Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Tourism Training in Turin

Programme Overview

Historic towns, castles and monasteries are now treated as economic assets that attract visitors, justify loans and anchor local jobs, yet the same investment can damage the values that made them worth visiting. Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Tourism Training in Turin is a five-day programme for the public officials, project teams and site managers who have to deliver tourism investment while keeping World Heritage commitments.

Albania shows both sides of this work. The EBRD and the EU are financing the Albania Infrastructure and Tourism-Enabling Project, a EUR 60 million EBRD sovereign loan with EUR 40 million of EU technical assistance and investment grants, executed by the Albanian Development Fund in Berat, Fier, Korçë and Shkodër. In October 2026 the EBRD reported the restoration of four churches and monasteries in Voskopojë and Vithkuq, with further works still planned. The EU’s project page sets a target of training more than 200 experts from public institutions and heritage sites.

At the same time, the World Heritage Committee has asked Albania to slow down. In its 2026 decision on the Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra (48 COM 7B.27), the Committee kept works on the Osum River bank and the Shkëmbi Road suspended until heritage and environmental impact assessments are reviewed, asked for heritage impact assessments covering the cumulative effects of projects under the World Bank-financed Integrated Urban and Tourism Development project and asked for an Integrated Management Plan to be finalised.

Similar pressures appear wherever heritage and tourism are financed together: Armenia’s USD 100 million Tourism and Regional Infrastructure Project in seven tourism areas, an EU-funded EUR 10 million heritage project at Mechareus and Abila in Jordan, and a proposed ADB tourism infrastructure loan in Cambodia. The programme uses these cases, with Turin as a working benchmark, to show how teams can plan, assess, finance and manage heritage tourism without putting site values or donor compliance at risk.

The Programme Strengthens Institutional Capability

• Meeting World Heritage Convention obligations and Operational Guidelines
• Preparing and updating integrated site management plans
• Commissioning and reviewing heritage impact assessments
• Assessing cumulative impacts of several tourism sub-projects
• Screening environmental and social risk in tourism infrastructure works
• Applying World Bank ESS8 and EBRD ESR 8 cultural heritage requirements
• Visitor management plans and carrying capacity
• Managing overtourism and short-term rental pressure
• Tourism destination governance and coordination
• Entry fees, concessions and public-private partnerships at heritage sites
• Community participation and benefit sharing
• Controlling unauthorised construction in historic towns
• Reporting to UNESCO, financiers and national authorities

The result is a team that can show a financier, a heritage authority and a local community the same evidence for why a project should go ahead, change or wait.

The Growing Importance of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Tourism

Heritage-led tourism has become a standard part of donor portfolios in the Western Balkans, the Caucasus, the Middle East and Asia. Albania’s World Bank-financed Project for Integrated Urban and Tourism Development, valued at EUR 63.8 million on the Albanian Development Fund’s page, covers Sarandë, Gjirokastër, Berat and Përmet and includes 20 trainings to raise municipal capacity. Armenia’s Tourism and Regional Infrastructure Project, approved by the World Bank Board in April 2025, links roads and urban services with tourism experiences and stronger sector institutions in Areni, Dilijan, Dvin, Goris, Gyumri, Jermuk and Yeghegis.

National policy is moving in the same direction. Albania’s National Tourism Strategy 2024–2030 gives weight to cultural heritage and environmental conservation, and the Council of Ministers has approved a National Culture Strategy 2026–2030 that plans revisions to heritage conservation law. In Tunisia, the AFD and the EIB are reported by Business News to be financing the rehabilitation of historic urban centres in ten municipalities, with works due to start in 2026.

