UNESCO–ICCROM Asian Academy for Heritage Management initiative to establish interpretation and presentation standards at World Heritage Sites in Asia

Abstract

This paper examines the UNESCO–ICCROM Asian Academy for Heritage Management Cultural Heritage Specialist Training and Certification Programme, which is designed to establish interpretation and presentation standards at World Heritage Sites in Asia. It describes the programme and its major objectives and discusses the inauguration of the training programme at regional (cross-national) and national levels, noting specifically the importance of training and certification programmes at the national level. Although the training programme has been well received and is considered beneficial, the authors address two continuing challenges to its ultimate success – how can one best design and deliver effective training workshops at both the regional and national levels and, perhaps more importantly, how can one best establish effective training programmes at the national level. Citing the success of the training programme in Macao SAR, the authors demonstrate that such success depends on a number of factors, including the existence of a structured and institutionalised guide training programme at the national level, the availability of a team of qualified trainers and the delivery of the training programme in a local language.

Keywords:

• Asian Academy for Heritage Management
• guide training
• interpretation
• tourism
• visitor management
• World Heritage Sites

Acknowledgements

The Core Module of the CHSG programme has been developed with the active support of UNESCO-Bangkok. The training workshops in Paro and Luang Prabang were organised by UNESCO-Bangkok and the workshops in Hoi An, Ayutthaya, Champasak and Siem Reap were jointly organised by UNESCAP and UNESCO-Bangkok. The first author, who was one of the trainers in all the workshops mentioned in this paper, would like to thank the organisers for inviting him to teach in the workshops. Ms Montira Horayungura and Mr Takahiko Makino of UNESCO-Bangkok have provided important information and statistics used in this paper. Finally, Mr Ong Chin Ee of IFT, one of the co-trainers of the programme, is specially thanked for sharing his thoughts on various matters related to the programme.

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