SAUDI ARABIA. UNESCO inscribed 27 new sites to its World Heritage List in 2008. Among the new additions is the Nabataean archeological site of Al-Hijr in Saudi Arabia, a collection of more than 100 monumental tombs and other edifices dating from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD.

Named during the organisation’s World Heritage Committee meeting, now taking place in Quebec City, they’re the latest additions to a roster that recognises places with outstanding natural or cultural value.

Another site recognised for its outstanding beauty and historical importance is the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, a 56,000-hectare site in the mountains Northwest of Mexico City that serves as the overwintering site for up to 1 billion butterflies from throughout North America.

Also listed is Surtsey, a 'new' island approximately 30 kilometres South of Iceland that was formed by volcanic eruptions between 1963 and 1967 and now serves as a pristine natural laboratory for the study of plant and animal colonisation. With the new additions, the World Heritage List now includes 878 sites - 67 cultural, 174 natural and 25 mixed - in 145 countries. Some are world famous, others easily missed, yet each in its own way highlights the delicate balance between preserving special places and promoting them.

In the US, which is home to 20 sites (two co-managed with Canada), no new sites have been added to the list since Carlsbad Caverns and Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park were inscribed in 1995. Unfortunately, that was also the year that a proposed gold mine near Yellowstone landed the park on UNESCO’s World Heritage in Danger list; the resulting controversy essentially put the dampers on subsequent nominations.

In the US, the Office of International Affairs of the National Park Service (NPS) is planning new nominations in 2010. The first nominees will likely be Mount Vernon, George Washington’s longtime home, and Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, a string of islands, reefs and atolls that extends Northwest from Kauai. Others on the tentative list include the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in Georgia, Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks in Ohio and several civil rights sites in Alabama.

“The criteria for the World Heritage List is evolving,” says Dave Harmon, Executive Director of the George Wright Society, the non-profit heritage association that helped the Park Service develop its list. “The Hopewell Earthworks may not have the visual oomph of the Grand Canyon, but archeologically, it’s enormously significant.”

Unfortunately, inscription is no guarantee of protection. Listing may bring more visibility and an international profile, says Morris, and developing countries hungry for tourism revenue may not be able to handle the influx. Angkor Wat, the Galapagos, Machu Picchu are among beauty spots that have seen massive increases in visitation.

The Galapagos Islands, in fact, was put on UNESCO’s other, lesser-known list - the List of World Heritage in Danger - last year in response to the steady influx of visitors and the invasive species and tourism-related immigration that followed in their wake. Several sites, including Machu Picchu and Timbuktu, Mali, were considered for inclusion this year, although none were added.

Still, that raises the age-old question of how to balance preservation and promotion. How do you resolve the paradox that tourism is both a blessing and a curse and that even the most well-intentioned travel takes a toll?

Saudi Arabia is replete with archaeological sites dating back to thousands of years, according to Dr Mohammed Al-Ruwaished, Deputy Minister of Education for Antiquities and Museums.

“There are nearly 100,000 historical sites in the Kingdom and we have already identified and registered 3,700 main sites. Some of these have 80 to 100 related sites in different localities,” he said recently.

The Agency for Antiquities and Museums, which is under the Ministry of Education, has been merged with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (formerly Supreme Commission for Tourism). The reformed SCTA wants to make use of the Kingdom’s museums and historical sites to promote tourism.

HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Chairman of the Board and Secretary General of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) has highlighted Saudi Arabia’s tourism prospects in the heritage sector.

In a recent interview with CNN's John Defterios he said that a new statute has enabled the Commission to restructure the industry under its new designation where as Chairman and President, he now reports directly to the HRH King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud instead of the Ministry of Interior.

"With responsibility for three new sectors as well as development of three more, we will be dealing with antiquities and museums, including exploration, plus accommodation, travel agents, tour operators and tourism masterplans," explained Prince Sultan.

Among current developments, he said classification of hotels had begun, starting in Makkah and Madinah, while a major study was researching the possible expansion of a heritage or rural hotel chain similar to the parador system in Spain.

"We are also looking at historic palaces to turn these in to accommodation or build rooms around them, plus historic villages. We have five planned and there will be accommodation in these.

“We have a large tourism market, especially in the areas of heritage and culture. Saudi Arabia is a first-class heritage state as there are thousands of antiquities and we have unearthed only a limited number of them. The Kingdom’s geographical position has made it a crossroads of civilisations,” Sultan said.

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