Best of Times, Worst of Times

Life gives us contradictions and clumsy coincidence. As a bloody coup was tearing apart Turkey on July 15, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee gathered for its annual conference in downtown Istanbul. With slaughter in the streets and a country of immense importance to our cultural patrimony on the brink of collapse, UNESCO inscribed 27 sites to the World Heritage List.

Bravo. Maybe it's a good time to consider our common humanity and the responsibility we all share as custodians of these special places.

The new sites come from 28 different counties, joining the more than 1,000 places already recognized. Most all of us have set foot in a WH Site, often without knowing it. If you’ve ever been to the Grand Canyon, walked the Great Wall, toured Big Ben, or swam in Cabo San Lucas Bay you’ve visited not just a special place, but one that is tied to the world’s most unique treaty.

Created in 1972, this treaty speaks to a vision: our hope for a better tomorrow rests in protecting our planet’s human achievements and natural places. The World Heritage Convention has been signed by 192 countries. It’s the most inclusive of all international treaties. It establishes that signatories share a common core value.

Many will share my feeling that simply reading this statement makes our world seem a little less bleak. It’s not always easy to see the relevance of things like World Heritage. Who cares if some bureaucrats put plaques and fences around monuments in distant lands? Who can even go to most of these sites, exposing oneself to overseas danger, disease and conflict? What’s the point, when political leaders are putting up walls, tearing down alliances, and stoking the flames of segregation for security’s sake?

Is World Heritage a relic or a relevant mandate? It’s our industry that may ultimately decide the outcome. We have surpassed the one billion annual international traveler threshold. Travel from the US to international destinations has soared. 73 million US citizens traveled to foreign shores in 2015. That’s up from 35.7 million in 2000. If you believe that we are all de facto "ambassadors" for what’s great about America, then showing you care about historic places and nature’s splendor will be the face you show the world.

There are plenty of World Heritage Sites right here at home to visit and appreciate (how many can you name?). However, it’s the overseas sites (both trampled to death and never seen) where World Heritage will ultimately achieve its lofty objectives. So do a little research and talk to your clients about these special places. If we were all Ambassadors of World Heritage, our best of times may seem a little less distant.