Sustainable Tourism Management Plan

Tender Description

Background and Justification:

UNESCO Ramallah Office is implementing the project Support sustainable tourism through safeguarding, rehabilitation and promotion of the Agro-Cultural Landscape in Battir. The project is funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and jointly implemented with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MoTA) and the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA). The aim of the project is to promote agro-cultural tourism and enhance agricultural practices and agro-ecological production in the UNESCO World Heritage Site Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir.

Since the inscription of the site on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, and due to its natural and cultural heritage attributes and significance, it has become one of the most important tourism destinations in Palestine attracting both domestic and foreigner tourists. To put in place a management mechanism, MoTA elaborated a Conservation and Management Plan (CMP) for the site tackling the main issues facing it. The CMP and other previous assessments have shown that the site suffers many challenges that are hindering an optimum experience for visitors, including, but not limited to, the poor and unmaintained tourism infrastructure and the little awareness of the potential the site has as a World Heritage Property. On the other hand, the controlled accessibility to the site, weak visibility and interpretation efforts, irresponsible behaviours of visitors around agricultural terraces, misutilization of its existing resources and products, misalignment between its cultural and natural assets, in addition to the scarcity of financial resources, all have a negative impact on the site and depreciate its unique potential.

Objective:

The desired impact of the project is to contribute to promoting sustainable tourism through managing and rehabilitating cultural landscape elements, and utilizing existing resources for tourism purposes in a manner that serves the local community while respecting the attributes and values of the World Heritage Property. For this purpose, and in the framework of this project, UNESCO is preparing a Sustainable Tourism Management Plan for the World Heritage Site that includes the villages of Battir and Hussan and their surrounding cultural landscapes. The plan is expected to:

Provide an overview of the significance of the World Heritage Site, its unique selling points and embedded potential from a sustainable tourism perspective to contribute to economic development.

Include an in-depth situation assessment and analysis of prevailing challenges and trends for all that relates to tourism in the site, including but not limited to: (1) local and inbound tourism, (2) inclusion of the site in tourism packages and itineraries in Palestine in cooperation with tourism enterprises, (3) tourism products’ offers, (4) tourism facilities and amenities, (5) current tourism trails, signage and visibility, and (6) visitors’ interaction with the site.

.Identify spots throughout the site that have strong potential to provide needed tourism-related infrastructure, services and amenities to ensure an improved visitors’ experience, including (1) historic buildings in the old town of Battir that can be utilized for tourism purposes, (2) possible new tourism trails that can serve visitor all year round, (3) appropriate places for kiosks selling agricultural produce, (4) possible solutions for parking and accessibility.

Analyse and identify suitable possible business ideas and initiatives that have the potential to create jobs and enhance employment opportunities to generate revenue for the residents of Battir and Hussan, with a focus on promoting local gastronomy, agricultural production and handicrafts, including through identifying appropriate places for installing kiosks or establishing stores.

Provide a set of recommendations in the form of an action plan with the aim to promote sustainable tourism through improving the socio-economic development for the site and its residents, keeping into consideration the specific status and unique value of the site as a World Heritage property. The recommendations are expected to tackle various challenges, including a sound visitor management strategy, engagement with the local community, capacity building and education, identifying the needed services and suitable tourism trends, enhancing tourism infrastructure, improving the quality of local products, awareness activities and a comprehensive visibility, marketing and outreach plan.

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Location Jerusalem, Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jericho, Salfit, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Tubas

Deadline 08, Sep

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