On the relationship between cultural heritage protection and tourism development and utilization (1)

In recent years, in order to develop tourism and promote local economic development, some places have arbitrarily changed the management system of cultural relics units and transferred cultural relics units originally protected and managed by the government to tourism enterprises for development and operation. Some incorporate cultural relics units into tourism companies in the form of "shared offices", some directly incorporate cultural relics units into tourism companies, some include tickets for cultural relics units into tourism companies, and some simply treat cultural relics units as assets for domestic purposes. They conduct bidding and leasing operations externally, and some even want to list cultural relic units as ordinary assets. Although the forms of expression are different, the essence is the same, that is, in the name of the so-called "separation of ownership and management rights", cultural relics resources are incorporated into enterprises as ordinary assets for market-oriented management.

One stone stirs up a thousand waves! This phenomenon has aroused widespread concern and discussion from all walks of life. Especially in the cultural and museum circles, social science circles, construction departments, environmental protection departments, tourism and state-owned assets departments, it triggered a fierce debate, with two groups of opposing views:

Represented by local governments and tourism departments One group generally praised it. They believe that only by incorporating cultural relics units into tourism enterprises, separating the ownership and management rights of cultural relics, and using market economic means to market-oriented management of cultural relics resources can the advantages of cultural relics resources be transformed into the advantages of tourism products, and the cultural relics undertaking and tourism industry be realized. The country is prosperous. As long as the planning is reasonable and the contract specifications are strict, it will not affect the protection of cultural relics, but will only bring greater benefits to the protection of cultural relics.

The group represented by the social sciences, culture and cultural and museum circles is firmly opposed. They believe that in the name of the so-called "separation of ownership and management rights", it is a serious violation of the cultural relics protection law to transfer part or all of the cultural relics management rights of cultural relics units to tourism companies, or even lease, contract and list cultural relics as general physical assets. Behavior that violates the laws of cultural relics work will cause inestimable destructive consequences to the cultural relics undertaking. Because once cultural relics units are included in tourism enterprises, the ownership, management, and disposal rights of cultural relics will be linked to economic interests, and cultural relics and their environmental atmosphere will be damaged through improper development or overuse. Therefore, we must not rush for quick success and gain partial and temporary development of the local economy at the expense of damaging or sacrificing cultural relics.

This debate has continued since 1997. In July 2001, the Ministry of Culture and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage issued the "Notice on Prohibiting Unauthorized Changes in the Management System of Cultural Relics Protection Units" to the cultural (cultural relics) administrative departments of all provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions. In October 2001, a joint investigation team led by the State Planning Commission and composed of eight ministries and commissions, including the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Tourism Administration, the Ministry of Construction, the Environmental Protection Bureau, and the Forestry Bureau, went to Shaanxi to investigate this issue. However, all parties failed to reach a unified opinion. In December 2001, the International Conference on "Improving the Management of China's Natural and Cultural Heritage" was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Chinese Commission for UNESCO, the Ministry of Construction, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, and hosted by the Environment and Development Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. A preliminary discussion was conducted on tourism development, protection and management issues, but no comprehensive understanding was formed. But on the other hand, in practice, driven by economic interests and under the leadership of local governments, the phenomenon of cultural relics units being included in tourism enterprises has become increasingly fierce. In 2001, a number of key cultural relic sites such as Xingwenshi Sea Scenic Area in Yibin, Sichuan, Jinhu Scenic Area in Fujian, Phoenix City, a famous historical and cultural city in Hunan, and Tunxi Old Street, a national key cultural relic protection unit in Anhui, were sold and leased for 50 years. Years long. People of insight lamented with concern: The protection of cultural relics has fallen into an increasingly passive situation! How to deal with the relationship between cultural relics protection and tourism development and utilization has become an urgent problem that needs to be solved in my country's economic and cultural development.

The fundamental reason why there is a huge gap between the views of the two schools and they have never been able to reach basic political understanding is that they have different perspectives and interest orientations when considering issues, and they fail to take into account the comprehensiveness and rationality of things. For local governments and tourism enterprises, the focus is on economic interests. In order to pursue local interests and economic interests, they are naturally inclined to conduct market-oriented development and management of cultural relics resources. After all, a Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum's annual ticket revenue of RMB 100 million far exceeds the income of several medium-sized enterprises, and the investment is small and the results are quick. For cultural relics management departments and cultural relics units, the focus is on the protection of cultural relics. Their basic responsibility is to effectively protect cultural relics. Moreover, the practice of "separation of ownership and management rights" directly impacts the foundation of the entire cultural relics undertaking. For example, the protection of cultural relics units Public welfare and non-profit nature, the purpose of cultural relics work, the basic policies and principles of cultural relics work, the management system of cultural relics work, and the ownership, management and disposal rights of cultural relics, etc.

Therefore, in order to overcome the current endless debate situation where the public says the public is right and the mother-in-law says the mother-in-law is right, we must first establish a reasonable and fair evaluation standard. Only with such a standard can we judge the rights and wrongs of things, and explore how cultural relics protection and tourism development and utilization can have positive interactions and effective cooperation mechanisms. This criterion should include

law, sustainable development theory and principles of international cultural heritage protection and utilization.