to the temple. One-day passes cost approximately $37 for adults; entry for children 12 and under is free.

There are many affordable hotels in Siem Reap, but book a safari-style tent at The Beige (where even the floating forest pool has views of the World Heritage site) for a slight splurge.

The ancient city of Petra is just one of many notable historic sites across Jordan.

Courtesy of Visit Jordan

Wadi Musa, Jordan During its zenith, Petra , Jordan’s most famous archaeological site, was a bustling commerce center where citizens traded Arabian incense, Chinese silks, and Indian spices. Nabateans built the ancient city in the country’s southwestern desert in 400 B.C.E., but it was unknown to the Western world until the 1800s. Accessed via a narrow canyon and with towering temples and tombs carved into pink sandstone cliffs (earning it the name “The Red Rose City”), it feels otherworldly. Perhaps that’s why Petra’s treasury stood in for the temple housing the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade .

How to visit This UNESCO World Heritage site is about 150 miles south of Jordan’s capital, Amman. Most visitors access Petra Archaeological Park through Wadi Musa, a nearby town with a handful of luxurious hotel offerings for travelers who make the trip to the rock-wall crypts. One-day tickets for visitors who spend at least a night in Jordan cost approximately $70 for adults; entry for children 12 and under is free.

The somewhat mysterious Stonehenge monument is located on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire in southwest England.

Photo by M.J. Parker/Shutterstock

7. Stonehenge

Wiltshire, United Kingdom

While experts agree that Stonehenge , a circle of stone megaliths in the English countryside, dates to 2500 B.C.E., the reason for its creation remains mysterious. Some archaeologists think ancient Britons built it for religious ceremonies, while others believe the structures were used to study the movements of the sun and the moon. Either way, the construction was an engineering feat. (To shape Stonehenge’s megalithic structures, workers hammered wooden wedges into cracks in the stone and then used rope to pull each mass upright.)

Travelers can take a 2.5-hour train ride from London or an hour-long trip from Bath to get to Stonehenge. From the Wiltshire visitor center, a free shuttle bus makes frequent trips to the ruins. Tickets purchased in advance cost approximately $33 for adults and $20 for children. Tickets purchased on-site cost slightly more.

The Parthenon was built from limestone and Pentelic marble.

Photo by Pamela Loreto Perez/Shutterstock

8. The Parthenon

Athens, Greece Perched atop a rocky outcrop known as the Acropolis , in Athens, this classical and partly intact temple has presided over Greece’s capital city since the Athenian Empire was at the peak of its power. In 447 B.C.E., the Athenians constructed the Parthenon—dedicated to the goddess Athena—to celebrate their victory over Persian invaders. It has since served as a city treasury, a Christian church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and, after the Ottoman conquest, a mosque. At the foot of the hill, the Acropolis Museum showcases the Parthenon frieze (although some sections are still controversially on display at London’s British Museum), artifacts discovered on the Acropolis, and even the remains of an ancient neighborhood uncovered during the museum’s construction.

Located in the center of Athens, the Parthenon is easy to visit thanks to metro and city bus stops nearby. The nearest metro stop is Acropoli. Tickets to the Acropolis can be purchased online or at the entrance. During high season, tickets to the Acropolis cost approximately $35 for adults and half that during the winter; entry is roughly $11 for students with ID.

Many sections of the Great Wall of China were constructed during the Ming Dynasty between 1368 and 1644.

Photo by Hung Chung Chih/Shutterstock

9. The Great Wall of China

China It took more than 2,500 years to build the Great Wall , China’s most recognizable symbol, which snakes through the northern part of the country for more than 13,000 miles. During the 8th century B.C.E., the Zhou dynasty–era state of Chu began construction on the wall to protect against foreign invaders. Most tourists explore a section or two of the stone-and-brick fortification; it would take approximately 177 days of nonstop walking to see the entire wall.

Frequently visited sections of the wall include Mutianyu and Jinshanling. The former is a 90-minute drive from Beijing and an easy day trip; the latter takes twice as long to reach but is one of the wall’s most well-preserved sections and is popular with hikers. Each section of the wall requires its own entry ticket. The cost is typically about $6 to $8, although prices vary.

The Taj Mahal was built on the banks of the River Yamuna on the orders of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth.

Photo by age fotostock

10. Taj Mahal

Agra, India

The perfectly symmetrical Taj Mahal features a 240-foot-tall central dome and an exterior with inlaid semiprecious stones. Widely considered the most beautiful existing example of Mughal architecture, the white marble mausoleum was erected between 1631 and 1648 after Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan ordered its construction to honor his late wife. (He tapped approximately 20,000 of the best craftsmen from Central Asia to complete the project.) Jahan intended to build a second mausoleum for himself, but the building never came to fruition. After he passed away in 1666, the emperor was buried next to his wife. Visitors to this World Heritage site can explore the grounds’ vast garden featuring long reflecting pools of water and a red sandstone gate.

Most people visit the Taj Mahal on a day trip from Delhi. There are many high-speed trains to Agra from Delhi, Varanasi, and cities across northern India’s Rajasthan state. Tickets cost approximately $13 for adults; entry for children 15 and younger is free.

Dutch explorers gave Easter Island its name in 1722 after spotting the landmass on Easter Sunday, but the Indigenous name is Rapa Nui.

Photo by Thomas Griggs/Unsplash

11. Easter Island

Chile Located 2,200 miles off the coast of Chile, this remote island was named by 18th-century Dutch explorers who spotted the landmass on Easter Sunday. It’s famous for its approximately 1,000 mammoth statues, which the Indigenous Polynesian inhabitants created from the 10th through 16th centuries to represent their ancestors. Rapa Nui National Park , which covers half of Easter Island, is the best place to see the carved figures, or moai . There are about 400 moai at the ancient quarry Rano Raraku, including a 70-foot-tall statue that was never raised upright. The most famous site, Tongariki, features 15 moai beside the ocean. Made from a soft volcanic rock called tuff, the monuments are vulnerable to the elements, and archaeologists believe one day they may disappear.

Latam operates two daily flights from Santiago de Chile to Hanga Roa, Easter Island’s capital. The trip takes about 5.5 hours. The entrance fee to Rapa Nui National Park is $80 for adults, $40 for children.

Egypt’s pyramids are one of the most iconic—and enduring—destinations in the world.

Photo by Lyndsey Matthews

12. The Pyramids at Giza

Cairo, Egypt The Pyramids at Giza arose during a construction frenzy from 2550 to 2490 B.C.E. Egyptian pharaohs believed they would become gods in the afterlife, so they filled these elaborate tombs with everything they would need in the next world, including jewelry, furniture, and sculptures of servants. Pharaoh Khufu ordered the building of the first and largest of the three structures, known as the Great Pyramid. His son Pharaoh Khafre built the second pyramid with a necropolis (burial place) that includes the Great Sphinx, a limestone sculpture of a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. Pharaoh Menkaure built the third and final temple. Each massive pyramid is part of a larger tomb complex that includes a palace, temples, and other features.

The pyramids are located on the Giza Plateau, about 11 miles southwest of Cairo. There isn’t an easy way to get there using public transportation, so travelers typically take a taxi, use Uber, or hire a car and driver. A few hotels like the posh Marriott Mena House are within walking distance of the pyramids. (Tickets cost approximately $17 per person.)

This article was originally published in May 2019 and was updated in March 7 2024 with new information. Erika Owens contributed to the reporting of this story.

• Open access
• Published: 17 March 2023

Natural world heritage conservation and tourism: a review

• Zhenzhen Zhang 1 , 2 ,
• Kangning Xiong 1 , 2 &
• Denghong Huang 1 , 2  

Heritage Science volume  11 , Article number:  55 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

5535 Accesses

9 Citations

Metrics details

The trade-off and synergy between heritage conservation and tourism has become the focus of natural world heritage research. To gain a better understanding of the global researches on natural World Heritage conservation and tourism, we comprehensively reviewed relevant peer-reviewed research literature based on Web of Science (WOS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). We find that (1) the theoretical research of natural heritage conservation and tourism has gone through a process from emphasizing the protection of heritage value to pursuing the synergy of heritage protection and tourism development; (2) the main research methods include investigation research methods, indirect research methods and experimental research methods; (3) "3S" technology (remote sensing, geographic information system, global positioning system), three-dimensional laser scanning technology, virtual reality (VR) technology, augmented reality (AR) technology, holographic projection technology and other modern technological means are applied to the protection and tourism development of natural properties; (4) the common coordinated development models include ecological science tourism, community participation in tourism, ecological compensation model, world heritage—buffer zone—surrounding areas coordinated protection model and so on. We analyzed the research progresses through (1) the theories proposed in the literature, (2) the main methods applied to address the issues on natural heritage conservation and tourism, (3) the technologies applied in the researches and (4) the coordinated models of heritage conservation and tourism. Furthermore, we put forward the following research prospects: (1) systematically explore the conservation methods and theories based on world heritage criteria; (2) formulate corresponding conservation systems and ecological restoration standards for different types of world heritage; (3) give full play to the complementary advantages of various research methods and reveal the mutual feedback mechanism between tourism and heritage conservation; (4) develop ecological restoration technology based on biodiversity restoration, establish radial ecological corridor, and expand the benign ecological environment of the properties to wider periphery; (5) build ecological compensation development models based on the perspective of heritage tourism and value realization of world heritage.

