ABSTRACT
World Heritage and tourism Of the more than 1,000 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Sites in the world in 2016, only 32 are classified as mixed sites, being protected for both their natural and their cultural heritage value. In the Nordic countries there are several dozen World Heritage Sites and among these the Laponia World Heritage Area stands alone as the only mixed site in the Nordic realm. The World Heritage Committee considers all sites to have ‘outstanding universal value’ (World Heritage Manuals 2002: 11) and the less than 4 percent of all sites which are valued for their natural and cultural value are especially worthy of study.
