Spokespeople from The Great Spa Towns of Europe attended the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, Republic of Korea, from 19th – 29th July 2026.
Our Secretary General, Chiara Ronchini, co-organised a panel discussion about transnational World Heritage (with Eugene Jo, ICCROM, and Patrizia La Piscopia, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Ireland). The side event explored international co-operation and how Sites work when their components are spread across borders.
Ondřej Míka, the Site Manager of Františkovy Lázně, also gave a presentation about youth participation, explaining how we built and use our Youth Forum to bring the next generation into heritage management.
At the session, the Committee inscribed 25 new World Heritage Sites and added six to the List of World Heritage in Danger. A historic milestone was also marked with three countries joining the World Heritage List for the first time. New properties were inscribed from the Comoros, São Tomé and Príncipe, and South Sudan – an implementation of the Priority Africa initiative.
More information about the Committee is available on UNESCO’s website: https://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/48COM