Introduction

Natural world heritage sites are natural landscapes recognized by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee and inscribed on the World Heritage List, with Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) such as containing aesthetic importance, representing major stages of earth's history, representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes, containing the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity [ 1 ]. As the type of protected area with the highest and most representative OUV in the world [ 2 , 3 ], how to pass on the value of the world heritage through heritage display and solve the livelihood problem of the residents is a problem worthy of study.

For many years after the birth of Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention) in 1972, conservation was the sole goal of World Heritage, but as time passed, World Heritage gradually established its status as an important tourist destination, and UNESCO’s policy on World Heritage also no longer limited to conservation, but also sustainable tourism [ 4 ]. The purpose of heritage conservation is to preserve their OUV and pass them on intact to the next generation [ 5 ]. The ideal goal of heritage tourism is to awaken people’s attention and respect for cultural history and natural landscapes through tourism activities [ 6 ]. Therefore, heritage tourism is the best way to give full play to the functions of natural World Heritage, which can promote scientific research, social supervision and financial support for heritage conservation, and is also a sustainable way for the social and economic development of natural heritage sites [ 7 ]. However, the unreasonable utilization of tourism resources will lead to the imbalance of resource supply and demand [ 8 ]. In its World Heritage Outlook report, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) pointed out that tourism impact has always been in the top three threats [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. How to coordinate the relationship between World Heritage conservation and tourism development has always been a hot issue of academic and government attention [ 12 , 13 ].

Currently, international organizations and scholars have carried out a series of fruitful studies, covering the impact of tourism activities on heritage conservation, community residents’ perception of heritage tourism, and changes in the landscape pattern. Among them, the community and tourists are the focus of related research. Natural World Heritage sites are often very fragile. To maintain a certain balance between social ecosystems and natural ecosystems, it is important not only to minimize human disturbance, but also to make tourists aware of the need to protect the OUV and to participate in the conservation and promotion of heritage value [ 14 ]. The sustainability of community livelihoods is the premise of World Heritage conservation, and ecotourism is an important form of enriching the livelihoods of community residents in heritage sites [ 15 ]. Locally-driven responsible and sustainable tourism management in and around World Heritage properties can complement other sources of growth, so as to promote economic diversification between tourism and non-tourism activities. This will strengthen social and economic resilience in a way that also helps protect the OUV of properties [ 16 ]. In addition, some scholars have also paid attention to the impact of tourism activities on the biodiversity [ 17 ], water [ 18 ], geology and landform [ 19 , 20 ] of natural World Heritage sites.

Meanwhile, scholars have systematically sorted out and summarized the concept, research methods, authenticity and integrity, heritage management, stakeholders, knowledge systems and development trends of heritage tourism from the theoretical level [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. It is worth noting that the research on tourism and conservation of natural World Heritage is a field in which natural ecosystems and social ecosystems are highly intertwined, involving tourism, aesthetics, geomorphology, ecology, geography and other disciplines. There are research bottlenecks in terms of theory, method, technology, model and so on. The existing articles indicate that the studies on the conservation and tourism of natural World Heritage start from the theoretical perspective, and most of them are macro-heritage studies, rarely distinguishing between cultural heritage and natural heritage. The research methods are mainly based on questionnaire survey and interview with tourists and community residents, lacking the application of experimental monitoring methods. The comprehensive understanding of related research has not been fully formed in the academic circles.

To gain a comprehensive understanding of natural heritage protection and tourism since the World Heritage Convention came into being half a century ago, we reviewed the relevant research progress of theories, methods, technologies and models from the perspective of the systematic chain from theoretical understanding to practical application, and proposed future research directions based on the research progress. The theory about natural World Heritage conservation and tourism is the understanding of objective things and their laws, and the related theory research will help us understand the law of this study field. The generation and development of the methods depends on our theoretical understanding of related researches. Through the analysis of the methods, it will help to promote our theoretical understanding, and also better guide us to use technical means to improve the heritage protection and tourism sustainability in natural sites. Conducting the analysis of related technologies can effectively promote us to adjust the methods of recognizing natural World Heritage conservation and tourism in practice, thus promoting the development of theory. Meanwhile, technology is a practical means to accelerate the promotion of heritage protection and sustainable tourism. The analysis of related models in this study is the summary of different development paths and practical experiences, reflecting the development models of natural sites in different scenarios. It is expected to provide references for more natural World Heritage sites in the cooperation between heritage protection and tourism.

Materials and methods

The acquisition of journal papers was conducted based on the available databases including Web of Science (WOS) ( https://www.webofscience.com ) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) ( https://www.cnki.net/ ). To obtain higher quality and more representative articles, we restricted the databases of paper sources during retrieval. In WOS, Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI) were taken as the retrieval databases. In CNKI, Science Citation Index (SCI), the Engineering Index (EI), Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index (CSSCI), Chinese Science Citation Database (CSCD) source journals were taken as retrieval databases. Acknowledging that the literature on both heritage conservation and tourism in natural World Heritage sites is sparse and our desire to get a wider review, we also included different synonyms. The search item was “them”. The first search terms was set as “natural heritage”, the second search term was set as “tourism”, and the third terms were set as “conservation” or “protection” or “preservation”. The deadline set for our retrieval was December 31, 2022 (Fig.  1 ).

The process of the literature search and screening

Firstly, based on the search conditions above, 610 and 144 articles were found in WOS and CNKI, respectively. Then, we set two inclusion criteria: (1) the research them must include both heritage tourism and conservation; (2) the research object must be natural World Heritage site(s) or mixed site(s). Articles without heritage protection or heritage tourism are discarded. Researches about cultural World Heritage, built heritage, intangible cultural heritage, national parks, geoparks, natural reserves or other contents without natural World Heritage are also considered irrelevant and excluded. We decide whether an article meets our inclusion criteria by reading the title, abstract, keywords, and even the full text of the article. After screening based on our inclusion criteria and deduplication, 115 and 85 related articles were obtained from WOS and CNKI, respectively. In term of languages, the final obtained articles include Chinese (85 articles), Croatian (1 articles), English (101 articles), Portuguese (2 articles), Russian (1 articles), Spanish (9 articles), Ukrainian (1 articles).

It is worth noting that the number of search results and the final screening results varied greatly, especially in WOS. This may be because when subject is used as the search term in WOS, any one or more of the titles, abstracts, author keywords and keywords plus contain natural, heritage, conservation or protection or preservation and tourism articles will be retrieved. As a result, there are some documents that are not related to the research topic, such as cultural heritage, protected areas, national parks, natural resources, in the search results.

Research progress

The theoretical research on natural heritage protection and tourism has gone through a process from emphasizing heritage value protection to pursuing synergy between heritage conservation and tourism development.

The theoretical exploration of World Heritage protection started from Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (Operational Guidelines). It states that cultural properties must meet the conditions of authenticity, and all properties nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List shall satisfy the conditions of integrity [ 1 ]. But some scholars believe that the two principles of authenticity and integrity should not be separated and both natural properties and cultural properties should meet these two principles [ 26 ]. Since the number of natural properties is much higher than that of cultural properties, related researches on two principles are mostly focused on cultural properties, while little on natural properties. As an important tool for conservation of properties and then enhance their integrity, as well as create linkages between properties and the wider area that surrounds them [ 27 ], buffer zones are also a vital theory to analysis the relationship between heritage protection and sustainable development [ 28 ].

With the advancement of researches, scholars have gradually realized that the value display and community development are important ways for the sustainable protection and management of world heritage [ 29 ]. Heritage corridor is the product of the joint development and interaction of American greenway movement, scenic road construction and regional heritage conservation concepts [ 30 ]. This theory takes into account the balance of linear heritage protection, community economic development and natural ecosystems. It is suitable for linear heritage such as the Silk Road, but not for nonlinear heritage. To explore the synergy theory of heritage protection and tourism applicable to a wider range, scholars have carried out research from different perspectives such as natural ecosystems, tourists, and community residents. Moreover, as one of the core theories of tourism geography, tourism man-land relationship theory focuses on the interaction between human tourism activities and geographical environment[ 31 ]. It is also an important guiding ideology for the study of sustainable development of natural heritage[ 32 ]. Wen [ 33 ] proposed to use ecological theory and experience economy theory to stimulate tourists’ cognition of heritage value, thereby promoting the coordinated development of protection and tourism in karst world natural heritage sites. In addition, the introduction of symbiosis theory [ 34 ], sustainable livelihood framework [ 35 ], life cycle assessment theory [ 36 ] and other theories have further enriched researches on world heritage conservation and sustainable tourism.

Based on the data sources, the main research methods used in researches on natural world heritage conservation and tourism can be divided into three categories: investigation research methods, indirect research methods, and experimental research methods. Among them, investigation research methods refer to methods that get data from questionnaires [ 37 ], interviews [ 38 ], field observations [ 39 ] and other similar ways; indirect research methods refer to methods that get data from websites [ 40 ], articles[ 41 , 42 ], yearbooks [ 43 ], institutions [ 44 ] and other similar ways; experimental research methods refer to methods that get data through computer experiments such as remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) [ 45 ], or ground sample monitoring like sample plot [ 46 ] and online tracer test [ 18 ], or other similar methods. As the most commonly used method for related studies, the first two types of methods are mostly used in humanities research, such as stakeholder attitudes towards heritage conservation and tourism and their influencing factors. The third type of method is mostly used in natural research, such as the impact of heritage tourism on soil, vegetation, and water ecology in heritage sites. Table 1 shows some representative specific methods, data sources, core content and references of these methods.

