WebinarOnline
Heritage on the frontline: Community-based tourism, cultural preservation and the geopolitics of sacred sites
Friday, 5 February 2027
This webinar explores how communities can guide tourism at sacred and culturally important places.
About this event
Sacred places and cultural heritage sites embody religious meaning, collective memory, political identity and continuing relationships with land. Tourism can provide income and international recognition, but it can also generate conflict over access, interpretation, commercial activity and visitor conduct. This webinar examines community authority in the governance of sacred sites. It asks how conservation and tourism can proceed without subordinating living cultural obligations to visitor demand or presenting contested histories as simple and settled narratives.
Panellists will consider how borders, displacement, armed conflict and competing territorial claims affect heritage protection and community access. The discussion will address consent, local economic retention, visitor orientation and the control of images, stories and ceremonies. It will distinguish consultation from genuine authority and examine who can restrict access when cultural or spiritual responsibilities require it. Attention will also be given to the risks faced by communities when increased visibility exposes sensitive places to damage, surveillance or political appropriation.
Participants will gain a framework for evaluating tourism at sacred sites through human dignity, cultural continuity and locally defined values. They will learn to examine governance rights, benefit distribution, safeguarding measures and routes for resolving disputes. The session will also consider how tourism organisations can communicate restrictions clearly and support conservation without claiming ownership of cultural knowledge. Delegates will leave able to assess whether a project strengthens community stewardship or uses heritage primarily as a commercial asset measured by visitor volume. This approach gives cultural responsibility priority over market access and promotional opportunity in every decision.