Tickets to visit ruins buried by Mount Vesuvius, seen by 4 million this summer, to be capped at 20,000 a day
Pompeii plans to limit visitor numbers to 20,000 a day and introduce personalised tickets from next week in an effort to cope with overtourism and protect the world heritage site, officials said.
This summer, a record 4 million people visited the remains of the ancient Roman city, buried under ash and rock after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.
Continue reading...Situation ‘out of balance’ as local people are priced out of housing and frustrated by hordes of selfie-seekers
Surging visitor numbers, soaring housing prices and the rise of selfie-seeking tourists have helped to create situations that are “totally out of balance”, a Unesco official has said, adding that a failure to address these issues could see the Spanish wave of protests against mass tourism extend across Europe.
In recent weeks tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Spain’s most popular destinations, calling for curbs on mass tourism and a rethink of a business model that they say has pushed up housing prices and driven local people out of cities.
Continue reading...Highway that consolidated Roman empire joins modernist Romanian sculptures as latest sites added to list
Italy’s Via Appia Antica, or Appian Way, the earliest and most important road built by the ancient Romans, has been named a Unesco world heritage site, making Italy the country with the world’s highest number of locations on the coveted list.
Known as the Regina Viarum, or Queen of Roads, it connected Rome with the port of Brindisi in the south and marked a revolution in the construction of roads.
Continue reading...Unesco officials recommend adding Wiltshire stone circle amid fears road scheme would compromise its integrity
Stonehenge is likely to be put on a list of world heritage sites that are in danger because of the plan to build a tunnel under the precious landscape.
Unesco officials have recommended adding the Wiltshire stone circle and the area around it to the list because of concerns that the tunnel would “compromise the integrity” of one of the Earth’s great prehistoric sites.
Continue reading...Reef escapes being classed ‘in danger’ for now but the government must submit a progress report to World Heritage committee by February
Unesco has urged Australia to set more ambitious climate targets for the Great Barrier Reef in a list of recommendations to preserve its status as a world heritage site.
The report, published in Paris late on Monday, did not recommend the reef be placed on a list of sites “in danger” – a threat that has hung over the reef for years – when the 21-country world heritage committee meets next month.
Continue reading...‘We want this to be on the bucket list of visitors from around the world because it is so special globally,’ environment minister says
Australia has taken the first steps to nominating parts of Cape York for recognition as Unesco world heritage.
The area features 17,000 year-old rock art – some of the world’s largest – and is home to more than 300 threatened species, including the green sawfish, Cape York rock wallaby and southern cassowary.
Continue reading...Cecilie Hollberg sparks outrage in remarks about capital city of Tuscan region being ‘crushed by tourism’
Mass tourism has turned Florence into a “prostitute”, one of the city museum’s directors has said, sparking outrage from politicians including Italy’s culture minister.
“Once a city becomes a prostitute, it is difficult for it to become a virgin again,” Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses Michelangelo’s statue of David, told reporters on the sidelines of an event.
Continue reading...Move aims to reduce pressure of thousands of daily visitors to Italian city and protect residents
Venice is to limit the size of tourist groups in an attempt to reduce the pressure of thousands of visitors crowding its squares, bridges and narrow walkways each day.
From June, groups visiting the Italian canal city will be limited to 25 people, or roughly half the capacity of a tourist bus, the city announced this weekend. The use of loudspeakers, popular among tour groups but “which can generate confusion and disturbances”, will be banned in the city and on nearby islands, officials said in a statement.
Continue reading...Two other workers were injured when a 30m section of wall around the Old City of Kairouan gave way while being restored
A section of the ancient walls around the Old City of Kairouan collapsed on Saturday, killing three masons carrying out repairs on the Unesco world heritage site, Tunisian authorities said.
In addition two workers were injured when a 30-metre (100ft) section of the 6-metre-high walls near the Gate of the Floggers crashed to the ground, the Civil Protection department said.
Continue reading...Amnesty says heritage body has ‘fallen short’ in its responsibility to thousands of families thrown off the complex in Cambodia
Unesco has “fallen short of its responsibility to uphold and promote human rights” amid mass evictions at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple complex, Amnesty International has claimed in a new investigation.
The Cambodian government has used “intimidation, harassment, threats and acts of violence” to remove about 10,000 families from the world heritage site, the report said. In an unusual move, Amnesty also named Unesco as a “responsible actor”, arguing that the UN body was made aware of alleged human rights abuses for months but did not investigate or acknowledge them.
