France – Taputapuātea

UNESCO annually expands its list of World Heritage sites, and this year’s class of inductees, announced in July, offers both stimulation for travellers, with a rich and varied group of intriguing sites, and a reminder, especially with its remote and more vulnerable picks, that the list itself is not about tourism.

The World Heritage program aims to identify and protect cultural and natural sites around the world that demonstrate “outstanding value to humanity”, according to its website.

Those spots sometimes constitute the most sought-after destinations for global travel: the Great Wall of China, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru.

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