Organisations increasingly require professionals capable of:

• Reading UNESCO decisions and turning them into action plans
• Drafting management plans with clear governance and resources
• Writing terms of reference for heritage impact assessments
• Reviewing assessment reports for baseline and methodology gaps
• Integrating heritage and environmental risk into project screening
• Preparing cultural heritage management plans for works
• Designing visitor flows, booking systems and site zoning
• Setting fees and concession terms that fund conservation
• Coordinating ministries, municipalities and site managers

Strong heritage and tourism management systems help organisations:

• Avoid suspended works and costly redesigns
• Protect the values that attract visitors in the first place
• Meet financier environmental and social requirements
• Keep sites off the List of World Heritage in Danger
• Retain residents and traditional uses in historic centres
• Generate revenue that pays for maintenance
• Show measurable results at mid-term and completion

The UNESCO decisions on Berat, Gjirokastra and Ohrid show the cost of weak systems: repeated requests, suspended works and reputational risk for governments and financiers.

Who Should Attend This Cultural Heritage Management Training?

This programme is designed for:

• Staff of project implementation units for heritage and tourism projects
• Albanian Development Fund project and safeguards teams
• Officials of ministries of culture and tourism
• National heritage institute specialists and regional directorates
• World Heritage site managers and coordinators
• Municipal planners and tourism officers in historic towns
• Environmental and social specialists on donor-financed projects
• Architects and engineers supervising conservation works
• Destination management organisation staff
• National park and protected area managers
• Donor and lender project officers in culture and tourism
• Consultants preparing assessments and management plans

Mixed teams from the same site, such as a heritage specialist, a project manager and a planner, gain the most.

Cultural Heritage Management Training Objectives

Upon successful completion of this Cultural Heritage Management Training, participants will be able to:

• Explain World Heritage obligations and the role of State Party reports
• Structure an integrated management plan with governance and resources
• Prepare terms of reference for a heritage impact assessment
• Assess direct, indirect and cumulative impacts of tourism projects
• Apply ESS8 and ESR 8 requirements in project screening and contracts
• Design a visitor management plan for a historic site or town
• Compare tools to manage overtourism and short-term rentals
• Select financing options, including fees, concessions and grants
• Plan community engagement and benefit sharing
• Prepare an action plan to respond to UNESCO or financier findings

Each objective is tied to a tool that participants complete during the week and adapt for their own site.

Programme Contents and Structure

Cultural Heritage Management Training Methodology

The programme is practical. Short briefings are followed by work on real public documents such as Committee decisions and assessment guidance, applied to participants’ own sites the same day.

The programme combines:

• Close reading of UNESCO decisions and financier requirements
• Drafting an action plan, assessment scope and visitor plan
• Case studies from Albania, North Macedonia, Armenia and Jordan
• Role-plays of coordination meetings and community consultation
• Financing and partnership exercises
• Mixed-team group work across disciplines
• Technical visits, where confirmed with hosts
• A capstone review of a participant project

Facilitators are practitioners in heritage, environmental and social management and donor-financed projects. Before the programme, institutions can use Risalat’s free institutional capacity assessment to show where planning, assessment or coordination are weakest.

For a deeper look at the assessment side of this work, read Risalat’s guide to environmental risk assessment for heritage and tourism projects.

Technical Visits and Site Programme

Turin and its surroundings offer heritage settings that illustrate the topics of the week: the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, a serial World Heritage property of palaces and hunting lodges radiating from the Royal Palace, and historic urban areas where conservation, tourism and everyday city life meet. The city also hosts heritage management expertise, including the Fondazione Santagata for the Economics of Culture and the Master in World Heritage and Cultural Projects for Development run by the University of Turin and the Politecnico di Torino.

Technical visits and expert sessions are arranged with hosts before each edition and confirmed to participants in the final programme. Where a visit cannot be arranged, a guided study of a comparable site or an expert session replaces it.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of this Cultural Heritage Management Training, participants will be able to:

• Respond to UNESCO and financier findings with a clear action plan
• Commission assessments that answer the questions reviewers ask
• Identify cumulative heritage risk before works start
• Build heritage requirements into works contracts
• Manage visitor pressure with measurable indicators
• Present a credible financing plan for a heritage destination
• Involve communities and share benefits fairly
• Report results that satisfy financiers and heritage bodies

Institutions should see better-prepared assessment terms of reference, fewer surprises during works and clearer reporting within the first months after the programme.

