Contents and Aims of Management Plans for World Heritage Sites: A Managerial Analysis with a Special Focus on the Italian Scenario

This paper aims to discuss the use of management tools for the UNESCO World Heritage sites. In particular, it focuses on the specific tool of the “management plan”. We have carried out a three dimension research project: 1) Analysis and development of a strong theoretical background, in order to consider the economic and managerial dimension of the management plans, even from the perspective of cultural tourism; 2) Deep study of Italian state of the art about use and application of management plans by the organizations managing World Heritage sites; 3) Comparison among some national and international case studies, in order to get empirical evidences which could be useful for theoretical considerations, regarding the general management system of the World Heritage sites. These first phases of research highlight the necessity for further studies in the next years. Notwithstanding, we are able to evidence some elements that can lead the next steps of drafting and monitoring the management plans. The final goal of these processes should be the realization of effective management systems for cultural and natural heritage. The most important points to be considered are: - The awareness of the absence of a unique “model” for every kind of UNESCO site; as far as this aspect is concerned, the aim should be the study and application of general guidelines that could be applied to different situations; - The necessity to realize a real sharing among all the stakeholders of the site with regard to vision, mission and strategies that should be implemented; - the introduction of performance measurement systems, to get both support to the management and accountability to the community.