2022 Watch Nomination Deadline Extended

In order to account for the various challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 World Monuments Watch nomination deadline has been extended to May 1, 2021. Additional information on the submission process can be found here. 

Addressing the Impact of Imbalanced Tourism Through the Watch

Today, we invite you to explore three Watch projects that demonstrate the impact of imbalanced tourism on cultural heritage sites around the world and the communities that steward them. This phenomenon has created an unsustainable cycle of crowds overwhelming cultural heritage sites while others suffer from lack of visitation.

By ensuring that tourism is sustainable and benefits local residents and visitors alike, these projects illustrate how preservation can promote community and economic development.

Do you know a heritage place affected by the global challenge of imbalanced tourism? Nominate a site to the 2022 World Monuments Watch.

Tusheti National Park

Picturesque Tusheti National Park stretches across four mountain valleys in eastern Georgia. A proposed road through Tusheti, part of the country's plan to rehabilitate its national infrastructure, has the potential to bring safe connectivity and many other benefits to the local population. It could also lead to unchecked mass tourism, affecting the park's integrity and its residents' ways of life. 

The National Trust of Georgia, part of an international network of heritage trusts, nominated Tusheti National Park to the 2020 Watch to preserve the site's natural features, encourage the revival of traditional skills, and support the development of a sustainable tourism industry in the region. 

Through the Watch, WMF and local advocates are seeking to strike a balance between preserving the site's authenticity, allowing visitors to experience the region, and bringing lasting economic benefit to the residents of Tusheti.

Courtyard Houses of Axerquía

The historic center of Córdoba in Spain is one of the largest historic districts in Europe, internationally known for its courtyard houses. Due to the neighborhood's popularity, Córdoba is frequently overwhelmed by visitors, leading many long-term residents to relocate away from the bustle of mass tourism.

The Courtyard Houses of Axerquiá were nominated to the 2020 Watch by the Patios de la Axerquía Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging social innovation and urban regeneration in culturally significant places, to ensure their preservation goes hand in hand with sustainable urban development.

Through the Watch, WMF is supporting local efforts to realize new solutions that can mitigate depopulation and mass tourism's impact on the famed courtyard houses neighborhood while still providing local economic benefit.

Historic Route 66

Route 66 is a historic highway and an iconic American experience, but it has struggled to maintain the vibrancy that once gave it fame.

In an effort to promote economic revitalization and address abandonment and redevelopment along the highway, the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program of the U.S. National Park Service nominated the site to the 2008 Watch. 

Through the Watch, WMF built partnerships that advanced the revitalization of Route 66 as a tourist destination and an economic engine for local communities. 

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