Institutional Application of Cultural Heritage Management Training

This programme supports organisations in strengthening:

• Site management plans and governance arrangements
• Heritage impact assessment procedures in national law
• Environmental and social screening of tourism sub-projects
• Cultural heritage management plans and chance finds procedures
• Coordination between culture, tourism and planning bodies
• Visitor management and monitoring systems
• Revenue models for site maintenance
• Partnership and concession frameworks
• State of conservation reporting to UNESCO

Participants return with practical tools to improve:

• Committee decision action plan template
• Heritage impact assessment terms of reference template
• Cumulative impact screening matrix
• Cultural heritage management plan outline
• Visitor management plan template with indicators
• Heritage destination financing model
• Stakeholder and community engagement plan
• Project review checklist for heritage tourism

Institutions planning staff development for a whole project team can use the training needs assessment to decide who should attend and which skills to prioritise.

Regional Relevance & Application

Europe and the Western Balkans

Albania is the main case. The World Heritage Committee’s 2026 decision on Berat and Gjirokastra keeps the Osum River bank and Shkëmbi Road works suspended, suspends the Gjirokastra Castle masterplan; an updated report is due by 1 February 2027. In the Ohrid region, the Committee found in 2025 that conditions for In Danger listing were met, and BTA reported in July 2026 that North Macedonia was given until 2030 to act, with 4,847 illegal structures identified in audits and urban plans missing for 20 settlements.

Caucasus and Central Asia

Armenia’s Tourism and Regional Infrastructure Project combines an IBRD loan of EUR 96.4 million with EUR 24.1 million of government co-financing, according to ArmBanks, and runs to August 2030. Destination management and heritage-sensitive planning in its seven tourism areas are central to delivery.

Middle East and North Africa

In Jordan, the EU-funded EUR 10 million project at Mechareus and Abila, implemented by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, includes training for Department of Antiquities and Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities staff in sustainable site management. In Tunisia, ten municipalities are preparing old-centre rehabilitation with AFD and EIB support, as reported in the national press.

Asia

In Cambodia, the ADB has disclosed a proposed USD 40 million Tourism Infrastructure for Inclusive and Resilient Growth Project with the Ministry of Tourism, aiming to diversify tourism beyond the best-known sites, open nature-based destinations around Tonle Sap and strengthen destination management.

Across these regions the same questions recur: how to assess impacts early, manage visitors, pay for maintenance and share benefits.

Host Country Profile – Italy

Turin, the capital of Piedmont in north-west Italy, is a former royal capital with a compact historic centre and good public transport. The International Training Centre of the ILO has had its campus in the city since 1983.

Turin is a useful benchmark for heritage management. The Residences of the Royal House of Savoy form a World Heritage serial property spread across the city and its countryside, raising the coordination questions faced by multi-site projects in Albania and Armenia. The Fondazione Santagata for the Economics of Culture, based in Turin, has worked on UNESCO site management plans in Italy and abroad and on a UNESCO-commissioned study of cultural policy in the Western Balkans. The University of Turin and the Politecnico di Torino have run a Master in World Heritage and Cultural Projects for Development since 2003. Florence’s overtourism measures and Zagreb’s EU-funded post-earthquake heritage repair provide further comparisons.

Italy is in the Schengen area. Albanian citizens holding biometric passports have been able to enter the Schengen area without a visa for short stays of up to 90 days in any 180-day period since December 2010. EU border systems such as the Entry/Exit System and the planned ETIAS authorisation are changing, so participants should check current rules on the official EU travel portal. Participants of other nationalities may need a Schengen visa, and Risalat provides invitation and support letters on request.

Cultural Heritage Management Training Deliverables

Risalat provides a full service before, during and after the programme so that participants can concentrate on learning.

