The first international expert and scientific conference Proceed with Care has been opened at the Croatian National Theatre in Šibenik, organised by the National Association for Interdisciplinary Activities in the Field of Heritage and Tourism. The conference is taking place under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, Croatian UNESCO Commission and the Ministry of Tourism, and in the partnership with the Town of Šibenik, the Croatian National Tourist Board and the Krka National Park.
At the opening ceremony, the conference organiser Jelena Skorup addressed the audience, beginning her speech with the central question of the conference “Why should we proceed with care?” “Tourism is one of the most important social and economic phenomena of recent decades and shows significant growth. Countries and communities have the opportunity to promote their unique heritage identity with great passion through tourism. In the last few decades, some cities and monuments, especially those on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, have been put at risk due to a large number of visitors which exceeds their capacity,” said Skorup.
Speeches were also given by Šibenik mayor Željko Burić and a representative of the Ministry of Tourism, State Secretary Tonči Glavina, who said that the Croatian towns are increasingly encountering the issue of excessive tourism and need to take the necessary measures to prevent the phenomenon of over-tourism.
After the opening ceremony, the introductory lecture was given by Yonca Erkan, head of UNESCO’s World Heritage Management and Promotion Service focusing on new media, at the same time a professor at Kadir Has University in Istanbul. The lecture was held on the topic “Inclusiveness for Sustainability: Multiplicities for Cultural Tourism”. Through her career, she has worked on many projects, she is a member of UNESCO and Europa Nostra, and she has received many global awards for her work.
The theme of the Proceed with Care conference is the “Coexistence with Tourism”, and it will cover two main areas. The first will deal with the strategies and techniques for designing and planning tourist sites and infrastructures for sustainable heritage management and tourism in areas with valuable cultural and natural heritage, with an emphasis on world cultural heritage under the UNESCO protection. The second area refers to communication strategies and techniques for the implementation of sustainable planning and design solutions where the strategy of positioning the heritage tourist destinations and defining their brand architectures will be discussed.
More about the conference can be found on the official website.
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