Roles of community in heritage preservation and promotion
(QNO) - An international conference on Hoi An cultural heritage - 20 years of conservation and sustainable development orientation took place in Hoi An city, Quang Nam province on December 3.
Present at the conference were more than 100 researchers, scientists, managers of monuments at home and abroad and representatives of international organisations. They discussed the problems relating to the management, conservation and promotion of Hoi An ancient town over the past 20 years.
The event was one of the activities to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hoi An ancient town recognized as a UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage (1999-2019).
Now, Hoi An ancient town is under the pressures of a population increase, density and composition, rapid change of owners of ancient houses, negative effects of urbanization and climate change.
According to Deputy Director of the Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation Pham Phu Ngoc, Hoi An has restored 424 works with a total of more than VND152 billion from domestic and foreign organizations.
There are various unique new tourism products such as: old Hoi An night, walking streets, night markets, festivals and traditional cultural activities. In 1999, Hoi An welcomed nearly 100,000 visitors. Over recent years, the city has annually attracted 2.3 million visitors.
Mr. Ngoc said, the promotion of Hoi An heritage values contributes not only to the local tourist economic development but to the improvement of the local material and spiritual lives.
At this conference, many delegates suggested that Hoi An city further promote the community’s role in preservation and promotion of Hoi An heritage values.
It is also necessary to digitize and build a detailed database system of the heritages, get benefits from tourism exploitation and preservation of valuable heritage values of Hoi An, improve transportation systems, infrastructure and public utilities…