Before the Programme

• Participant Pre-Assessment
• Heritage Management Readiness Assessment
• Heritage and Tourism Resource Pack
• Preparatory Reading Materials
• Complimentary Visa Support & Advisory

During the Programme

• Airport Pickup & Welcome Assistance
• Accommodation with Breakfast
• Welcome Networking Dinner
• Risalat Training Kit (Bag, Bottle, Mug, T-Shirt, Cap, Passport Cover, Pens, Notebook, Magnet & Keychain)
• Comprehensive Cultural Heritage Management Training Manual
• Committee Decision Action Plan Template
• Heritage Impact Assessment Terms of Reference Template
• Cumulative Impact Screening Matrix
• Visitor Management Plan Template
• Heritage Destination Financing Model
• Practical Workshops & Simulations
• Group Discussions & Peer Learning
• Daily Lunch and Refreshments
• Full Access to Training Venue Facilities
• Mini Pad / Tablet with Digital Learning Materials
• Field Visit (where applicable)
• Entertaining City Tour

After the Programme

• Certificate of Completion
• Risalat Programme Participation Recognition Award
• Post-Training Reference Materials
• Cultural Heritage Management Plan Outline
• Personal 90-Day Heritage Project Action Plan
• Post-Training Support & Follow-Up Guidance
• Programme Report

Ministries, heritage institutes, municipalities and PIUs can also request this programme as a tailored in-house course built around their own sites and projects. Request a tailored proposal and Risalat will design it with your team.

Common Challenges in Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Tourism, And How This Training Helps

How can we respond when UNESCO asks for works to be suspended?

Day 1 turns Committee decisions into owned actions with deadlines, and Day 2 shows how to scope the assessments that allow a suspended project to be reviewed and, where justified, resumed.

How do we assess the cumulative impact of several tourism sub-projects?

Day 2 introduces cumulative impact screening, using the requests made for Berat, Gjirokastra and Ohrid, so teams test roads, riverbanks and accessibility works together rather than one by one.

How can we meet World Bank and EBRD cultural heritage requirements in works contracts?

Day 2 covers ESS8 and ESR 8, cultural heritage management plans and chance finds procedures, and Day 5 shows how to supervise contractors working in historic fabric.

How do we stop visitor growth from damaging a historic town?

Day 3 builds a visitor management plan with indicators and thresholds, and compares tools such as timed entry, zoning and the short-term rental controls adopted in Florence.

How can a heritage site pay for its own maintenance?

Day 4 examines entry fees, earmarked revenue, concessions and partnerships, and teams build a financing plan that combines donor money with income the site can sustain.

How do we make sure local communities benefit from heritage investment?

Day 4 covers benefit sharing under ESS8, local value chains such as crafts and gastronomy, and skills for women and young people, as targeted in the Albania and Jordan projects.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is this cultural heritage management training for?

Staff of heritage and tourism PIUs, ministries of culture and tourism, heritage institutes, World Heritage site managers, municipal planners, and environmental and social specialists on donor-financed projects.

Does the programme cover heritage impact assessment?

Yes. Day 2 uses the 2022 UNESCO, ICCROM, ICOMOS and IUCN Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, together with World Bank ESS8 and EBRD ESR 8 requirements.

Why is the programme held in Turin?

Turin is home to a World Heritage serial property, the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, and to institutions with long experience in heritage management planning and education, such as the Fondazione Santagata and the University of Turin and Politecnico di Torino master.

Do Albanian participants need a visa for Italy?

Albanian citizens with biometric passports can enter the Schengen area visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. EU border systems are changing, so participants should check current requirements on the official EU travel portal.

Are site visits confirmed?

Technical visits are arranged with hosts before each edition and confirmed in the final programme. If a visit cannot be arranged, a comparable site study or expert session replaces it.

Can the programme be delivered in-house?

Yes. Ministries, municipalities and PIUs can request a tailored version built around their own sites and projects through Risalat's proposal form.

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