Booming tourism threatens China’s world heritage sites
Almasalla Travel News – By Ashraf El gedawy – China is witnessing the fastest growth in tourism market which is adversely affecting the world heritage sites, reports a UN expert told a forum in east China s Jiangxi Province on Friday. Although, tourism has contributed to employment and boosted cross-cultural interactions, it has also threatened about a quarter of East Asia’s world heritage sites.
Peter Ogden, a project expert for the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Beijing office, made the comments at the Lushan Forum on World Heritage Cultural Landscape in East Asia.
According to Ogden, China faces major challenges in protecting world heritage sites as the country has the largest domestic tourism market and also serves as the world’s third largest tourist destination.
A co-ordination between tourism development and world heritage protection is required, he suggested.
