Welcome to the ICOMOS International Cultural Tourism Committee!

About ICTC | Our Work | International Cultural Tourism Charter | Joining ICTC

2023 ICOMOS GA and ICTC Annual Meeting in Sydney, Australia


The ICTC Annual General Meeting 2023 was held on September 2, 2023 at Northern Function Room 1 located in the Yallumundi Room at the northern end of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia. It was a hybrid meeting with both in-person and virtual attendees from six continents. 


ICTC recently audited its roster of Expert and Associate Members to ensure that everyone is an ICOMOS member in good standing. Active participants who are not yet ICOMOS members have been encouraged to apply for membership with their respective national committees. National committees have also been encouraged to nominate Voting Members. ICTC currently has thirty Voting Members in good standing.


During the AGM, the results of the elections 2023-2026 ICTC Bureau were announced:

  • President – Fergus Maclaren (Canada)
  • Secretary General – Ivan Anthony Henares (Philippines)
  • Vice Presidents – Ananya Bhattacharya (India) for Membership, Bartomeu Deya (Spain) for Special Projects, Celia Martinez Yanez (Spain) for Research, Rouran Zhang (China) for Emerging Professionals
  • Treasurer – Isabelle Quemener (France)
  • Members-at-Large – Cecilie Smith-Christensen (Norway), Sofia Fonseca (Portugal)
  • Co-opted Members – Stephanie Veith (Germany) for the Emerging Professionals Working Group (EPWG), Faisal Abd Rahman (Malaysia), Colleen Swain (United States) 

The results on the vote to amend the ICTC Statutes were also announced. The ICTC updated its By-Laws and Operational Guidelines to correct provisions that were not aligned with the Eger-Xi'an Principles and the updated ICOMOS Statutes.


During the ICOMOS General Assembly, the ICTC participated in the ISC Forum to invite fellow ICOMOS members to join the committee.


As part of the SDG Working Group (SDGWG) organized Heritage Hub, ICTC Bureau members Fergus Maclaren and Bartomeu Deya talked at the session Not your Mum and Dad's travels: Taking a different approach to tourism. Australian and global destinations are looking for better ways to manage tourism while ensuring that local communities actually benefit from the sector's dynamic growth. The new ICOMOS International Cultural Heritage Tourism Charter is a roadmap for places to achieve greater resiliency and equitability. They discussed how the Charter supports the reinvention of a mature destination like Mallorca to embrace sustainability and the circular economy and make cultural heritage sites more accessible to a range of audiences.




Comments