The discussion during the meeting of World Heritage port cities held in Rhodes on 3 November 2018 resulted in the following recommendation:

The Rhodes Recommendation on the Issue of Overtourism in World Heritage Port Cities

Further to a presentation by the cities of Dubrovnik, Kotor, Mostar and Ohrid to the Board of Directors of the Organization of World Heritage Cities (OWHC) during its meeting in Kotor on 25 April 2018, the question of overtourism in World Heritage cities was raised. The problem of overtourism in World Heritage port cities was considered particularly crucial. It was unanimously resolved by the Board of Directors that the OWHC will undertake to advance an initiative dealing with the issues confronting World Heritage port cities. Among other actions, it was considered necessary to carry out discussions with several World Heritage port cities to have the opinion of a wider range of cities.

In that sense the Mayor of Rhodes offered to host a meeting on 3 November 2018 within the celebration of the 30^th Anniversary of the inscription of the Medieval City of Rhodes on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Recognizing during the deliberations in Rhodes, the negative environmental, economic and social impacts of cruise tourism on World Heritage port cities:

the participants

requested that the OWHC further study the problem and develop an action plan to be adopted by the OWHC General Assembly at its meeting in Krakow, Poland on 5 June 2019.

The participating cities:

• Byblos (Lebanon)
• Corfu (Greece)
• Dubrovnik (Croatia)
• Kotor (Montenegro)
• Limassol (Cyprus)
• Rhodes (Greece)
• Split (Croatia)
• Valletta (Malta)

With the participation of the:

• Minister of Shipping of the Hellenic Republic
• Deputy Minister of Culture and Sports of the Hellenic Republic
• Representative of the League of Canaanite, Phoenician and Punic Cities
• Secretary General of the OWHC
• Deputy Secretary General of the OWHC