Additional reporting by Keat Soriththeavy
Continue reading...Unesco analysis shows that sub-Saharan Africa accounts for a third of the shortfall, but that Europe and North America are lacking too
The world needs 44 million more teachers if education is to be provided to every child, according to new figures from Unesco.
The education and culture agency said 9% of primary school teachers quit the profession in 2022, almost double the rate of 4.6% in 2015.
Continue reading...‘We feel like foreigners in our own home,’ says activist as city’s population dwarfed by visitors
The number of beds available to tourists on Venice’s main island has surpassed the number of year-round residents for the first time, as a Unesco decision on the city’s future on the world heritage site list looms.
There are now 49,693 tourist beds across hotels and rented holiday homes, compared with 49,304 inhabitants.
Continue reading...Authorities want to cut number of tourists as Unesco considers putting Italian city on heritage danger list
Venice will trial a ticketing system from spring next year, with day visitors charged €5 to enter the Italian city’s historic centre in an attempt to reduce tourist numbers.
The city’s council executive backed the move on Tuesday, just weeks after Unesco recommended Venice be added to its list of world heritage sites in danger, in part due to the impact of mass tourism.
Continue reading...Major UN report issues warning over excessive use, with one in six countries already banning the devices
Smartphones should be banned from schools to tackle classroom disruption, improve learning and help protect children from cyberbullying, a UN report has recommended.
Unesco, the UN’s education, science and culture agency, said there was evidence that excessive mobile phone use was linked to reduced educational performance and that high levels of screen time had a negative effect on children’s emotional stability.
Continue reading...Biden committed to rejoining body to ‘counter Chinese influence’ after Trump administration pulled out over ‘anti-Israeli bias’
The US is set to rejoin Unesco this month after a four-year absence from the global cultural and educational body that the country abandoned during the Donald Trump presidency over what his administration called “anti-Israeli bias”.
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s reunion with the US came after a two-day special session held at the body’s headquarters in Paris.
Continue reading...Return of US ends decade-long dispute sparked by agency’s move to admit Palestine as a member
The UN’s cultural and scientific agency, Unesco, has announced that the US plans to rejoin – and pay more than $600m (£477m) in back dues – after a decade-long dispute sparked by the organisation’s move to include Palestine as a member.
US officials say the decision to return was motivated by concern that China is filling the gap left by Washington in Unesco policymaking, notably in setting standards for artificial intelligence and technology education around the world.
Continue reading...The list of hopefuls also includes sites in Birkenhead, Northern Ireland and the Cayman Islands
The historic city centre of York and ancient settlements in the Shetlands are among seven sites backed by the UK government to win Unesco world heritage status, it has been announced.
York, which boasts the Minster and enjoys a rich history bequeathed by its Anglo-Saxon, Viking and Norman inhabitants, and three ancient settlements known as the “zenith of iron age Shetland” join five other sites announced on the “tentative list” to bid for the status.
Continue reading...Experts and environmentalists say aquifer feeding Doñana national park, a Unesco heritage site, has been overexploited for tourism and to water fruit farms
The largest permanent lake in Spain’s Doñana national park, one of Europe’s biggest and most important wetlands, has shrivelled to a small puddle as years of drought and overexploitation take their toll on the aquifer that feeds the area and sustains millions of migrating birds.
On Monday, experts from Spain’s National Research Council (CSIC) said the Santa Olalla lake, which sits in a Unesco world heritage site, had dried up for the third time in 50 years.
Continue reading...Dubbed a ‘great outdoor museum’, the fossil-rich region will be assessed by the World Heritage Centre, a process expected to take another two years
South Australia’s iconic and fossil-rich Flinders Ranges is one step closer to being declared one of Australia’s natural wonders on the Unesco World Heritage List.
The area has been nominated for a tentative listing as a world heritage site, on behalf of the South Australian government and the area’s traditional owners, the Adnyamathanha people.
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Continue reading...UN body adds Ukrainian borscht-making to list of intangible cultural heritage that includes Neapolitan pizza-slinging
The UN’s cultural body has added the cooking of Ukrainian borscht to its list of endangered cultural traditions, accepting Ukraine’s petition to fast-track its application following the invasion by neighbouring Russia.
Ukrainian borscht-making “was today inscribed on Unesco’s list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding”, Unesco said in a statement on Friday.
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