The vast majority of relevant studies obtain data through questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders such as tourists and residents, as well as in-direct data from websites, reports, institutions and so on. Few scholars obtain data through monitoring experiments or geographic information technology in natural heritage sites. Long-term experimental monitoring research is even more blank. No studies have been found that combined experimental monitoring methods with questionnaire interviews or geographic information technology. This brings great difficulty to the collaborative research and management of natural heritage tourism and protection.

Investigation and research methods used in related researches include in-depth interviews and fieldwork, landscape sensitivity assessment, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), Delphi method, structural equation modelling (SEM), travel cost method, contingent valuation method, perception survey, open-ended interviews, principal component analysis (PCA), system dynamics model, what is not there (WINT) analysis and convergent parallel mixed method. The advantages of these methods are: (1) quantitative analysis of each element can enhance the persuasiveness of the analysis results; (2) it is helpful to find potential relationships between different variables through model analysis; (3) access to deep insights and emotional reflections. The disadvantages are: (1) bias in interpretation of results by investigators and respondents; (2) the acquired data is highly subjective, especially in questionnaires and interviews. These methods are suitable for researches on attitudes, willingness and choices of stakeholders, such as local community and visitors.

Indirect research methods used in related researches include SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, carbon footprint, literature review and expert interview, AHP, fuzzy mathematical methods, official evaluations analysis, panel data analysis, propensity score matching, static model of tourism environment capacity, grounded theory, literature review and website analysis. The advantages of these methods are: (1) simple and easy to operate; (2) easy to obtain the required data; (3) low research cost. But the data of these methods often face problems of poor data correlation, poor timeliness and low reliability. These methods are suitable for theoretical analysis researches and researches with low requirements on data timeliness and resolution.

Experimental study methods used in related researches mainly include two categories: geographic information technology and experimental monitoring. Specifically, these methods contain remote sensing, GIS, global static partial equilibrium model, landscape pattern index, high-resolution online tracer test, and investigation method of sample plot. Geographic information technology can quickly obtain spatiotemporal data of large-scale study areas, which is suitable for monitoring and research of natural heritage sites. But it needs to be combined with ground monitoring survey data to increase the precision of its analysis results. The results obtained by the ground monitoring method are the most objective and accurate among all methods, but usually require higher professional knowledge of operators, and are time-consuming and costly.

Technologies

Compared with cultural World Heritage sites, natural properties are often more difficult to display and manage, with large area and complex natural and man-made influencing factors. The introduction of 3S technology (remote sensing, geography information systems, global positioning systems), 3D laser scanning technology, virtual reality (VR) technology, augmented reality (AR) technology, holographic projection technology, computer digital technology and other modern technical means is conductive to the digital construction, post-disaster landscape restoration and ecological restoration, and efficient manage of natural World Heritage sites.

Spatial information technology with 3S technology as the core has become the main technical means of current resource and environmental investigation and analysis [ 78 ]. The conservation and tourism researches on aesthetic value (criterion vii) and geological and landform value (criterion viii) conservation and tourism of natural World Heritage sites mostly use this technology. Zhou et al. [ 79 ] revealed the relationship between the tourism development process and the landscape pattern of the natural property based on multi-period remote sensing images. Xiao et al. [ 80 ] carried out an evaluation of the impact of tourism project construction on the aesthetic value of heritage landscapes based on GIS perspective analysis. Furthermore, remote sensing images are also widely used to measure and interpret the changes of the geological hazards area and the scale of disaster[ 81 ], as well as vegetation' reconstruction [ 82 , 83 ]. The use of 3S technology can effectively monitor the changes in the ecological environment, and is an important technical means for the conservation of natural properties. Researches using this method are relatively mature, but most of them focuses on the ecological change of a single property and the impacts analysis of infrastructure construction, urbanization and other human activities. There are few coupling studies on tourism and heritage ecological changes, and the horizontal comparative study between heritage sites is still blank.

3D laser scanning technology has the characteristics of fast scanning speed, strong initiative, high precision and low cost, which provides a new technical means for cave measurement [ 84 ]. Zhou et al. [ 85 ] discussed the morphological characteristics and control factors of Miao Chamber, which was included on the World Heritage Tentative List of China in 2019, based on terrestrial laser. Using 3D laser scanning technology to carry out cave measurement and imaging, mapping and analysis can effectively promote the popularization of the scientific value of cave heritage sites and the improvement of tourism quality.

Through technical means such as VR, AR and holographic projection technology, tourism products and tourism experiences can be extended to the field of virtual tourism [ 86 ], and the interactive experience of heritage tourism can be enhanced. In addition, the application of computer digitization technology has further promoted the efficient management of heritage tourism. Shilin Karst strengthens the informatization of geological heritage conservation and tourism management through the construction of smart platforms such as video surveillance, call center system, and GIS system [ 87 ]. Chen [ 88 ] built the tourism management system of the natural World Heritage site based on ASP.NET, WWW information service site technology, Browser/Server model, and SQL database system. Digital construction and smart tourism under the premise of protecting heritage value are the general trend of heritage tourism development and an effective management model.

Based on different research perspectives, scholars have proposed the ecological popular science tourism development model, the community participation tourism model, the ecological compensation model, the World Heritage-buffer zone-peripheral area coordinated protection model and other collaborative model of natural World Heritage conservation and tourism.

Wen [ 33 ] constructed an ecological popular science tourism development model based on the landscape spatial structure and morphological characteristics of the natural World Heritage site from the perspective of tourists. This model not only emphasizes the realization and acquisition of ecological popular science tourism, but also focuses on the management of various elements of the tourism, so as to facilitate its continuous development, rather than being limited to the existing ecological popular science tourism activities. But the specific implementation paths of this model still need further study.

Yang [ 89 ] proposed the natural heritage protection model of “feeding farmers through travel” from the perspective of the community. This type of model can effectively improve the income, conservation willingness, sense of belonging and education level of community residents, and is applicable to all World Heritage sites. However, in practice, this model often has problems such as lack of participation in decision-making, economic benefit distribution that is out of sync with the economic development of heritage sites, and the lack of effective guarantees for economic participation [ 90 ].

To solve these problems, Duan and Li [ 73 ] proposed to use the ecological compensation model to coordinate the protection of heritage values and the protection of indigenous interests. Their research method is to use the global static partial equilibrium model of Costanza et al. [ 91 ] to obtain landscape change information by interpreting remote sensing images, and to assess the ecological assets and depletion of natural ecosystems. On this basis, Fu [ 92 ] proposed a multi-ecological compensation mechanism for karst natural heritage sites by combining interviews with community residents and questionnaires on tourists, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders.

The conservation of World Heritage is inextricably linked to its buffer zone and wider peripheral areas, especially in karst-type natural World Heritage Sites. Due to the special above-ground-underground dual structure and complex hydrological system of the karst areas, the coordination and protection of the buffer zone and its surrounding areas is crucial to the sustainable development of the karst sites. Xiong et al. [ 93 ] constructed the World Heritage-buffer zone-peripheral area coordinated protection model (Table 2 ). This model organically combines World Heritage conservation, the prevention and control of rocky desertification with the development of surrounding communities, and promotes the sustainable development of natural World Heritage sites in karst areas.

Future research directions

Systematically explore the conservation methods and theories based on world heritage criteria.

Aiming at the problem of fragmented analysis and problem-oriented research in the studies of World Heritage conservation, it is an urgent need to systematically explore heritage conservation methods and theories based on World Heritage criteria. The World Heritage Budapest Declaration adopted by the World Heritage Committee in 2002 pointed out that an appropriate and reasonable balance should be sought between heritage conservation, sustainability and development [ 94 ]. Scholars’ understanding of World Heritage conservation and tourism has gone through three stages: conflict theory, reconciliation theory and synergy theory [ 95 ]. However, due to the huge disparity in the number of cultural heritage sites and natural heritage sites, scholars’ research on heritage conservation mostly focuses on cultural heritage, and less on natural heritage. Most of the related studies are fragmented analysis or problem-oriented research, or regard natural properties just as a special study area like other protected areas, with little characteristics of the World Heritage. The systematic theories and methods for heritage conservation has not yet formed. With the increasing number of world heritage sites and the trend of human and natural life community, researches on the theories and methods based on World Heritage criteria and classified conservation of heritage values are imminent.

Formulate corresponding conservation systems and ecological restoration standards for different types of properties

Aiming at the problem of unclear objects of heritage protection and restoration degree of World Heritage, the protection systems and ecological restoration standards of different World Heritage types need to be discussed. Since the birth of World Heritage Convention in 1972, World Heritage has a history of fifty years. However, what exactly are the World Heritage site to protect, how to protect them, and to what extent to restore the damage that has occurred, how to restore? These problems still plague scholars and heritage managers in actual researches and conservation management practices. UNESCO World Heritage Center and scholars agree that the core element of World Heritage is OUV, which includes three aspects: satisfying World Heritage criteria, authenticity/integrity, and protection and management. We must protect the carrier that embodies the OUV of World Heritage sites. But what elements are contained in each World Heritage criterion or the OUV carrier of each type of World Heritage has become a broad issue that has not been discussed. Scholars tend to study the protection of things that can be seen and felt in the short term, such as water quality, vegetation coverage and vegetation types, species diversity, protection of buildings and rock paintings, post-earthquake recovery, cave microorganisms and so on. Little attention has been paid to things whose changes can only be perceived over a long period of geological history, such as the preservation of landform values. In addition, the extent to which OUV should be protected and restored after being destroyed are also unclear, which hinders the researches on heritage conservation and the effectiveness of practice in solving practical problems.

