Charter Renewal Process

Conscious of tourism’s deep and historic influence on all heritage fields, the 1976 and 1999 ICOMOS Cultural Tourism Charters are regarded today as two milestones of the international doctrine in this field.

Although the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Charter- Managing Tourism at Places of Heritage Significance (1999) continues being relevant to deal with the positive and negative impacts of tourism on cultural heritage preservation and enjoyment and on destination communities, the ICTC decided to review this charter in its 2017 Annual Meeting in Florence to update it to current tourism circumstances and problematics.

Profound change and growth in tourism in the 21st century, the progress of cultural heritage preservation in the last twenty years, a growing awareness of social, ethical, cultural and environmental issues linked to tourism, and the deep impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in this activity worldwide, have necessitated this revision.

The updating process is being implemented by an ICTC Taskforce composed by Celia Martínez (ICTC Vice President, coordinator of the revision); Fergus Maclaren (ICTC President), Jim Donovan (ICTC Vice President), Ian Kelly (ICTC Treasurer), Ananya Bhatacharya (ICTC Bureau Member), Tomeu Deyá (ICTC Vice President) Sue Millar (former ICTC President), Cecilie Smith-Christensen, Margaret Gowen, Sofia Fonseca, and Carlos Alberto Hiriart.

The several steps of this revision are being monitored by ICOMOS SC, ADCOM and Board, and hopefully a final draft will be ready for endorsement at the 2022 ICOMOS General Assembly after the compulsory several rounds of consultation within ICOMOS and with partner organizations.

We hope this new doctrinal document will be key to encourage all tourism stakeholder’s cooperation in the pursuit of a responsibly managed and regenerative tourism for cultural properties and communities, and to reinforce the ICOMOS voice and role on this subject

Charter: English | French | Spanish | Italian | Chinese | Arabic | Danish

Drafts: English-French | English-Spanish | English-Italian | English-Chinese | English-Arabic | English-Danish