World Heritage, Place Making and Sustainable Tourism

Towards Integrative Approaches in Heritage Management

Kurt Luger, Matthias Ripp

• Publisher: StudienVerlag
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9783706561204
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Cultural & Social Anthropology
• Index: Social Sciences

The management of World Heritage Cities and sites is a challenging task. Getting visitor flows and the enormous traffic under control and implementing urban development projects in ways that preserve the integrity and authenticity of cultural heritage requires a high level of expertise, backed by the support of civil society and politics.This book is the result of the 2018 Conference of the Organization of World Heritage Cities, held by the Regional Secretariat for Northwest Europe and North America in Amsterdam, with the theme "Heritage & Tourism: Local Communities and Visitors – Sharing Responsibilities". The contributing expert authors – from Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe – draw on a range of disciplines to offer wider perspectives, stimulating dialogue among the spheres of heritage, sustainable tourism, and spatial planning. An updated chapter offers perspectives on sustainable tourism also after the COVID-19 pandemic.

C. Valorizing World Heritage through Sustainable Tourism

Elene Negussie & Monica Frisk

Towards a Strategy for Sustainable Tourism for the Hanseatic Town of Visby, Sweden

Introduction

The Hanseatic Town of Visby is a medieval town located on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea approximately 100 km off the mainland of Sweden. It was inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List in 1995 as ‘an outstanding example of a north European medieval walled trading town’ (UNESCO 1995). While the medieval legacy of Visby was a key factor in establishing the outstanding universal value for Visby, the living town element was also important in the nomination process. Like many other attractive historic towns across Europe the urban structure of Visby has become vulnerable to the loss of functions associated with the town as a living entity. Instead, there has been a significant expansion of hotels and restaurants. Managing Visby as a sustainable tourism destination is becoming increasingly important and this requires recognition that a balance has to be struck between the needs of Visby as a tourist destination and the town as living space.

World Heritage sites are increasingly promoted as platforms for sustainable development. Ongoing work to produce a new management plan for the Hanseatic Town of Visby seeks to draw on both the goals of the United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development and the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape. The latter referred to mass tourism as one of the key challenges facing cities in the 21^st century, stressing the importance of tourism related functions contributing to the well-being of local communities by ensuring economic and social diversity in cities (UNESCO 2011). Thus, equally important as preserving the physical layers of heritage significance is maintaining cities as multifunctional and diverse living spaces.

While tourism on Gotland has been growing over the past 100 years, the building of a new cruise pier in 2018 has reinforced the need for sustainable tourism strategies to avoid overtourism and to safeguard the World Heritage site as a living town. In Visby, strategies relating to carrying capacity and visitor management from the perspective of both World Heritage conservation and destination development have so far been absent. Hence, a working group on sustainable tourism was formed within the framework of developing a holistic World Heritage management plan. Utilizing the UNESCO World Heritage Sustainable Tourism toolkit constituted an important starting point. It promotes the fusion of competences from the tourism and heritage sectors, which is essential to achieving a shared vision for how to make tourism more sustainable in urban heritage contexts. This chapter seeks to demonstrate the first steps taken to formulate a sustainable visitor policy for the Hanseatic Town of Visby. It draws on a paper presented by the authors at the 15^th World Congress of the Organization of World Heritage Cities held in Krakow in 2019 on the theme Heritage and Tourism: Local Communities and Visitors – Sharing Responsibilities.

1 Visby’s World Heritage significance

Visby owes its World Heritage status to its golden age in the 12^th and 13^th centuries when the town played a strategic role in the Hanseatic League as a commercial hub within the Baltic Sea region. During its heyday in the Middle Ages the town was a cultural melting pot and a focal point for trade between east and west. The medieval layout still dominates the scale and form of the town, and, as phrased by Linneaeus on his visit to Visby in 1741: ‘A model of Rome’ (Linnean Society of London 1973, 140). However, equally important is the fact that Visby has remained a living town with approximately 2,400 people living within the walled town. Greater Visby counts nearly 24,300 people and the population of the island as a whole is 58,000 (Region Gotland 2017).

Dating from the Viking Age, Visby was formed on a shore with a natural harbour, sheltered by steep limestone cliff formations. A stunning topography with dramatic height differences has shaped the urban form. The largely intact town wall – with gates and towers – extends 3.5km and was first built in the mid-13^th century. Ramparts, trenches and open spaces surrounding the wall testify that this was once a defensive utility (fig. 1). Curiously, the wall was built to defend the town and its trade privileges against the tribes of the rural hinterland as much as against foreign invaders. Still today, the wall has a strong symbolic value and the historic division between the town and rural areas can still be traced in political discourse.

