National assets tapped for the United Nations World Heritage List reap prestige and gain a precious marketing tool, according to a local official behind Italy's bid to get the Dolomite mountain ranges listed.
The nomination of the Dolomites as a World Heritage Site ''is extraordinarily valuable, offering international visibility and great prestige for all the Dolomites'', said Sergio Reolon, president of the Province of Belluno and a driving force behind the nomination.
''This is especially true for the Belluno Dolomites, the largest mountain group'', he added.
Italy's first bid for its remarkable Dolomites mountain range to join the list in 2004 was withdrawn after lack of coordination between the various provinces involved was criticised by the World Heritage Committee's advisory body on natural heritage - the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The latest application, submitted in 2008, covers nine mountain groups (instead of the previous 22) spanning five of the country's northern provinces: Belluno, Bolzano, Prodenone, Trento and Udine.
The 2004 bid was based on four of the permitted World Heritage criteria for natural sites: exceptional natural beauty, significant ongoing geological processes, significant ongoing ecological and biological processes, and significant natural habitats for the conservation of biological diversity.
Following the IUCN's conclusions, the criteria were narrowed to the Dolomites natural beauty and geological processes.
''We all know the value of the Dolomites, in particular the Belluno Dolomites, but so far the provinces of Trento and Bolzano have been able to give these mountains greater visibility, reaping the benefits and opportunities.
The nomination means we can correct this, putting the province of Belluno in the right context, without taking anything anyway from the other provinces. It's a chance to rebalance how the Dolomites are promoted'', said the province president.
''Being a World Heritage Site would create an international showcase, thanks to the outstanding heritage of these mountains, a symbol of the Belluno province, the centre of the Dolomite area'', added Reolon,
''Of course, the nomination in itself is a great opportunity but we have to make the most of it. If we don't create the right services and quality tourism, we risk missing out. After the recognition we have to work to make it an enduring value for the entire Dolomite area.
Now it's more important than ever for the administrations that supported the nomination to work together to manage this stupendous heritage and turn it to account; to improve it together, so that the whole territory benefits.'' concluded Reolon.
