The protection of world heritage should involve sustainable tourism and a limit fixed on travels tocultural and historic sites in the wake of increasing pressure from tourists, World Heritage Committee Ex-Chairman Adul Wichiencharoen said in Suzhou.

Wichiencharoen, from Thailand, made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Xinhua during the ongoing 28th Session of the World Heritage Committee, UNESCO's annual meeting on world heritage thatopened in Suzhou of east China's Jiangsu Province on June 28 and will last till July 7.

"We must not allow the promotion of tourism within World Heritage sites to the extent that threatens the longevity of those sites," said Wichiencharoen, who is also head of the Thailand delegation to the current session.

The burgeoning tourism worldwide has sparked worries and fears among representatives attending the session. They are afraid that those cultural and natural sites might become victims of the promotion of tourism within these sites.

Many tourism organizations, government agencies, transport entities, hotels and stores consider sites on the World Heritage List to be signboards to attract as many tourists as possible because tourism means money, Wichiencharoen said.

"We must not allow the acts to gain money from tourism at the expense of protection and preservation of properties, we could strive for a balance," said Wichiencharoen, who had served as the Chairman of the World Heritage Committee in 1995 and terminated his tenure in the 21-member committee last October.

Wichiencharoen, 78, urged countries across the world to developsustainable tourism that involves utilization, preservation and protection of cultural and natural sites for future generations.

He called on the building of respective zones on management, sightseeing and service facilities within the world heritage sitesto better preserve those properties when promoting tourism inside.

In the view of Wichiencharoen, tourists will only be allowed tovisit in the sightseeing zones within the world heritage sites while the management zone will be sealed off for management and preservation.

Each world heritage site should be assessed to what extent it can bear the number of visitors and the disbenefits that visitors leave at the property, he said.

Moreover, educational and training programs for everyone involving in the tourist sector is important for sustainable tourism.

Though some representatives to the Suzhou session consider tourism at the heritage sites the most direct and efficient way to help people learn more about world heritage sites, Wichiencharoen disagreed, saying it isn't appropriate to develop tourism in every heritage site.

"For some fragile properties, such as natural reserves, we cannot allow tourists to come in, and only those for the purpose of doing research or education can be let in," Wichiencharoen said.

"Tourism should be allowed in such a way that it won't affect the long-term survival of those properties you want to keep for future generations," he said, adding that "if you have to choose, you must choose to preserve it."

Source: Xinhua