Tourism development in World Heritage Areas

摘要

The World Heritage Convention is increasingly recognised as providing qualified support for tourism developments in World Heritage areas where such developments are sustainable and respectful of the heritage values for which the place was listed. The draft TWWHA Management Plan arguably fails to ensure that tourism proposals in the TWWHA are guided by these considerations. In order to ensure that tourism proposals in World Heritage areas protect, conserve and present World Heritage values, decision makers at local, state and federal level must be required to have regard to the terms of the World Heritage Convention. Currently, the influence of the Commonwealth over the content of state plans is largely political, rather than legislative. It remains to be seen whether assessment under any new management plan for the TWWHA will satisfy that obligation and protect the property from development that will adversely impact on outstanding universal values.