First published: Sun 02 Feb 2025.
Els Slots
Twhs Masters
Comments
9 comments
Meltwaterfalls
5 months, 1 week ago (Feb 2, 2025)
I’m very disappointed in Schnitzel far too focused on the big sites only.
Pull your paw out mate
Reply
CugelVance
5 months, 1 week ago (Feb 2, 2025)
Very interesting article ðŸ‘
I for my part try to visit every tentative site which is within m reach while abroad.Some ate worthy of a whs title(for example "Veliky Rostov in Russia) and some are a joke (sabka near Abu Dhabi). Nevertheless,most of them are interesting.
Solivagant
5 months, 1 week ago (Feb 2, 2025)
In my case - "thank goodness" for those early TWHS visits (or, in many cases, even before they became TWHS)! In Jan 2019 I had visited 797 WHS......Now 854.
BUT across those 6 years, I have only visited 6 new WHS - so my count has "benefited" by 47 from TWHS! Many of these have been "world class". And there are another 40 potentially coming up it seems. I might even get to 900 if I live long enough!
We each have our own objectives and priorities when travelling. It may sound "pompous" but i prefer to use "Significance" in preference to "WHS count" if and when a clash occurs as to what should be "fitted in". We know of course that, for a range of reasons, many inscribed WHS are of far less "significance" for their values than some T List (or even non T List) sites. I have recently been discussing with Els whether she intends visiting the Mara in her upcoming Kenya trip. For reasons I fully understand (not contributing an immediate tick, cost, time etc) she has decided not to fit it in. Personally, IMO, the Mara trumps every other Kenyan WHS - even if it is not inscribed!
Kyle Magnuson
5 months, 1 week ago (Feb 2, 2025)
I believe about 40-50% of my visits to TWHS will be inscribed some day. I will visit the occasional TWHS only out of convenience, but others that are clearly significant with potential OUV? I will make the effort.
Additionally, I have found visits before and after inscription to be rewarding, kind of an evolution of what world heritage status can offer regarding presentation, funds, and narrative. These 2 WHS particularly come to mind as I visited multiple components before and after inscription.
- Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty
- 20th Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright
Jay T
5 months, 1 week ago (Feb 2, 2025)
Good topic! I take a look at TWHS whenever I'm traveling to a new region to see if there are any worth visiting, but I don't always go out of my way to visit unless they are ones that might help me better understand a region, or if they are ones that may be inscribed in upcoming years.
One of the challenges with keeping up with TWHS is that the list is constantly in flux as countries add to or retire entries. I review the list periodically throughout the year, but not regularly, to see if there are new entries for sites I've visited in the past.
Wojciech Fedoruk
5 months, 1 week ago (Feb 2, 2025)
A bunch of new nice stats! I would love to see similar ranking of top travellers to obscure WHS. Threshold should be a bit higher, like 25 maybe.
Wojciech Fedoruk
5 months ago (Feb 3, 2025)
Solivagant - your count improved that much because you were earlier version of Roman, visiting so many sites that are difficult even now (some actually even more difficult). Chapeau bas to your travel achievements done without Internet, GPS or credit cards .
Els - can we also see the list of essential TWHS?
Can SARICA
5 months ago (Feb 9, 2025)
Very nice stats. I guess there is a positive correlation between TWHS count and being a Nomadmania member. Many NM regions just have one or more TWHS but not any WHS. It may worth checking how many of the top TWHS visitors have NM accounts. Another positive correlation is, for sure, living in high TWHS count countries such as Turkey.