Local Communities and Management of Heritage Sites: Case Study of Lamu Old Town

ABSTRACT

Most World Heritage Sites are major cultural tourism attractions. The majority of visitors to these sites are generally motivated by an interest in culture, nature and heritage. The high numbers of visitors World Heritage Sites usually attract mean that issues of accessibility, transport, accommodation, other service provision, information or impacts of visitor pressure must be discussed and potential problems must be solved by appropriate management techniques. However, a conflict of interests is most likely to emerge among the various parties involved in the management of a site: governments (or tourism organizations) on national level usually wish to use the site as a marketing tool in image creation, local people expect increased tourist flows bringing employment and income, and site managers attempt to preserve the quality of the given World Heritage Site and avoid negative impacts of visitation, by restricting visitor numbers and educating visitors about appropriate behavior. This paper will focus on degree of involvement in tourism planning, management and ownership of the sites as well as gender concerns in Lamu Old Town.

Keywords:

• World Heritage Site
• local communities
• LAMU