Give full play to the complementary advantages of various research methods and reveal the mutual feedback mechanism between tourism and heritage conservation

The main research methods used in related researches are investigation research methods, indirect research methods, and experimental study methods. Related researches mostly use the first two types of methods. The vast majority of relevant studies obtain data through questionnaires and interviews with stakeholders such as tourists and residents. However, natural World Heritage sites are protected areas dominated by natural ecosystems, and the importance of experimental study methods, such as experimental monitoring and geographic information technology, in the mutual feedback research on heritage value conservation and tourism cannot be ignored. While these methods are rarely used in current research. Long-term series of experimental monitoring studies or studies that combine these types of methods are even more blank. Each kind of method has its own advantages and disadvantages. In future researches, the three kinds of methods should be combined, together with the heritage database constructed by long-term experimental monitoring, to deeply analyze the mutual feedback mechanism between heritage conservation and tourism.

Develop ecological restoration technology based on biodiversity restoration

In response to the problem of land degradation around the natural properties, ecological corridors need to be built through species diversity restoration to expand the benign outward influence of heritage ecology. There are many land degradation phenomena around natural World Heritage sites. On the one hand, due to the requirements for protection and management attributes when applying for the title of World Heritage, areas with better natural environment are often included in the scope of World Heritage when the boundary is delimited. While the buffer zone and its surrounding ecological environment are poor or disturbed by human activities. On the other hand, due to the requirements of the World Heritage Convention on the protection and management, environmental protection in World Heritage sites is generally given great attention, while the ecological environment of the buffer zone is often neglected, weakening the buffering effect of the buffer zones. Unreasonable tourism activities, infrastructure construction and urbanization in the buffer zones have accelerated the pace of land degradation. Vegetation is the most basic part of a terrestrial ecosystem, and all other organisms depend on it [ 96 ]. Species diversity is the manifestation of biodiversity at the species level, which can represent the structural complexity of biological communities, and reflects the structure type, organization level, development stage, degree of stability and habitat level of the community [ 97 , 98 ]. It is one of the key contents for future research to develop a series of ecological restoration technologies based on biodiversity restoration. It can be realized by building the radial ecological corridor connecting the World Heritage sites, buffer zones and their periphery, and driving the restoration of species diversity through vegetation restoration, so as to expand the benign ecological environment of the properties to wider periphery.

Build ecological compensation development models based on the perspective of heritage tourism and value realization of world heritage

Most of the World Heritage sites are important tourist attractions due to their high-grade tourism resources and outstanding scientific value. However, how to achieve these outstanding values has not yet been answered. In addition, stakeholders have different impacts on the ecological environment due to different ways of participating in tourism. Different travel models and behaviors of tourists, and different ways of providing tourism-related services (such as homestays, picking, hiking, rafting) will have different contribution values to the ecological degradation of tourist destinations. Ecological compensation can enhance the conservation awareness and protection behavior of tourism stakeholders, thereby promoting ecological protection and ecological restoration. As one of the effective ways to balance social benefits, economic benefits and environmental benefits, it has been widely valued by scholars and managers since it was proposed [ 99 ]. In the past, scholars have studied the ecological compensation mechanism, impact factors, and compensation methods of forest resources, wetland resources, grassland resources and so on. Some scholars paid attention to ecological compensation from the perspective of community residents and farmers' livelihoods. However, few attentions have been paid to targeted ecological compensation studies in natural World Heritage sites [ 100 , 101 ]. Thus, aiming at the problem of ecological degradation caused by the unbalanced distribution of benefits from tourism and unclear paths to realize the heritage values, researches on ecological compensation mechanism based on tourism perspective and value realization path of World Heritage are needed.

Conclusions

This literature review summarized the research progress of natural world heritage conservation and tourism from the perspectives of theory, method, technology and model, and proposed future research directions.

Our findings indicate that the UNESCO World Heritage Center and IUCN are the main force of the theory research, and put forward important theories such as authenticity, integrity, buffer zone, and sustainable tourism of heritage sites. Scholars have also introduced heritage corridor theory, ecological theory, experience economy theory, actor network theory, symmetry theory, sustainable livelihood framework, life cycle assessment theory, carbon footprint and so on into related researches from the perspective of social science. In future researches, we should pay more attention to the particularity of world heritage, and focus on theoretical and methodological research based on different world heritage value standards.

We also found that the vast majority of current research uses social science research methods, especially questionnaires and in-depth interviews. In addition, mathematical modeling methods are also common methods in related research. Only a few scholars use experimental monitoring or geographic information technology methods to carry out research from the perspective of natural science. No studies have been found that combine these types of methods. In future research, attention should be paid to the combination of long-term experimental monitoring data of natural heritage sites with social science and geographic information technology to build a natural heritage monitoring database to promote in-depth research and scientific management of natural heritage.

In terms of technology, scholars have used modern technical means including 3S technology, 3D laser scanning technology, virtual reality technology, augmented reality technology, holographic projection technology, and computer digital technology to promote the digital construction, smart tourism and post-disaster landscape restoration and ecological restoration in heritage sites. In future researches, ecological restoration technologies based on biodiversity restoration should also be paid attention to. And radial ecological corridors should be constructed to connect properties, buffer zones and their periphery, so as to expand the benign ecological environment of the natural properties to the buffer zones and wider peripheral areas.

Regarding the coordinated model of natural world heritage conservation and tourism, scholars have proposed models such as ecological popular science tourism development, community participation in heritage tourism, ecological compensation, and coordinated protection of property, buffer zone and peripheral areas. The core starting points are stakeholders' participation in heritage tourism, distribution of heritage tourism income and heritage zoning.

Furthermore, we put forward the following research prospects: (1) systematically explore the conservation methods and theories based on world heritage criteria; (2) formulate corresponding conservation systems and ecological restoration standards for different types of world heritage; (3) give full play to the complementary advantages of various research methods and reveal the mutual feedback mechanism between tourism and heritage conservation; (4) develop ecological restoration technology based on biodiversity restoration, establish radial ecological corridor, and expand the benign ecological environment of the properties to wider periphery; (5) build ecological compensation development models based on the perspective of heritage tourism and value realization of world heritage.

However, this study still has some limitations. Firstly, the research theme of world natural heritage protection and tourism involves the interdisciplinary integration of ecology, environmental science, tourism and other disciplines. Although we used some synonyms to cover more publications in this field, the retrieval results may still be incomplete due to the complexity and limitations of literature database and search methods. The search results of related articles in this study are subject to uncertainty but have little influence on the exploration of research progress and future research directions of natural World Heritage conservation and tourism in terms of the overall direction of research development. Monographs, newspapers, patents, technical reports and other types of literature, as well as articles in other literature databases may further clarify our findings. Finally, there is a certain degree of subjectivity in articles inclusion and subject analysis.

Availability of data and materials

The data presented in this study are openly available in [China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI)] at [ https://www.cnki.net/ ] and Web of Science (WOS) at [ https://www.webofscience.com ].

Abbreviations

Web of Science

China National Knowledge Infrastructure

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Outstanding Universal Value

International Union for Conservation of Nature

Science Citation Index Expanded

Social Sciences Citation Index

Emerging Sources Citation Index

Science Citation Index

The Engineering Index

Chinese Social Sciences Citation Index

Chinese Science Citation Database

Remote Sensing

Geographic Information System

Analytic hierarchy process

Structural equation modelling

Principal component analysis

What is not there

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

China Entrepreneur Investment Club

National aeronautics and space administration

Remote sensing, geography information systems, global positioning systems

Three Dimensions

Virtual reality

Augmented reality

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of Guizhou normal university. We would also like to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for their helpful and productive comments on the manuscript.

This research was funded by the Philosophy and Social Science Planning Key Project of Guizhou Province (Grant No. 21GZZB43), the Key Project of Science and Technology Program of Guizhou Province (Grant No. 5411 2017 Qiankehe Pingtai Rencai) and the China Overseas Expertise Introduction Program for Discipline Innovation (Grant No. D17016).

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All authors are contributed to the manuscript. Conceptualization, ZZ and XK; methodology, ZZ; validation, ZZ; formal analysis, ZZ; data curation, ZZ; writing—original draft preparation, ZZ; writing—review and editing, ZZ, XK and HD; visualization, ZZ and HD; project administration, XK; funding acquisition, XK. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Zhang, Z., Xiong, K. & Huang, D. Natural world heritage conservation and tourism: a review. Herit Sci 11 , 55 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-023-00896-6

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• Natural world heritage
• Ecological tourism
• Conservation
• Collaborative research
• Literature review
• Protected area

Heritage tourism in the global South: Development impacts of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa

• School of Tourism and Hospitality
• University of Johannesburg

Research output : Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Heritage tourism is an increasingly popular form of tourism across many destinations globally. Maximising the opportunities from heritage tourism is a critical policy issue in the global South. Against a backcloth of the rising importance of heritage tourism for local development agendas across the global South this paper seeks to analyse the local impacts of one major new heritage development project operationalised in South Africa, namely the Cradle of Humankind. In the international context this heritage project is a state-led, infrastructure-led initiative introduced into an economically marginal area in search of pro-poor growth. The analysis suggests that currently this anchor project has not reached its anticipated potential for energising local development.

