NYT/Reuters: World Heritage Sites May Soon Be Off Tourism Map

[DeepModem Mom]

World Heritage Sites May Soon Be Off Tourism Map
By REUTERS
Published: September 21, 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - World Heritage sites such as Australia's Great Barrier Reef or Kathmandu in Nepal could be taken off the tourism map by 2020 due to the effects of climate change and too many visitors, a think tank said on Friday.

In a report prepared for UK insurance company Churchill, the Center for Future Studies (CFS) listed 10 popular destinations that could be either permanently closed or have a visitor cap within 15 years.

"I'm reasonably confident we're going to see an increasing climate degradation that is going to impact on various places in the world with increasing severity,'' CFS director Frank Shaw told Reuters.

"Floods, storms, droughts, increasing and erratic temperatures will combine to bring about changes in destination choice for tourists.''

Florida's Everglades in the United States, Athens in Greece, Croatia's Dalmatian coastline, Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast in Italy as well as the Maldives are some of the other destinations at risk highlighted by the report....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-environment-tourism.html

[fed-up]

1. I rec'd this an hour ago-I guess its too unthinkable for anyone else nt

[DeepModem Mom]

2. I'm a traveler of sorts, interested in history. This is very sad.

I guess we should be thankful there are those planning a way to save these sites as best they can.