UNESCO and DASTA renew joint commitment to sustainable tourism and the safeguarding of cultural and natural heritage

Bangkok, Thailand (28 June 2023) – Marking the continuation of their strong and effective collaboration, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA) of Thailand have committed to a second renewal of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the two organizations first signed in 2014. 

In a ceremony held at the UNESCO Multisectoral Regional Office in Bangkok on 28 June, the renewed MoU was signed by Gp. Capt. Athikun Kongmee, Director-General of DASTA, and Mr Feng Jing, Director ad interim and Chief of the Culture Unit at UNESCO Bangkok.

UNESCO and DASTA will continue to collaborate to support sustainable tourism and local development for cultural and natural heritage sites, as well as for Creative Cities and additional tourism destinations in Thailand, primarily through capacity-building and the safeguarding of tangible and intangible heritage at selected pilot sites.

A feature of the renewed cooperation marked by today’s ceremony will be the launch of a UNESCO-DASTA project, funded by the ASEAN-Türkiye Cooperation, titled ‘Achieving Sustainable Tourism with Intangible Cultural Heritage and Creative Cities Network in Waterway Cities of ASEAN’, in August of this year. The special project will primarily benefit Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Thailand.

‘UNESCO is pleased to work more closely with DASTA in these areas, which I believe are important resources for each country’s sustainable development’, said Mr Jing at today’s signing ceremony.

UNESCO and DASTA will also establish effective mechanisms for supporting each other financially in the implementation of relevant projects, and they will jointly identify future areas of cooperation in promoting the Creative Cities Network and other potential initiatives in Thailand.

‘The important addition in this MoU renewal is our collaboration to promote the Creative Cities Network in Thailand more widely’, noted Gp. Capt. Kongmee.

To date, UNESCO has recognized five Creative Cities in Thailand: Bangkok (Design); Chiang Mai (Crafts and Folk Art); Phetchaburi (Gastronomy); Phuket (Gastronomy); and Sukhothai (Crafts and Folk Art).

A public organization under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of Thailand, DASTA has previously collaborated with and mobilized funding for UNESCO on various projects, including the capacity-building programme for Heritage Specialist Guides in Thailand, the promotion and utilization of the UNESCO Visitor Management Assessment and Strategy Tool (VMAST) in Thailand and other APEC countries, and the co-development of proposals to attract funding from the ASEAN community and through other alliances.

For enquiries, please contact Culture Unit, UNESCO Bangkok: culture.bgk@unesco.or