• Heritage tourism
• South Africa
• local economic impacts
• marginal regions

ASJC Scopus subject areas

• Economics, Econometrics and Finance (all)

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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• South Africa Social Sciences 100%
• Global South Social Sciences 100%
• Heritage Tourism Social Sciences 100%
• Participatory Development Social Sciences 50%
• Development Project Social Sciences 25%
• Development Agenda Keyphrases 25%
• New Heritage Keyphrases 25%
• Heritage Development Keyphrases 25%

T1 - Heritage tourism in the global South

T2 - Development impacts of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa

AU - Rogerson, Christian M.

AU - van der Merwe, Clinton D.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2015, © The Author(s) 2015.

PY - 2016/2/1

Y1 - 2016/2/1

N2 - Heritage tourism is an increasingly popular form of tourism across many destinations globally. Maximising the opportunities from heritage tourism is a critical policy issue in the global South. Against a backcloth of the rising importance of heritage tourism for local development agendas across the global South this paper seeks to analyse the local impacts of one major new heritage development project operationalised in South Africa, namely the Cradle of Humankind. In the international context this heritage project is a state-led, infrastructure-led initiative introduced into an economically marginal area in search of pro-poor growth. The analysis suggests that currently this anchor project has not reached its anticipated potential for energising local development.

AB - Heritage tourism is an increasingly popular form of tourism across many destinations globally. Maximising the opportunities from heritage tourism is a critical policy issue in the global South. Against a backcloth of the rising importance of heritage tourism for local development agendas across the global South this paper seeks to analyse the local impacts of one major new heritage development project operationalised in South Africa, namely the Cradle of Humankind. In the international context this heritage project is a state-led, infrastructure-led initiative introduced into an economically marginal area in search of pro-poor growth. The analysis suggests that currently this anchor project has not reached its anticipated potential for energising local development.

KW - Heritage tourism

KW - South Africa

KW - local economic impacts

KW - marginal regions

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84956690036&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1177/0269094215614270

DO - 10.1177/0269094215614270

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84956690036

SN - 0269-0942

JO - Local Economy

JF - Local Economy

The Fantasy of Heritage Tourism

The first generation of immigrants wants to survive, the second wants to assimilate, and the third wants to remember, the sociologist Marcus Lee Hansen wrote in 1938. The fourth, fifth, and sixth? Apparently they now want to go on a luxury vacation to visit the Welsh coal mines their ancestors crossed an ocean to escape.

So-called heritage tourism has grown into its own travel category, like skiing and whale watching. In 2019, an Airbnb survey found that the share of people traveling to “trace their roots” worldwide had increased by 500 percent since 2014; the company announced that it was teaming up with 23andMe, the DNA-testing service, to meet this demand, offering trips to clients’ ancestral homelands. Ancestry, the company behind the family-search website, has partnered with a travel agency. The governments of Germany and Scotland have websites devoted to heritage tourism. Conde Nast Traveller is all over this trend . In Dublin, the Shelbourne Hotel’s “genealogy butler” can research your Irish side, if you so please. The Conte Club, a boutique travel service known for its focus on privacy and members-only jet rentals, will take you and your partner on a week-long “ DNA-mapped journey ” starting at $35,000 (flights not included). Should you wish to go very far back in time, the agency can make that happen. Rebecca Fielding, the CEO, told me about one client who was obsessed with the idea that he had descended from Genghis Khan. DNA tests can’t possibly prove a connection that old, Fielding said, but the Conte Club was happy to arrange his trip to Mongolia.

Kyle Betit, the genealogist who runs Ancestry’s travel business, told me that his clients experience something much more “personal” and “deep” than what’s available to “the typical tourist.” Ancestry genealogists can create bespoke itineraries tailored to a family’s history, down to the villages or even the streets where they once lived. The company’s most popular destinations were Italy and Ireland. In 2023, it took 44 individual clients or groups on such voyages. This year, it’s offering two genealogy cruises .

[ Read: What can you do with the world’s largest family tree? ]

Who takes such a trip? According to the Airbnb survey, Americans top the list, followed by Canadians and Australians. Those most likely to go are between the ages of 60 and 90—mainly retirees with cash to spare. Dave Richard Meyrick, whom Ancestry put me in touch with, is a representative example.

Meyrick is 73 and lives in Las Vegas, where he worked at the MGM Grand hotel and casino until his retirement. He recently came into a small fortune—not at the poker table, but after winning a lawsuit against the U.S. military. The Agent Orange that the Army sprayed over Vietnam when he was fighting there caused Meyrick to lose most of his eyesight years after he returned. The newly enriched man has no wife and no kids—“that I know of,” he told me, with a chuckle—so indulging in a decadent vacation was the logical course of action. The question was where to go.

He had recently been on an unremarkable cruise through the Gulf of Mexico when a free trial for Ancestry.com appeared on his screen in spring 2020. He learned that he was ninth in a line of Richard Meyricks. He found his paternal grandfather—who was born in Wales and fought for Canada in World War I—in mustard-gas records that might explain his grandpa’s weird cough. Meyrick had always assumed that his paternal grandmother’s ancestors were also from Wales; actually, they were German, from the medieval city of Heidelberg and the Alpine region of Bavaria.

Soon he got a promotional email from Ancestry: If he wanted to see where his father’s parents came from, the company was there to help. He replied, intrigued. Betit scheduled a video call. The team helped him book a trip to Germany, where his father’s ancestors were innkeepers on the grounds of a princely castle. The inn has been renovated, and is now the chic office of a finance firm. During a stop in Munich, Meyrick drank beer at Oktoberfest. He then went to Wales, where another branch of his father’s ancestors worked the mines and steel mills in a village that dates back to the 1600s.

He told me that the deterioration of his eyesight had changed his perception of traveling. He couldn’t see the sites or landscapes very well, but his genealogy helped him feel connected to the places he visited. At the Welsh church where his ancestors had been baptized, married, and buried, Meyrick met a local history buff, who told him a story. In the early 1700s, a villager with a habit of hiding behind stagecoaches to rob the wealthy messed with the wrong rich man, a big landowner, and was hanged. The historian was convinced that the unfortunate thief was among Meyrick’s ancestors. Could this fabulous connection be true? Ancestry’s genealogists weren’t able to confirm it, and Meyrick said that his source had seemed a little senile. Still, he assured me, the $50,000 trip was “money well spent.”

This year, he plans to do his mother’s side.

Heritage tourism may only be catching on among Americans now, but governments have been pushing it for decades.

After World War II, tourism was considered a major component of diplomacy. Marshall Plan funds were earmarked to build not just roads and city centers but also ski slopes and airports. The Eisenhower administration created the People-to-People Program, promoting international pen-pal networks and sporting events in hopes of uniting countries against the Soviet Union.

Europe welcomed America’s tourists, and tried to encourage more to come. Some hosted “homecomings”—festivals meant to lure the children and grandchildren of emigrants back to visit. Greece held one in 1951; Lebanon, in 1955; Sweden, in 1965–66. Ireland hosted annual homecomings starting in 1953. These campaigns were, in the words of the Swedish historian Adam Hjorthén, “the earliest coordinated attempts at adopting ancestry in the promotion of mass tourism.”

They were also a failure, as people didn’t go. The Irish homecoming— called An Tóstal , or “a gathering,” and sponsored by the founder of Pan Am Airways—went on for six years before a tourist-board report admitted that the word fiasco didn’t sufficiently convey how badly the effort had flopped.   

For heritage tourism to take off, a few changes had to occur. First, plane tickets needed to get a lot cheaper. As the Pan Am founder, of all people, should have known, transatlantic flights then cost a lot of money—airfare from New York to London in 1950 was about $8,700 in today’s dollars . That year, only about one in 250 Americans went overseas at all. In 2019, at the pre-pandemic peak of traveling, this number was one in three .   

Even if they had the money, travelers might not have chosen to spend it on connecting with their homelands. For a long time, genealogy struck many people in the United States as elitist. Most European settlers, the historian Russell Bidlack wrote , “had escaped from a society where the traditions of inheritance and caste had denied them opportunity for a better life.” Genealogy was for people obsessed with nobility, or for WASPs living off borrowed glory.  

This began to change in the 1970s and ’80s, when genealogy became cool. The publication of Roots , Alex Haley’s 1976 novel about a seven-generation lineage, starting with a man sold into slavery in Gambia and ending with an American descendant not unlike the author, was a turning point. The book topped the New York Times best-seller list for more than five months and inspired two TV adaptations and eventually a whole genre of trace-your-ancestry reality shows. Genealogy was no longer just a hobby for pedigree-loving Europeans but became a tool for everyone, including marginalized groups, to understand their past.

Still, genealogy was hard work, at least until the advent of the internet in the 1990s made public records accessible and searchable. Infobases, a seller of floppy disks with genealogy databases catering to Mormons, who have a particular interest in the subject for theological reasons, purchased Ancestry, then a local publisher and magazine specializing in genealogy. Ancestry.com went online in 1996. By the mid-2010s, DNA testing was mainstream—packaged, commoditized. The tests convinced people that the connection they felt to the place of their ancestors was “really real,” as Naomi Leite, an anthropologist at SOAS University of London, put it to me. An American could now possess hard evidence that he was 12.5 percent Greek.

