The (controversial) role of the UNESCO WHL Management Plans in promoting sustainable tourism development

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between tourism and planning in UNESCO World Heritage List (WHL) sites. It concentrates on the relation between Management Plans (MPs) and other (local and regional) planning instruments and policies able to influence the promotion of sustainable and responsible development. This is explored through an examination of two important tourist locations in Sicily: Agrigento (the Valley of the Temples) and the Aeolian Islands, which have both been recognized as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. The analysis of these case studies will point out the challenge of integrating different management and planning regimes. The paper shows how supranational policies often lose their efficacy in relation to regional and local planning systems. It underlines how the interrelation between the WHL MP and other (local and regional) plans is on the one hand necessary and on the other hand problematic, due to the difficult integration between planning instruments operating in the same area, but managed by different actors, with different time schedules, resources and legal effectiveness.