ICOM and WFFM launch International Museum Day 2009 on "Museums and
Tourism" 

On or around 18 MAY 2009, thousands of museums on all continents will be
celebrating ethical, responsible, sustainable tourism, showing how
heritage can bring tourists and local communities together in new,
mutually beneficial relationships.

Alissandra Cummins, President of the International Council of Museums
(ICOM) and Carla Bossi-Comelli, President of the World Federation of
Friends of Museums (WFFM/FMAM) unveiled a joint effort to showcase
ethical tourism on International Museum Day 2009 this year. How can
museums foster a new relationship between visitors and the local
communities which rarely have a chance to meet to promote sustainable
development?	

Cummins suggests: "It's the heritage connection. Heritage is our shared
identity-as humanity, as community. It's whatever people like to think
about themselves, whatever they believe in and however they choose to
express it. "Museums & Tourism" encourages museum professionals and
volunteers to work together with visitors and tourists, creating
interactions with local communities in order to experience heritage both
inside and outside of the museum walls." 

ICOM created International Museum Day in 1977 to encourage awareness
about the role of museums in the development of society. Momentum has
been rising unabated ever since. In 2007, ICOM celebrated "Universal
Heritage" and last year, ICOM inaugurated its own "Social Change and
Development" with the first virtual global museums event ever at The
Tech Museum of Innovation on Second Life. In real life, the Day garnered
record-breaking participation in most museums holding events on 18th of
May 2008.  More than 20,000 museums in 90 countries from Australia to
Zimbabwe participated. 

This May, museums will host contests, workshops, conferences,
performances, stay open day and night, and devise new virtual or real
tours where itineraries lead to and from museums and local sights.  As
opposed to the standard tour, museum itineraries are embracing
awareness-raising, educational, thematic, historical or chronological
tours, with spice and passion, based on collections and sharing
expertise.  Inspired by World Heritage tours and high-end museum travel,
the aim is to bring deeper mutual understanding drawing knowledge from
heritage experienced together. "For visitors, tourists and locals along
with curators and volunteers," -states Cummins - "International Museum
Day can become a bonding experience."
(http://icom.museum/2009_contents.html)

ICOM and the WFFM, along with UNESCO, UNWTO, ICOMOS, ICCROM and other
organizations have long emphasized the importance of heritage awareness
for sustainable tourism. "The WFFM and ICOM "Declaration for Worldwide
Sustainable Cultural Tourism" is a first step in a long term project
partnering our organizations to tackle this new challenge," declared
WFFM President Carla Bossi-Comelli. "Since friends deal more directly
with visitors, a majority of whom are tourists, we are ideally
positioned to promote respect for our heritage. It is fundamental to
focus clearly the role of associations of friends in undertaking actions
louder than words, to "enjoy and not destroy"... ICOM and WFFM should
bear in mind their own Code of Ethics as a fruitful source of principles
to engage local communities."

Reacting to public and private agendas to develop museums to boost
tourism as new destinations and given the present financial crisis, ICOM
and WFFM hope "ethical tourism" and "heritage bonding" will put
communities back into the equation, starting on International Museum Day
2009. "There's no reason why this won't be the beginning of some new
lifetime relationships! In any case, it's surely a new way of looking at
both tourism and museums!" adds Julien Anfruns, new Director General of
ICOM.

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