But when that American goes on a vacation to Santorini, what exactly is he hoping to find?

[ From the June 2016 issue: The false promise of DNA testing ]

Heritage is the name Americans give to the past when they realize they’ve already lost it. They want to claim it back. And when they finally go to these places where they had never been, travelers say they are “returning.”

This mode of traveling across space and time is ultimately a journey into the self—the reconstruction of a grand story that started long ago and ends with you. It provides order and meaning to travel that might otherwise seem arbitrary, while still providing plenty of choices: After all, the further you go into your family tree, the more branches you may have to pick from. Solène Prince, who studies heritage travel in Sweden, told me that people tend to focus on the lineage that they view as most “socially desirable”: “Americans and Canadians like to be Swedish,” she said. “It’s progressive.”

A segment of this industry targets Black Americans. Ghana, from which many enslaved Africans were sent to the New World, had its own homecoming— a “Year of Return”— for Africans in the diaspora in 2019. One and a half million people visited the continent that year, Ghana’s tourism department reported. But most heritage tourism tacitly serves white Americans. (Ancestry mentions Ghana in a list of possible Personal Heritage Journeys, but when I asked if anyone had taken advantage of that trip, a company spokesperson said not yet.)

Genealogy may be the product of painstaking research, but it’s also a fantasy, about who we are and who we’d like to be. Many Americans want to be something else: “Time and again, I have heard genealogists be very disappointed to learn that, in fact, they’re all white,” Jackie Hogan, the author of Roots Quest: Inside America’s Genealogy Boom , noted once in an interview . “If America is a melting pot, this is people wanting to unmelt it and find what makes them special,” Leite, the anthropologist, told me.

[ From the July/August 2018 issue: The weird, ever-evolving story of DNA ]

But even if white Americans think they want to be something other than white, when it comes time to travel, they mostly want to go to Europe. Fielding, of the Conte Club, told me that the top destinations for its DNA trips were all in Europe. Even when a DNA test uncovers ancestry outside this part of the world, clients tend to ignore it and “put their money where their comfort zone is”—meaning travel to the places they might have gone to anyway.

Reading testimonials from Ancestry travelers online, I got the impression that a big appeal of a heritage trip is marveling at how bad struggles were in remote places compared with the safety and comfort of present-day America. “I am grateful for them leaving and everything they went through, so we could have the life we have,” one traveler said after visiting the Italian sulfur mines where their grandparents once worked. “I think it made me appreciate not only them, but the sacrifices they had to go through so I could live comfortably here in the United States,” said another one who went to Ireland. There’s a hint of smug pride behind this gratitude exercise.

But at least one traveler came away with a more disquieting narrative, according to Joe Buggy, one of Ancestry’s genealogists. He had an American client who learned, while visiting his ancestors’ quaint little village, that everyone in town believed his grandfather had committed a murder there. They all thought he’d fled to Australia. Maybe that’s why Grandpa never talked about Ireland.

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A small country that’s big on culture and nature

The Netherlands: fiercely independent, open-minded and full of pleasant surprises. Visit our amazing country and discover all the wonderful things it has to offer. Admire the groundbreaking architecture in our green cities, follow in the footsteps of the Dutch Masters or unwind in one of our many beautiful nature reserves. You’re cordially invited to immerse yourself in Dutch culture and truly feel like a local.

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Did you know: The train is a great way to explore the Netherlands. You’ll be guaranteed to have the wind at your back! Read more

Travelling to the Netherlands

Although the Netherlands is a small country, its international connections are great, with several sustainable ways to find your way to our country. We have listed all the options for you so you can decide which mode of transport suits you best.

Transport in the Netherlands

If you come to the Netherlands, there is one thing you can be sure of and that is excellent public transport. Because whether you set off by train, bus, tram or metro, you can get around the whole country in a sustainable and pleasant way. Check out all the available options here.

Practical tips

How do you pack your suitcase as sustainably as possible? How does contactless payment work in the Netherlands? And how do you go about checking in on public transport? You will find the answers to these questions (and many more!) in this overview of practical tips for your holiday to the Netherlands.

How to enjoy a sustainable holiday in the Netherlands!

During your trip, you naturally want to experience all kinds of special things. But how do you keep your carbon emissions limited at the same time? At least these stories make one thing clear: responsible travelling certainly doesn't have to go at the expense of having fun. On the contrary!

Take advantage of the search to browse through the World Heritage Centre information.

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Unesco social media, world heritage list statistics.

• Number of properties by region
• Number of properties inscribed each year by region
• Properties inscribed each Year: Cultural Natural, Mixed
• Properties inscribed each Year by Themes
• Properties inscribed each Year by Areas
• Properties inscribed each year
• Properties inscribed per Year (cumulative)
• Properties inscribed by State Party
• States Parties with no properties inscribed
• List of World Heritage in danger by year

List of World Heritage in danger by region

• RSOUV adopted or not by region
• RSOUV adopted by year by region
• Boundary clarifications by year and by region

Number of World Heritage Properties by region

* The properties " Uvs Nuur Basin " and " Landscapes of Dauria " (Mongolia, Russian Federation) are trans-regional properties located in Europe and Asia and the Pacific region. They are counted here in the Asia and the Pacific region. * The property " The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement " (Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan, Switzerland) is a trans-regional property located in Europe, Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean region. It is counted here in the Europe and North America. * The property " Hyrcanian Forests " " (Azerbaijan, Iran (Islamic Republic of)) are trans-regional properties located in Europe and Asia and the Pacific region. It is counted here in the Asia and the Pacific region.

Number of World Heritage properties inscribed each year by region

Number of world heritage properties inscribed each year: cultural natural, mixed, number of world heritage properties inscribed each year by themes, number of world heritage properties inscribed each year areas of properties inscribed each year, number of world heritage properties inscribed by each state party (168), states parties with no properties inscribed on the world heritage list (27), number of world heritage properties inscribed each year, total number of properties inscribed per year (cumulative), list of world heritage in danger by year, rsouv adopted by region.

In 2007, the World Heritage Committee, in its Decision 31 COM 11D.1, requested that Statements of Outstanding Universal Value be drafted and adopted retrospectively for all World Heritage properties inscribed between 1978 and 2006.

RSOUV adopted by the Committee between 2009 and 2018

RSOUV adopted by year and by region

The property "Uvs Nuur Basin" (Mongolia, Russian Federation) is trans-regional property located in Europe and Asia and the Pacific region. It is counted here in the Asia and the Pacific region.

Boundary clarifications adopted by year and by region

The « clarifications of boundaries », as they refer to the delimitation of properties at the time of their inscription on the World Heritage List, differ from « minor boundary modifications », which refer to any modification (increase or reduction of the size of a property, establishment of a buffer zone, etc…) intervened after the inscription. Before a proposal for a minor boundary modification can be submitted, it is necessary that the boundaries at the time of the inscription are clear or have been clarified.

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K'gari, Queensland © Tourism and Events Queensland

Guide to K’gari

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• Getting to K'gari
• When to visit

Go wild on the world’s largest sand island; it’s a trip you’ll never stop cherishing.

An island made entirely of sand, World Heritage-listed K’gari (formerly Fraser Island) offers surprises at every turn. Within minutes of landing on K’gari, you’ll feel its magic. Drive on wide-open beaches with the wind in your hair, marvel at shifting sand blows, swim in iridescent waters and witness playful marine life just metres from shore. Complete with a blend of holiday resorts and wilderness camping, there’s an adventure for everyone on K’gari.

Formerly known as Fraser Island, the area was reverted back to its traditional name in the language of the local Butchulla peoples, K’gari . The name is derived from an Aboriginal Dreaming story about a goddess named K'gari who fell in love with the earth and never wanted to leave. 

• Traditional name: K’gari (pronounced 'GAH-ree', 'GUR-rie' or 'Gurri')
• Indigenous Peoples: Butchulla people
• Traditional languages: Butchulla/Badjala language
• How to say g’day in Butchulla: Galangoor D’Buthbee

Because there’s no bridge that connects K’gari with the mainland, you’ll need to take a ferry or scenic flight from either Hervey Bay or Rainbow Beach. 

• Ferries depart from River Heads (20 minutes south of Hervey Bay) and Inskip Point (just north of Rainbow Beach), and carry both passengers and 4WD vehicles
• Ferry services only take about 30 minutes depending on your departure and arrival locations
• Air Fraser Island operate daily flights to K’gari from Hervey Bay Airport and Sunshine Coast Airport

It’s important to note that only 4WD vehicles are allowed on K’gari. You can hire one, or book a tour and let someone else do the driving. 

Due to its proximity to the Tropic of Capricorn, the temperature on K’gari is balmy year round. The summer months see the most rain, so be sure to bring a lightweight raincoat if you’re travelling during this time.

K’gari is a wildlife playground, offering whale watching during the winter months and dingo pups between June and November (always keep your distance!).  

• High season: Spring (September to November)
• Low season: Winter (June to August)
• Don’t miss:  The annual whale migration (late June to early September)

Formerly known as Fraser Island, the world's largest sand island is now officially named K'gari.