The medieval street plan survives both above and below ground. Over 200 ware houses and dwellings from the medieval period remain, built in limestone by German, Russian and Danish merchants (UNESCO 2017) (fig. 2). However, Visby is also largely a wooden town. The Gotlandic bulhus are small traditional wooden houses, often covered in lime render (fig. 3). Medieval Visby had more churches than any other town in Sweden. Only St Mary’s Cathedral is still intact and in ecclesiastical use. The others fell into decay and were abandoned during the Reformation, although today, these are impressive iconic ruins with Romanesque and Gothic features (fig. 4).

The fact that Visby has survived as a living town through continuous adaptation to the medieval form and function forms part of its World Heritage significance. As described in the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value, it ‘has prevailed under the influence of socio-economic and cultural change’ and ‘resulted in a townscape in which the medieval walled trading town has been retained with distinctive layers over time until the present day’ (UNESCO 2017). While Visby lost its function as a commercial metropolis during the 14^th century, its urban continuity is still reflected in a living town with retail, business, residential, educational, cultural and tourist uses. However, the relocation of public authorities outside of the walled town has transformed its spirit of place as a vibrant office-based core into a largely seasonal residential area. Visby is often rated the most beautiful town of Sweden and has become a major Swedish tourism destination and a gate to discovering Gotland. At the time of nomination, ICOMOS urged local authorities to take measures against unregulated tourism: ‘Whilst ICOMOS sympathizes with the understandable wish of the Municipality to derive maximum economic advantage from Visby’s tourist potential, it hopes that it will be vigilant in ensuring that the realization of this potential does not inflict permanent damage on the qualities for which the town is recommended for inclusion on the World Heritage List’ (ICOMOS 1994).

2 The role of tourism on Gotland

Modern day tourists came to Gotland in the 19^th century, although the importance of tourism can be traced further back in time. In 1896, the Gotland Tourist Association was founded, only a year after the Swedish Tourist Association was formed (Johansson 2015). Gotland attracts over one million visitors annually and tourism constitutes the most important economic sector together with the agricultural sector. In 2016, which was a peak year, 2,236,589 passengers travelled to Gotland (ferry and airplane) and there were approximately 1,030,000 bed nights. Tourism provides many jobs and has had a positive impact on development within the service sector, e.g. food and retail, transportation, hotels and restaurants, and the supply-chain connected to the tourism-sector. The high season occurs during the summer for a period of ten weeks, although efforts are made to extend the season during spring and fall, for which international visitors comprise an important target group. The foreign visitors are mainly from Germany, Norway and Denmark and there has been a slight increase in visitors from the Netherlands and the UK in recent years (Region Gotland 2017).

Business tourism (individual business travel, congresses, conferences, incentives) represents another important segment for which the success factors are strong given a growing capacity in meeting facilities in unique environments. This could contribute to a more sustainable growth as it operates throughout the year and hence creates better opportunities for local companies to invest, develop and become more accessible to the market. Gotland Convention Bureau plays an important role in marketing the island as a venue for congresses and conferences. Sweden is presently the main target market for this segment although there is significant potential in targeting international markets in the future which could contribute to a greater economic impact on the shoulder seasons.

Gotland has a vibrant arts scene which draws on its rich cultural heritage. The cultural and creative sectors play an important role in tourism development and also contribute to social development and quality of life for residents. Gotland offers a variety of experiences throughout the year. The medieval legacy of Visby evokes a sense of history and the church ruins are fascinating venues for weddings and other events (fig. 5). Beyond Visby, there are 92 medieval churches across the rural landscape and the island has become a magnet for contemporary design and architecture. The County Theatre and Gotlands Musiken tour the island with theatre and music productions. Other cultural activities contribute to the enrichment of the island’s cultural scene, e.g. the Baltic Art Centre, the Baltic Centre for Writers and Translators, the Visby International Centre for Composers and Bergman Centre. The latter is located on Fårö, a secluded island with a rugged land scape closely associated with film director Ingmar Bergman who settled and shot several films here. There is a considerable number of annual events during the summer season. Medieval Week, an historical enactment festival, attracts 40 000 thousand visitors, as does Almedalen Week, a national political event. Gotland also has a multitude of nature reserves and along the coastline are miles of meandering beaches along the coastline.

While cruise tourism plays an important role historically, modern cruise traffic has grown significantly over the past 30 years. However, since 2000 a clear decline in number of calls at the Port of Visby was noted. As ships grew larger in size Visby’s limited port facilities made it difficult to accommodate the bigger vessels and hence put Gotland in a less attractive position for the cruise industry. In 2013, Region Gotland and Copenhagen Malmö Port (CMP) began discussions on how to strengthen the marketing positions of their respective ports in the Baltic region. This led to a lease agreement signed in 2014 which implied that Region Gotland would invest nearly 24 million euro in building a new cruise ship quay through a loan, while...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Editor’s Preface
• A. Contextualizing Heritage and Site Management
• B. Reflecting Heritage Preservation, Place Making and Urban Development
• C. Valorizing World Heritage Through Sustainable Tourism