Dr.Hesham Mohamed El-Barmelgy
Professor of Sustainable Development & Urban Design Dean of Faculty of Regional & Urban Planning - Cairo University
El-Barmelgy Consultant Office (BSC) ... www.bscoffice.org (email)
El-Barmelgy Consultant Office (BSC) ... www.bscoffice.org (email)
Historical Sites all over the world have been threatened lately by a number of serious issues. Amongst the most significant issues encountered are the challenges and pressures of the tourist industry on the natural and historical fabric of these sites. The UNESCO has initiated the World Heritage Sites project for more than 50 years aiming to provide a method for applying continuous monitoring for preservation of these sites. After all, these sites bare the history of humanity all around the world. The social, cultural and environmental heritages of societies are priceless assets that can never be ignored or replaced. However, following the announcement of the WHS, these sites have started to gain popularity in the form of additional tourism attraction. In addition, they started to suffer great sources of threats as direct results of an unsustainably managed tourism. The paper provokes the ability of visitor management plan to release the pressure and safe guard these sites for the future generation while allowing the current generation the satisfaction of attaining their economic requirements presented in the tourism industry. Visitor management plan has been widely accepted lately as an efficient tool for promoting sustainable culture tourism products in historical sites.
(Presenting the VMP project for the Cairo Citadel of Salah El Dien)