Tourism and Conservation
This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on September 23, 2002 in the Cultural category. The fort is under the administrative care of the Guatemalan Institute of Tourism (INGUAT – Instituto Guatemalteco de Turismo). It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Río Dulce National Park. A significant increase in the number of visiting tourists was recorded in the period 2001–2003, over 90% of whom were Guatemalans. The figures for these period show a jump from 45,652 tourists in 2001 to just over 156,000 visitors in 2003.
The fort was badly damaged by an earthquake on 11 July 1999, suffering a number of cracks in its walls. The river water around the fort has been found to be heavily contaminated with coliform bacteria resulting from local pollution.
Read more about this topic: Castillo De San Felipe
Famous quotes containing the words tourism and/or conservation:
“In the middle ages people were tourists because of their religion, whereas now they are tourists because tourism is their religion.”
—Robert Runcie (b. 1921)
“The putting into force of laws which shall secure the conservation of our resources, as far as they may be within the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, including the more important work of saving and restoring our forests and the great improvement of waterways, are all proper government functions which must involve large expenditure if properly performed.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)