By Cindy Xu and Jing Li

The International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), an advisory body created by UNESCO, is concerned that the core values of cultural heritage might be diminished by a worldwide tourism boom, Director-General Mounir Bouchenaki said in a Thursday interview with Chinadaily.com.cn.

"Tourism is a very important economic asset. Some countries even depend wholly on tourism." Bouchenaki said. UNESCO, as well as ICCROM, has developed many programs related to tourism. Now in all cultural policies, cultural heritage is viewed as an asset to tourism, according to Bouchenaki

A small village in Cambodia, near Angkor, grew into a big city with more than 100 hotels in just a few years due to a sharp increase in tourism, said the director-general.

However, tourism also has some negative effects on the cultural heritage. "For instance, citizens in Venice are now unhappy with the tourists who crowd nearly every street of the city, making the citizens unable to live their normal life," Bouchenaki said. "As a result, the mayor of Venice has set a quota on the number of tourists."

A number of visitors come to places of interests without knowing they may damage the value of the cultural heritage site, and in the end leave unhappy.

Faced with such a severe situation, UNESCO has already undertaken some measures on the management level, organizing seminars and publishing travel brochures to inform tourists.

"The Balance between tourism development and cultural heritage protection is very important." Bouchenaki said.

Bouchenaki is now attending the Chengdu International Intangible Cultural Heritage Festival, the first of its kind in China.

He spoke highly of the efforts the Chinese government has made in safeguarding its cultural heritage and recognized the cooperation between ICCROM and universities in Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou on a training program in preserving and restoring cultural property.