World Heritage Congress Hallstatt 2012

The World Heritage Congress in 2012 was held from October 4 to 6 and was inaugurated by the President of the Austrian UNESCO Commission Dr. Eva Nowotny during the opening ceremony in the Obertraun resort. Among its distinguished guests were Rumanian Secretary of State Sergiu Nistor, former Ambassador Dr. Wolfgang Wolte, the mayors of the region and Tourism Director Pamela Binder. The Congress itself was opened by cosmopolitan musician Hubert von Goisern, who touched the hearts and minds of his audience with his very inspiring video message during which he commented that “This is not about those who have lived here before; it’s about those who live here right now and those who will live here in the future and who naturally need to find work“ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IAZ0EYnnEY). Among this audience was, due to the regional focus of the Congress, a considerable number of people from the local World Heritage region with its fourcommunities Bad Goisern, Gosau, Hallstatt and Obertraun. The pupils of the World Heritage Middle School Bad Goisern, in addressing the audience from the stage, commented: “We are the future of the region; that’s why we are happy to partake in the debate”.During the Congress they conducted interviews and participated in the afternoon programme in the framework of the discussion on the model for the World Heritage region Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut. During this discussion, Prof. Dr. Kurt Luger from the University of Salzburg presented the most significant results from the development of the model for the World Heritage region. This consensus between the four communities is expected to be finalised and delivered to the region by the end of the year. Being held for the fourth successive year, the Congress has become a firmly established event. In the past few years, the World Heritage region has initiated numerous innovation projects. Among these is a new hotel project, thereby also fulfilling one of the aims of the model project for the Inner Salzkammergut, given that securing employment and education in the region is the most important prerequisite for the future of the World Heritage region Hallstatt-Dachstein/Salzkammergut.