UN Agency’s Latest Endangered List Leaves Out Many Sites Plagued by Overtourism
Photo Credit: UNESCO World Heritage Sites like Stonehenge in the United Kingdom, pictured here, were asked to submit a state of conservation report to UNESCO this year. Flickr / Jillian Kern
Skift Take
UNESCO sites have to follow conservation and management criteria to maintain their designations, but many have slacked off over the years and put themselves at risk. Albeit, the organization doesn't view many of its most iconic sites most at risk from crowds as the most problematic.
UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Taj Mahal and Machu Picchu are some of the most visited tourist attractions in the world, and many of them are also some of the most mismanaged, according to a new report from the U.N. organization.
The organization released information from the state of conservation reports it had requested from 157 of the more than 1,000 UNESCO-designated sites worldwide (or nearly 15 percent of all sites).
UNESCO requires a report from a site when it's deemed that an event or action has threatened or could threaten one of the organization's 14 outstanding universal values, such as pollution, commercial development, or land conservation
