Making ICH tourism more sustainable and regenerative in post-pandemic situations
Online symposium on Sunday, 13 December, 1.30-3.00 pm
To attend the Symposium use this link via Zoom (Meeting ID: 833 8803 5609 – Passcode: 294752)
During the Intergovernmental Committee Meeting in Bogotá it was decided that the ICH NGO Forum should organize a symposium on ICH & tourism, a hotly debated topic during the sessions, especially in connection with international nominations for the safeguarding lists, in which tourism is included as one of the safeguarding measures. In reports of the Evaluation Body, the danger of “over-commercialization” is often mentioned as one of the threats.
All the same tourism – and especially sustainable tourism – is often mentioned as indispensable for developing countries: sustainable tourism from which intangible heritage practitioners may also profit.
The COVID-19 pandemic presents the intangible practitioners with new challenges but possibly also with new opportunities. Travel and quarantine restrictions and fears of infection have significantly reduced tourism. On the other hand, also within UNESCO, experts call for inclusive and regenerative tourism to build back stronger post-COVID-19 (see: https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/2177).
Within Europe, Asia and the Americas ICH related tourist destination even got a boost. Because travelling abroad was no longer possible, people decided to have their vacation at home, in their own country, for which small scale sustainable ICH tourism offered many opportunities.
How can ICH contribute to sustainable tourism, avoiding the pitfall of over-tourism and over-commercialization? How can ICH tourism profit from the increasing attention for sustainable tourism, also in an ecological sense?
Programme
1.30-1.40 pm: Welcome and introduction, by Albert van der Zeijden, Dutch Centre for Intangible Culture Heritage, on behalf of the ICH NGO Forum
1.40-1.55 pm: New Directions for sustainable and regenerative ICH tourism – Building resilience, adapting to change, expanding community agency, by Robert Baron, International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF)
1.55-2.10 pm: Challenges and opportunities for ICH tourism in Latin America after COVID-19, by David Gómez Manrique, Technical coordinator of CRESPIAL
2.10– 2.25 pm: Responsible and sustainable tourism as a way to promote the Intangible and tangible heritage and the local economies, by Anabela Correia, Director of Tourism Services at the INATEL Foundation (Portugal)
2.25 – 2.40 pm: ICH-based strategies to restart tourism After COVID: Examples from India, by Ananya Bhattacharya, Banglanatak
2.40 – 2.50 pm: Ideas for an online dossier and toolbox on ICH & sustainable tourism, by Martha Fleurant and Jorijn Neyrinck, NGO Workshop intangible heritage (BE)
2.50 – 3:00 pm: Some concluding remarks, by Martin Andrade Perez
