| Heritage
awards get corporate world clued into conservation
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For A Good Cause: (Left to Right) Sangita
Jindal, Abha Rambah and Jeff Morgan at Jindal
House.
Pic by Nitin Sonawane
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GOURI SHAH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 08, 2004 12:10:41 AM ]
MUMBAI: It’s been raining
heritage awards for Mumbai this season and the recent
downpour has got corporates rethinking their social
responsibility strategy. Conservation and restoration
of cultural heritage sites could be the next buzz
word, jostling for attention with pet issues like
education and healthcare. What’s more, experts
believe that heritage conservation could go a long
way in boosting cultural tourism.
One of the most important economic assets
of any country are outstanding archaeological sites
and ancient townscapes, which provide opportunities
for the development of tourism and infrastructure,
says Jeff Morgan, executive director, Global Heritage
Fund (GHF), a US-based NGO, which funds and supports
global heritage sites in developing countries.
Cultural tourism provides a tremendous
opportunity for countries with a rich heritage. A
case in point: the Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia,
which have now become the single largest generator
of income for the government and people of Cambodia.
Similarly, Tikal in Guatemala generates over $200m
in visitor revenues for local communities of the Peten
region and the economy as a whole, he said. In China,
the ancient town of Lijiang has become the most important
tourist destination after the Great Wall and Forbidden
City with over 2m visitors.
While the corporate interest is brewing,
Sangita Jindal, trustee of the Hampi Foundation, believes
that bureaucratic red-tapism is serving as a very
big deterrent for those willing to invest in heritage
conservation.
I believe there is a lot of good will in the corporate
sector. People are more than willing to spend money
on conservation. However, the job also requires patience
and perseverance to obtain clearances from various
governmental agencies.
The long process can be quite frustrating
at times, she said. The Jindal group along with GHF
has taken on the restoration and conservation of the
Chandramauleshwar Temple in Hampi, Karnataka. Ms Jindal
believes that their initiative will set an example
for other corporates.
Though funding is one of the major aspects
of such an effort, Mr Morgan feels that other factors
like tourism potential, availability of professionals
and infrastructure and government approvals play a
major part in the sustainability of a project in the
long term. We will only fund a heritage site if it
has tourism potential to begin with.
This is important: a site must be accessible,
it must be near a city or should have infrastructure,
which is conducive to attracting tourists. That is
one way of insuring that the project is economically
viable, he said.
Further, an innovative tax strategy
and better fund management could help the Indian government
raise the funds it needs. A simple example is that
of New York. A visitor pays 11% local tax over and
above the federal and state level taxes.
This is because they are promoting it
as a tourist destination and these extra funds are
channelled towards maintenance of major tourist sites
like the Statue of Liberty or Central Park, and the
services that revolve around these spots, he said.
Please direct media inquiries to:
GHF Press press@globalheritagefund.org
or (650) 325 7520
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