Greece and UNESCO Cooperate on Cultural Heritage and Tourism

Greece and UNESCO are exploring ways to strengthen cooperation on sustainable cultural tourism, protect cultural heritage and develop cultural routes, following meetings between Greek Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni and the organisation’s leadership in Paris.

Kefalogianni met UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany, Egypt’s former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, and Assistant Director-General for Culture Nayef Al-Fayez, Jordan’s former Minister of Tourism and Antiquities.

Greece’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO, George Koumoutsakos, also attended the meetings, while Secretary-General for Tourism Policy and Development Vasiliki Koutsoukou accompanied the minister.

The discussions highlighted culture as more than a motivation for travel, identifying it as a cornerstone of a high-quality, sustainable and resilient tourism model.

Greece promotes an approach that showcases not only monuments and archaeological sites but also intangible cultural heritage, local traditions, gastronomy and the creativity of local communities. This strategy aims to extend the tourist season and distribute tourism benefits across more regions of the country.

Protecting cultural heritage through sustainable tourism

The meetings placed particular emphasis on linking tourism development with the protection and preservation of cultural heritage for future generations.

Participants highlighted responsible visitor management, strengthening the resilience of cultural sites against climate change and ensuring the active participation of local communities as key priorities.

According to an official announcement, UNESCO recognises the importance of connecting culture and tourism. The organisation promotes approaches that combine heritage protection with sustainable tourism development, community participation and intercultural dialogue.

Through its work on World Heritage Site management, intangible cultural heritage and the exchange of expertise, UNESCO supports responsible tourism practices that protect cultural identity and strengthen the sustainability of destinations.

Greece and UNESCO also examined opportunities for joint initiatives on sustainable cultural tourism, knowledge-sharing and the development of cultural routes.

Their shared objective is to establish a tourism model that does more than benefit from cultural heritage: it must actively safeguard, showcase and pass that heritage on to future generations.

Greece proposes closer cooperation between UNESCO and UN Tourism

Kefalogianni specifically stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation between UNESCO and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism).

She proposed joint initiatives to highlight the connection between culture and tourism and promote a sustainable, responsible and inclusive model of tourism development.

The initiative aims to encourage international dialogue, facilitate the exchange of expertise and advance practices that ensure tourism contributes meaningfully to cultural heritage protection and supports local communities.

It also seeks to promote the cultural wealth of individual countries as a bridge between societies and cultures.