K'gari is the island's traditional name in the language of the local Butchulla peoples. The recent change to the island's name reflects the depth of culture and history that, paired with unparalleled natural beauty and wildlife, make any visit to K'gari a truly unmissable experience.

Watch the video to learn more about the name K'gari.

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Sacred Sanchi

37.4 ℃ 13 Jun 2024

• Unesco world Heritage site 'Mahastupa' (Great Stupa) stands here
• Home to the Gupta temple, one of the earliest examples of temple architecture
• The evolution of temple architecture is seen in the Gupta temple in the Stupa premises that were built in 5th century
• Houses 4 gateways that showcase Buddha's life through intricate carvings
• The Lion Capital of Ashokan Pillar can be found at The Archeological Museum

Virtual Tour

Sanchi is a small town situated in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is renowned for its ancient Buddhist site, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a popular tourist destination. Sanchi is located about 50 km northeast of Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, and is easily accessible by road or rail. 

The probable reason for the establishment of Buddhist monuments at Sanchi is the city of Vidisha. This erstwhile capital of ancient Eastern Malwa happened to be the populous and rich city of central India. The interest of the great Mauryan emperor Ashoka in Vidisha and around was because his wife Devi belonged to Vidisha. In addition to this fact, the Sanchi hilltop was an ideal place for the establishment of a monastery having a suitable atmosphere for meditation and other spiritual activities. 

The Great Stupa at Sanchi

The main attraction of Sanchi is the Great Stupa, believed to be the first monument to be erected in Sanchi in the third century BC. It is also one of the oldest stone structures in India and is considered one of the finest examples of Buddhist architecture and art, built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. The stupa has a hemispherical dome that is surrounded by a railing and four gateways, each adorned with intricate carvings and sculptures depicting stories from the life of Buddha. The Stupa is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a must-visit for anyone interested in history and architecture. 

Apart from the Great Stupa, Sanchi also has several other stupas, temples, and monasteries that are worth visiting. Stupa No. 2 is also significant and is believed to have been built during the 2nd century B.C. Stupa No. 3, is another well-preserved Stupa at Sanchi hilltop which dates back to the middle of the second century B.C. The Ashoka Pillar is another must-visit structure at the site. It lies close to the Southern gateway of the Great Stupa and is known for its aesthetic proportions and exquisite structural balance. The figure of the four lions standing back to back at the crown of the Ashoka Pillar is also the National Emblem of India.

Apart from the historical and architectural attractions, Sanchi also offers serene landscapes for nature walks and hikes. Visitors can explore the nearby Udayagiri caves, which offer a glimpse into ancient Indian rock-cut architecture. The Bhojpur Temple, a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Sanchi, is another prominent destination among tourists. 

In addition to these attractions, there are several other places to visit in and around Sanchi. Some of them are: 

Experiences in Sanchi

Buddha Jambudweep Park - it is a 17-acre theme park in Sanchi, dedicated to the life and teachings of Gautama Buddha and Emperor Ashoka. It has a garden with recreational activities, a maze for jigsaw puzzles, and a museum with digital games and paintings. Pavilions educate visitors on the four noble truths of Buddhism. The park offers a unique experience for those interested in religion or seeking spiritual guidance. 

Buddhist Vihara - Just a few km away from Sanchi, the Buddhist Vihara is a modern-day monastery that houses the revered relics of the Satdhara STupa. Enclosed in a glass casket, these sacred relics are enshrined on a platform in the inner sanctum of the monastery. Archaeological Museum in Sanchi - The Archaeological Survey of India maintains a site museum at Sanchi. Noteworthy antiquities on display include the lion capital of the Ashokan pillar and metal objects used by the monks, discovered during excavations at Sanchi.  Sound and Light Show - Enhance your experience of visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Sanchi with a mesmerising Sound and Light show. Against the stunning backdrop of the Stupas, this unique show beautifully narrates the story of these ancient monuments while evoking the life of Gautam Buddha and Emperor Ashoka.

Places to visit around Sanchi

Vidisha - Located just 10 km from Sanchi, Vidisha is a quaint town that houses several ancient temples and monuments. The Hindola Toran, Char Khamba and Jain temple complex are some of the must-visit attractions here. 

Gyaraspur - 46 km from Sanchi, Gyaraspur is a mediaeval town that was once known for its annual fair. The town remains a treasure trove of ancient temples, including the Athkhamba, Chaukhamba and Mahadev temples that date back to the 9th and 10th centuries. 

Udaigiri - Located only 16 km away from Sanchi, the Udaigiri Caves offers a chance to witness stunning rock carvings. These 20 caves, consisting of 18 Hindu and 2 Jain caves, boast intricate religious iconography and sculpted stories dating back to the 4th and 5th centuries AD, created over several generations.  Raisen  - Located just 23 km from Sanchi on the way to Bhopal, Raisen boasts a massive sandstone fort atop a hill. The fort houses several temples, palaces, wells and tanks, making it a must-visit destination for history buffs. 

Satdhara - Located 14 km from Sanchi houses an ancient monastic complex of Buddhist Stupas, consisting of 8 stupas with the main stupa being almost as large as the Great Stupa of Sanchi. The ruins near the stupa include remains of the monastery and temple, known as siddh ka makaan, indicative of the once-enlightened monks who resided there. 

Sonari - Just 11 km from Sanchi, Sonari is a complex of Buddhist stupas, excavated in the 19th century by Alexander Cunningham, who discovered two boxes containing relics. Stupa No. 1 is the largest and made of dry masonry, while Stupa No. 2 contains miniature reliquaries and inscriptions in Brahmi. There are also smaller stupas nearby and the remains of a monastery. The site is accessible only by foot, with a three km walk over two hills and across one stream from Sonari village. 

Bhopal - The capital city of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal is known for its rich history, culture and architecture. The city has several monuments, lakes, markets and museums that are worth visiting. 

Bhimbetka - Located about 100 km from Sanchi, Bhimbetka is an archaeological site that houses several prehistoric rock shelters and cave paintings. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a must-visit for history enthusiasts.

Pachmarhi - Located about 200 km from Sanchi, Pachmarhi is a scenic hill station surrounded by lush green forests, waterfalls, and valleys. It is a popular destination for trekking, camping, and nature walks. 

In conclusion, Sanchi is a fascinating destination that offers a perfect blend of history, architecture, and nature. Visitors can explore the ancient stupas, temples, and monasteries and enjoy nature walks. The nearby towns and cities like Vidisha, Bhopal, Bhimbetka and Pachmarhi offer several other attractions that make Sanchi a perfect getaway for a short holiday or a weekend trip.

How to reach Sanchi

By Air : Nearest airport is at Bhopal (49 km) that connects Sanchi with other major cities of India like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Gwalior and Indore. 

By Rail : Sanchi lies on the Jhansi-Itarsi section of the Central Railways. However the most convenient railheads are Vidisha (10 km) and Bhopal (49 km).

By Road : Sanchi is well connected with Bhopal, Indore, Sagar, Gwalior, Vidisha, Raisen and many more by road. 

Best time to visit Sanchi

You can plan a visit to Sanchi, anytime between July/October to March to enjoy the pleasant weather and explore the ancient wonders of Buddhism. If you happen to be here in November, don't miss the grand celebration of Chethiyagiri Vihara festival, where you can witness the display of relics belonging to Gautam Buddha's disciples as a part of the festivities. There are a lot of accommodation options as well, catering to all budgets and needs. 

Rural Life Experiences Around Sanchi

The numerous stupas, temples, monasteries and an Ashokan pillar have been the focus of interest and awe for global audiences as well. In fact, UNESCO has given the status of 'World Heritage Site' to the Mahastupa.

A visit to Sanchi will bring alive the awe you felt as a child as you listened to the tales of Ashoka.

• Things To Do

Must-Visit UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Madhya Pradesh, India (2024)

From prehistoric caves to Guptas to Rajputs to Marathas to Mughals, the landscape of Madhya

Stone Carving of Gwalior

Stone Carving is an art wh

Vidisha, Gyaraspur & Udaygiri Caves - The historically rich circuit!

Vidisha near

Remarkable Buddhist Sites in Madhya Pradesh

Ever thought which Buddhist site other than the fam

The Sanchi stupa captures the journey to enlightenment

The Sanchi Stupa is more than a reliquary preserving the remains of Buddhist teachers and B

Built by an emperor and restored by a British duo

Emperor Ashoka built the great stupa and made the town of Sanchi sacred as well as popular

Museum of Natural Wooden Sculptures - Preserving the Art of Nature

Small efforts give you little motivation and little

Best Places to visit

The great stupa, chaitya, vihar/ the buddhist vihar, gupta temple, sanchi stupa 2, the asi museum.

View All Places Of Interest

With a diameter of 106 ft. and standing 42 ft. high, it is the grandest structure and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

It used to be the residence of monks and has a specific area dedicated for communal activities.

This 5th century temple is one of the earliest known examples of temple architecture in India.

This beautiful stupa sits at the edge of the hill, encircled by stone balustrade with carvings of goddesses.

The Archaeological Survey of India Museum has preserved noteworthy antiquities including the lion capital of the Ashokan pillar.

The disciples

Situated close to the Great Stupa are the relics of two of Buddha?s earliest disciples - Sariputta and Mahamogallena.

The great bowl

Carved out of a single block of stone, it was used to hold food that was to be distributed among monks.

