Sustainable Tourism Law

806 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW II.6. Heritage and the Right of the Host State to Provide Travel Services Tourism serves many functions, but it also serves as a vehicle for the host culture to explain their history and tell their story. Cultural Heritage and The Common Heritage of Humankind are novel legal tools that have been developed and play a key role in the law of tourism and sustainable development. The drafters of both international law and diplomacy policies must consider all of the financial and moral implications of its positions and then seek to avoid depriving a given people of their right to tell their story, share their culture, and enjoy their heritage through historical, cultural, religious, natural sites and artifacts. There are many ways that one state can keep another state from benefiting from its cultural heritage, but international law is there to protect the rights of the host state so that the host can provide travel products and seek sustainable financial gains through tourism. When considering tourism and sustainable development, treaty drafters and legislatures have looked carefully at the products that are produced for touristic purposes; how they are utilized, consumed, reproduced and preserved. Both the needs of the host state and people of that state are reflected in Cultural Heritage law along with its rights, duties, and obligations. The greater needs of humanity are reflected in the Common Heritage of Humankind law with its rights, duties and obligations. II.7. Cultural Heritage, Property and Diversity Culture and Interculturality are aspects of the education, exchange of ideas, and experiences inherent in travel and tourism. Again, one of the main purposes of travel for many people is to experience new environments, activities, and cultures, as well as to witness, and perhaps partake in, new ways of living. It is this cultural exchange that can have a lasting effect on both the host state and the tourist. Cultures exist and interact with one another and it is these realities that interculturalism seeks to define. Interculturality refers to the existence and interaction of cultures through dialog and mutual respect 11 . II.8. Registration and Ownership of UNESCOWorld Heritage Sites The Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage , adopted byUNESCOin1972, addresses the identification, designation, 11 The term “Interculturality” is used only once in The Cultural Diversity Convention (August 2005 Draft) “to build bridges amongst peoples and intercultural respect to ensure wider and balanced cultural exchanges.” See para. C, Art. 1 as described in The Contribution Of International Law To The Preservation Of Cultural Diversity Lecture of D. Trup, The Hague Academy of International Law, Class 2005.