ICH Tourism dialogues: conversations on Living Heritage and Tourism

Interdisciplinary Conversations on Living Heritage and Tourism

Following the new avenues opened up for dialogue and collaborations among diverse stakeholders by the web dossier on Intangible Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism, the ICH NGO Forum Working Group on sustainable ICH Tourism initiates in 2024 a series of conversations looking to expand the scope of our understanding of the relationship between ICH and tourism.

The ICH Tourism Dialogues will bring together scholars and ICH practitioners along with people from NGOs, tourism agencies and the tourism industry representing localities, regions and national governments to talk about the benefits and challenges of this relationship from different perspectives.  

Dialogue about issues of economic development,  tourism studies, cultural resources management, the relationships of historic preservation and the protection of monuments with ICH,  environmental sustainability and perspectives from the social sciences can enrich this discussion.  

The ICH Tourism Dialogues will share the experiences of diverse types of institutions and key actors in the field that have developed successful and sometimes not-so-successful projects for promoting tourism related to cultural traditions and practices.  These conversations aim to further enrich and develop the web dossier for its multiple users, and contribute to the ongoing exercise on what to do when ICH and tourism meet.

2025 CALENDAR: 

• 21 May  2.30 pm to 4 p.m. CEST

Dialogue on action research experiences in tourism and living heritage
with Ruzanna Tsaturyan (My Armenia Program, Armenia) and Ketevan Gurchiani (Georgia), moderated by Michele McKenzie (international Tourism expert, Canada)
Chaired by Halle M. Butvin (Smithsonian Folklife Institute, ICH NGO Forum)

• 2 September  2.30 pm to 4 p.m. CEST

Dialogue on the ICOMOS Cultural Heritage Tourism Charter 

With Dr. Ivan Henares, President of ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee (ICTC),
Chaired by Ananya Bhattacharya, active in both the ICH NGO Forum and ICTC proceedings

• 5 November  2.30 pm to 4 p.m. CET

Dialogue with Prof. dr. Noël Salazar (link)
reflecting on 21st century key evolutions, challenges and responsive approaches to ICH and tourism
Chaired by Jorijn Neyrinck, active in both the ICH NGO Forum and the Living Heritage Journeys project

ICH Tourism dialogues: Previous conversations