On or around May 18, thousands of museums on all continents will be celebrating ethical, responsible, sustainable tourism, showing how heritage can bring tourists and local communities together in new, mutually beneficial relationships.
Alissandra Cummins, president of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and Carla Bossi-Comelli, president of the World Federation of Friends of Museums (WFFM), have joined forces to showcase ethical tourism on International Museum Day this year.
ICOM and WFFM, along with Unesco, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and other organisations have long emphasised the importance of heritage awareness for sustainable tourism.
ICOM is the international organisation of museums and museum professionals committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible.
Created in 1946, it is an NGO maintaining formal relations with Unesco and having a consultative status with the UN's Economic and Social Council.
ICOM created International Museum Day in 1977 to encourage awareness of the role of museums in the development of society. Momentum has been rising unabated ever since.
In 2007, ICOM celebrated 'Universal Heritage' and last year inaugurated its own 'Social Change and Development' with the first virtual global museums event ever at The Tech Museum of Innovation on Second Life.
In real life, the day garnered record-breaking participation in most museums holding events on May 18. More than 20,000 museums in 90 countries from Australia to Zimbabwe participated. This event is still at its infancy in Malta, but the ICOM-Malta team is working hard to involve more of the local private museums as well as the Church and state museums to participate in this annual event.
"For visitors, tourists and locals along with curators and volunteers," - states Cummins - "International Museum Day can become a bonding experience."
This month, museums internationally will host contests, workshops, conferences, performances, stay open day and night, and devise new virtual or real tours where itineraries lead to and from museums and local sights.
As opposed to the standard tour, museum itineraries are embracing awareness-raising, educational, thematic, historical or chronological tours, with spice and passion, based on collections and sharing expertise.
Inspired by World Heritage tours and high-end museum travel, the aim is to bring deeper mutual understanding drawing knowledge from heritage experienced together.
This year, in light of the financial recession, the ICOM announces the annual theme as 'Museums and tourism'. To assist promote this special day, various museums, churches, historical houses and culturally significance sites will be open to the public. It is strongly advisable for people to book prior to visiting some of the smaller museums, not to be disappointed.