Udaygiri caves

These ancient caves, built during the reign of Chandragupta II, have all the features that gave Gupta art its unique identity.

Woodcraft Museum

The archaeological museum in Sanchi exhibits beautiful sculptures and objects belonging to medieval period

Bija Mandal - Vidisha district

Vidisha town, the headquarters of Vidisha dsitrict, is located just 9 km from Sanchi. Vidisha was an important trade centre in 5th and 6th century and contains the ruins of the Bija Mandal Temple and Mosque, and Gumbaz Ka Makbara.

ACCOMMODATIONS

MPT Gateway Retreat, Sanchi

Price: INR 300 - 3590 Phone: (07482) 266723

View Details

Restaurants And Bars

Mpt gateway retreat, multi cuisine.

Phone : 18002337777

This property of MPT Hotels & Resorts in the World Heritage Site, Sanchi, offers best in hospitality services.The spacious layout and best quality food makes it the first choice for events like weddings and corporate events.

Phone : 9981260009

A very old traditional indian pure veg dhaba running from the past 25 years popular for its local cuisine

Nearby destinations

Begum's Bhopal (48 KM)

Split by a pair of lakes, Bhopal is two cities within a city. Two starkly contrasting cityscapes. Towards the North you have the old city, a fascinating area of mosques, serpentine alleys, chowks

Amazing Bhimbetka (89 KM)

Cave paintings dating back to approximately 30,000 years. Rock shelters that were home to humans, millennia ago. And a rich flora and fauna surrounding these, indeed, make Bhimbetka a gift to us

Travel tools

Destination map, local guide directory, tours and operators, destination brochure, tourist guides, best season to visit.

The best time to visit Sanchi is from July to April.

The 8 best places to visit in Spain in 2024

Feb 13, 2024 • 7 min read

From the Catalonian capital of Barcelona to the fascinating mix of cultures in Toledo, here are the best places to visit in Spain © Westend61 / Getty Images

Coming second only to its northern neighbor as the most visited country in the world, Spain is packed with incredible places to visit and experiences to enjoy.

Sun-drenched Mediterranean beaches, World Heritage cities, incredible cuisine, and multi-faceted culture – the only downside is not knowing where to begin with your must-see list. I've done all the hard work for you and gathered together my eight favorite places to visit in sensational Spain in 2024.

Best city for visiting world-class art museums 

The Spanish capital  is a lively city blessed with year-round clear blue skies draped over its vibrant barrios (neighborhoods) , architectural landmarks and famed art museums. There's even an ancient Egyptian temple, the Templo de Debod , right in Madrid's city center. 

Art aficionados could spend days exploring Madrid's "Golden Triangle of Art," composed of three globally renowned museums , the Museo del Prado , Reina Sofía and the Thyssen-Bornemisza , which are home to some of the world's most valuable art collections. They are situated along Madrid's Paseo del Prado (Art Walk) , which has recently been granted UNESCO World Heritage status.

Planning tip:  Madrid has a vibrant street culture that loves its wine-soaked tapas crawls. Cava Baja in the historic La Latina neighborhood is lined with quaint little bars and taverns, making it one of the best streets in the city to join locals hopping from one bar to the next to sample a selection of Iberian hams, charcuterie and cheeses.

2. Barcelona

Best for modernist architecture

Straddling the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees mountains, the Catalonian capital is a visually stunning metropolis with avant-garde architecture, city beaches and a Gothic Quarter that stretches back over 2000 years.

No visit to Barcelona is complete without spending time at the Sagrada Família , the obra maestra of the illustrious Catalan architect and proponent of Modernism, Antoní Gaudí. His influence on the city is everywhere, and it's worth taking time to visit his other architectural jewels, the Casa Batlló , La Pedrera and Park Güell.

Another place where Gaudí has left his legacy is at the Plaça Reial , at the heart of the city's two millennia-old Barri Gòtic (Gothic Quarter) . The public square is lit up by decorative street lamps that were Gaudí's first commissioned public work. This ancient neighborhood is also home to the majestic La Catedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia, which was built over two centuries from the 13th to the 15th centuries. At the border of the quarter is Mercat de la Boqueria , one of the oldest markets in Europe.

Planning tip: Have a lunchtime visit to Mercat de la Boqueria – it's when the unassuming places to eat, run by charismatic owners, start to open up.

3. San Sebastián

Best city for gourmet experiences

This alluring Basque coastal city in northern Spain is stunning, characterized by its belle epoque architecture, white-sand beaches that stretch for kilometers, and blue waters of the Bay of Biscay. On a clear day, stroll along the boulevard of La Concha beach to get a feel for the locals' sea-loving culture.

San Sebastián, or Donostia in Basque, has evolved from a traditional whaling town into a world-famous gastronomic capital. It has the greatest concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants per square meter in Europe, and gastronomic delights await you around every corner.

Planning tip:  You don't need to have a Michelin-star budget to be able to enjoy San Sebastián's food culture. Head over to the Parte Vieja (Old Quarter), particularly along 31 de Agosto Street. The streets here are lined with restaurants and bars offering dizzying rows of assorted pintxos  – literally translating as "spike." The name describes how these appetizers are presented with skewers or toothpicks for easy picking.

4. Balearic islands

Best for beaches and sapphire-colored waters

Anyone who's been to these outlying islands east of the Iberian Peninsula would recognize the "Balearic blues" — the distinct shades of blue that characterize these Mediterranean waters. This archipelago's four largest islands –  Ibiza , Mallorca , Menorca and Formentera – are blessed with countless beaches and calas  (coves) embraced by white sand coastlines and rugged cliffs.

Among these islands, Ibiza is the most famous one, mainly for its reputation as a 24/7 party destination. Yet Ibiza's clubbing culture is just a tiny slice of this spectacular island on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is fringed with sapphire-colored waters, filled with historic fortified towns, and has a wealth of hidden inlets and charming beachside restaurants and cafes. You can visit the ruins of the ancient Phoenician civilization at Sa Caleta and the Puig des Molins necropolis to get a glimpse of the ancient colonies that inhabited this island long before the clubbers discovered it. 

Best place for cultural sightseeing

The delights of  Seville are in the details – this charming Andalusian capital may give you the sensation of déjà vu, perhaps because its year-round sunny days, resplendent gardens and intricately carved palaces have made it a favored filming location for big productions from Star Wars to Game of Thrones . Its allure lies in its idiosyncratic mix – horse-drawn carriages, flamenco tablaos  (stages), colossal Gothic structures and Islamic stylistic details all blend to create this multi-layered dreamscape of a city.

Seville's rich cultural tapestry is the legacy of its long and varied history, once a Moorish capital, later the seat of the Castilian aristocracy, and then as the European gateway to the Americas after Columbus' journey in 1492. The unique juxtaposition of cultures could not be more apparent when visiting the Seville Cathedral , the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and the final resting place of Columbus, and then just a few meters away, the Real Alcázar showcasing the splendor of Mudéjar architecture with Islamic, Baroque, Gothic and Renaissance elements.

Planning tip:  Want to experience a huge celebration? Time your visit for one of the city's great annual festivals , notably the Semana Santa and Feria de Abril.

Best for layers of history

This 2000-year-old walled city occupies a significant place in Spain's history. It was the former capital of the Visigothic Kingdom, a fortress of the Emirate of Cordoba, a Roman municipium, the seat of power of King Charles V, and the former capital of Spain until 1560 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. With Jewish, Christian and Islamic influences, Toledo has earned the nickname "The City of Three Cultures." Walk along its narrow cobblestone streets to glimpse the vestiges of this unique cultural melange — ancient Roman structures, Moorish architectural styles, the Catedral de Toledo , the El Tránsito Synagogue and the Cristo de la Luz Mosque .

Planning tip:  Head over to the Mirador del Valle for spectacular panoramic views and a picture-perfect photo of this historic city by the Tagus River.

Best city for Western Islamic architecture

Situated at the foot of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountain range is the postcard-perfect Andalusian city of Granada . It is home to the Alhambra palace complex and the ancient citadel of the Nasrid Dynasty, the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula which ruled until the 15th century. Meaning "the Red One," the Alhambra is a stunning architectural masterpiece merging Moorish and Christian decorative elements – it's impossible not to feel transported to a fantasy world with its intricately carved walls and archways, mirror-like pools and colorful mosaics. 

Planning tip:  Continue the visual feast at the Palacio de Generalife right by the Alhambra, a summer palace whose gardens and perfectly orchestrated fountains provided repose for the ancient Nasrid sultans.

8. Santiago de Compostela

Best city for spiritual tourism

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of Galicia and the final destination of the Camino de Santiago (Way of Saint James) pilgrimage, a tradition that stretches back over 1000 years. On any day of the week, you'll see pilgrims from all over the world paying their respects at the Basilica of Santiago de Compostela , the reputed burial place of St James the Apostle. 

Even non-pilgrims can relish the mystical beauty of this northern Spanish city with a distinct Celtic heritage. Its beating heart is the Plaza del Obradoiro , where the luxurious Hostal dos Reis Católicos  stands, believed to be the oldest hotel in the world that was once a hostel for pilgrims.

Planning tip:  Santiago has a rich gastronomic tradition highlighted by its excellent seafood, so be hungry when you visit the city's second most popular attraction after the Cathedral, the Mercado de Abastos food market.

This article was first published Aug 18, 2021 and updated Feb 13, 2024.

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