Press Release
July 1st 2008
German-Yemeni exchange on UNESCO World Heritage –
“World Heritage Initiative” informs about tourism marketing strategies
On Monday June 30th the Association for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) invited guests for a German-Yemeni expert exchange of information on the subject of tourism and marketing strategies with regard to World Heritage Sites. The event focussed on the conservation, care and marketing of the German World Heritage sites and on a delegation from the Yemen, consisting of important representatives of the areas of urbanistics, town planning and monument protection regarding the three UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Yemen.
The event moderators were Marion Frank, GTZ and, among others, experts Bernhard S. Elias from Initiative World Heritage – Berlin Modernist Housing Estates/head of corporate communications at Deutsche Wohnen AG, Dr. Heinz Buri, deputy chairman of the UNESCO-World Heritage Sites Germany e.V/Berlin Tourismus Marketing GmbH, as well as Brigitte Faber-Schmidt of Kulturland Brandenberg.
The central subject of the round of discussions was the opportunities offered by the World Cultural Heritage sites for tourism for a whole region. On the basis of current, practical projects, the Yemeni delegation received pointers towards a more efficient and publicity-minded tourism strategy. “Passing on the experience we have already gained from marketing our housing estates to the Yemeni delegation speaks for itself. It is true that the housing estates are not yet UNESCO World Heritage Sites, but in spite of this we, like the Yemenites, are facing the challenge of opening up large-scale inhabited areas to tourism,” emphasised Bernhard S. Elias. In the context of this process the “Initiative Welterbe” has initiated a cooperative effort together with the Technical University’s Institute for Architecture. Here, in a workshop, concepts are developed of how to open up the modernist social building projects from the 1920s to tourism. The first results from the students’ work were presented to the Yemeni delegation during the exchange of experiences.
Background
In recent years the Yemen has launched a string of political reforms with the object of decentralisation, fighting poverty and strengthening political pluralism. It has emerged that the larger cities of the Yemen in particular play an important role because they generate important impulses for the economic development and the fight against poverty in the country as a whole. The three UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the Yemen play a key role: the old town in Shibam with the city wall, the old town in Sana’a and the Medina in Zabid. By raising the level of tourism the country hopes for extra sources of income that could be used to push ahead with the development and the reforms in the country.
Initiative Welterbe – Berlin modernist housing estates
It will be decided in July this year whether six Berlin housing estates become UNESCO World Heritage Sites. To accompany the decision-making process the Deutsche Wohnen Group, Pirelli RE and the Berliner Bau- und Wohnungsgenossenschaft von 1892 eG founded the “Initiative Welterbe – Siedlungen der Berliner Moderne.” With this initiative, the owners of the Gartenstadt Falkenberg, Siedlung Schillerpark, Wohstadt Carl Legien, Grosssiedlung Siemenstadt, Hufeisinsiedlung Britz and the Weisse Stadt wanted to send a signal for Berlin’s cultural heritage and sharpen public awareness of this subject
Contact:
Initiative Welterbe – Siedlungen der Berliner Moderne
Annemarie Kophal
Tel. 030-81 46 46 00
www.initiative-welterbe.de
