Outstanding Universal Value and Sustainability at Ban Chiang World Heritage, Thailand

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the success or otherwise of the prehistoric World Heritage (WH) of Ban Chiang, Thailand. The site remains an exception among the WH registered sites, as its heritage is buried under modern houses, while the early claims for remarkable antiquity were the principal criterion for WH inscription. The registration in 1992 aimed to protect the site from further looting devastation, which by then had spanned a couple of decades, through regulations and anticipated tourism income as incentives for heritage protection. Preceded by the tourists’ statistics of the site and an analysis of local stakeholders’ involvement in tourism and its activities, the study employs the Market Values/ Robusticity Matrix originally advocated by du Cros and McKercher, to determine the heritage and tourism strength and weaknesses. The Market Values/Robusticity Matrix of Ban Chiang reveals that only a wider modification of the site and relative promotion would improve the number of tourists. From the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) point of view, Ban Chiang does not meet the original criteria of its registration. Therefore, whether sites not responding to the original criteria of registration should be deleted from the World Heritage list is also discussed.