Cuban Sites included on the World Heritage List

Cuba ranks fourth in the Caribbean region having the highest number of World Heritage sites. Every year foreign tourists spending Cuba holidays state their satisfaction for the service received and extol the island’s tourist attributes, including the outstanding work of preservation of its colonial buildings. Latin America has 20 sites included on the World Heritage list; the Caribbean island has nine of them, which ranks twenty sixth among the 188 member states of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Architect Nilson Acosta, the Cuban Vice-president of the Heritage National Council, underscored during the 5th Scientific Conference “The Cultural Heritage of the Latin American countries”, held in Bayamo, a very important quaint town for historical and architectural Cuba holidays in the eastern province of Granma, that the island is an example of protection and preservation of its historical and cultural assets. During his remarks he explained the main stipulations and the procedure required by the Convention on the protection of world heritages, approved by UNESCO, and in which Cuba is full member since 1981. Acosta recalled that in 1982 the Cuban historical centre in Old Havana and its colonial fortifications were declared World Heritage by UNESCO. Old Havana has been pioneering the implementation of tourism related sustainable programmes for eco-friendly Havana holidays and over the past two decades it has become one of the major holiday destinations in Cuba and the most visited heritage town in the whole Cuban archipelago. Because of the excellent state of preservation, authenticity and integrity, other Cuban sites joined the World Heritage list, including Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios (Sancti Spiritus province, 1988), San Pedro de la Roca Castle (Santiago de Cuba province, 1997), Viñales Valley (Pinar del Rio province, 1999), the Archaeological Landscape of the First Coffee Plantations in the South-East of Cuba (2000), the Historical Centre of Camaguey (2008), the Urban Historic Centre of Cienfuegos (2005), and the National Parks of Desembarco del Granma and Alejandro de Humboldt (Granma and Guantanamo provinces, 1999 and 2001 respectively). Other major properties for cultural and natural holidays in Cuba were submitted on the World Heritage Tentative list such as the National Schools of Art in Havana, Cienaga de Zapata National Park in Matanzas province, and the Reef System in the Cuban Caribbean located in the southern part of the island. Source: cubatravel news For more details visit : http://www.thecubaexperience.co.uk/