Social Perspective about the Evolution of a Cultural Asset as a World Heritage Site. Case Study: The Palmeral of Elche

Cultural heritage has become a touristic attraction, especially those elements recognized as World Heritage Sites, generating great growth in the cultural tourism sector during recent decades. Given the importance of this phenomenon, the purpose of the following research is to analyze the tourism-heritage impact of the UNESCO organization within a specific World Heritage Site. In this case, the study is focused on The Palmeral of Elche (Alicante, Spain), an oasis-type irrigated agro-system recognized as a Cultural Site by UNESCO in 2000. To carry out this analysis, a theoretical review and a qualitative methodology have been implemented. The techniques used were participant observation, creation of thematic mapping, and in-depth interviews with different social agents linked to this cultural landscape from the Al-Andalus period. As a conclusion, possible responsible and sustainable actions have been determined within the social, heritage and tourist framework.


INTRODUCTION
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has played a fundamental role in protecting cultural assets of outstanding universal value that may be in danger of disappearing. However, the management of World Heritage and the dissemination of its identity roots are the responsibility of the competent public institutions in each place. Both phenomena take on immense importance in the tourism sector because cultural tourism is one of its most widespread typologies, which is developed thanks to the tangible and intangible heritage inherited up to the present day and the interest shown by visitors that want to learn about cultures.
Therefore, this paper analyses the tourism and heritage impact of the UNESCO brand on a specific World Heritage Site: The Palmeral of Elche (Spain) 1 . This is a group of palm trees orchards that form part of an oasis-type irrigated agro-system inherited from the time of Al-Andalus and which is still in operation today. Four aspects of this site are particularly noteworthy: 1. the artificial origin as it was created by the locals to combat the hot climate and the arid lands, allowing them to cultivate in them .
Two events directly affected this palm grove. On the one hand, the destruction of a large part of its surface area with the construction of the railway in 1884, as it would divide this landscape in two . On the other hand, the arrival of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, known as Sissi, to the Huerto del Cura, owned by Jose Castaño's family, also affected the image that would spread over The Palmeral as an exotic place within the city of Elche (Sánchez, 2012). Therefore, as Alemañ (2016, p. 165) rightly points out: To speak of orchards is no longer to speak of agriculture but the city. Now the crown of palm trees that used to surround the city is surrounded by the city, immersed in it and at the same time its people are becoming detached from the way of life that forged the basic signs of the identity of this town.

The Palmeral in the 20th century: the first protections
All these factors marked a before and after in the history of The Palmeral. During the first third of the 20th century, a social movement began in favour of the protection and safeguarding of this heritage, led by the municipal archivist and scholar of the city, Pedro Ibarra y Ruiz . Due to this feeling of identity among the people of Elche, in 1933, the Ministry of Agriculture of the 2nd Republic issued a State Decree declaring this group of palm orchards to be of Social Interest . Likewise, thanks to this protection, the cut down of living palm trees was prohibited and the Patronato de El Palmeral was founded, "an authority which was to be in charge of the management of The Palmeral, which was still under private ownership for the most part" (Larrosa, 2003a, p. 86), although it did not exercise any function until the end of the same century. Finally, it should be noted that thanks to the work of Gaspar Jaén i Urban, it is known that in 1933 there were approximately 1,731,000 m2 of orchards with the traditional structure in the city .

The "UNESCO effect" and tourism development
The year 1996 was a turning point in the history of The Palmeral, as Elche City Council decided to support the protection of these orchards through "the creation of a system of aid for the maintenance of palm orchards -el cheque verde" (Larrosa, 2003a, p. 87) and the setting up of the Phoenix Station in the Hort del Gat, a scientific centre whose aim was to research the date palm to obtain a greater production of this species. Two years later, the first attempt was made by the public administration of Elche and the Generalitat Valenciana to inscribe The Palmeral of Elche on the UNESCO World Heritage List along with El Misteri d'Elx . This action was the result of the decline of the footwear sector, and public authorities needed to diversify the economy of Elche, betting on cultural tourism through the FuturElx Plan 1998-2011 (Carmona et al., 2015). However, the World Heritage Committee indicated that the medieval work could not form part of Page 39 ERUDITUS® -PUBLISHER OF SCHOLARLY, PEER-REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS https://www.eruditus-publishing.com/josstt the recognition that they wanted to carry out and that naming all the palm orchards in the municipality of Elche was too large an extension and should be limited .
Thus, in 1999, the new candidacy was launched with the drafting of the document El Palmeral de Elche: Un paisaje cultural heredado de Al-Andalus (The Palmeral of Elche: A Cultural Landscape Inherited from Al-Andalus). This document specifies that the plots that formed part of the previously rural area Horts i Molins, which was made up of "67 orchards containing 45,037 palm trees and covering 144.2 hectares" (Martínez, 2003, p. 35) as well as a peripheral protection area of 224.5 hectares, will be included in the declaration. In this document, it is suggested that The Palmeral of Elche could be classified as a Cultural Site, since it "always arises as to the product of man's work on nature" (Martínez, 2003, p. 13); or it could also be mixed heritage, that is, a cultural landscape continuous in time "because it is an irrigated landscape of medieval origin in which both traditional components and contemporary adaptations can be observed" (Martínez, 2003, p. 12). In both cases, the criteria for inscription are clear, on the one hand, category II since "The Palmeral Histórico bears witness to a considerable exchange of influences in the field of technology" (Martínez, 2003, p.13); and, on the other hand, criterion V since "it represents an outstanding example of a traditional form of land use, representative of an extinct culture, which has overcome all historical challenges" (Martínez, 2003, p. 14).
In addition, due to its characteristics of authenticity and exceptional unique value, an attempt was made to inscribe it under criterion IV, which referred to the unique landscape that this heritage represented, but which was finally removed . Thus, the frequency analysis on the criteria carried out by Silva & Fernandez (2015) recognised in cultural landscapes inscribed on the World Heritage List (2015) that it is common for this type of property to be recognised for its cultural characteristics rather than its natural ones, despite being a mixed heritage. In this case, The Palmeral of Elche, although historically identified as a cultural landscape  and inscribed for its cultural criteria, UNESCO justifies its inscription in 2000 as a Cultural Site because it is: A characteristic feature of the North African landscape imported to Europe after the Arab occupation of much of the Iberian Peninsula and which has survived to the present day. The ancient irrigation system, which is still in operation, is of particular interest. The palm groves of Elche are a remarkable example of the transmission of a typical landscape of a culture from one continent to another, in this case from Africa to Europe. (UNESCO, 2000) However, this intergovernmental organisation recommends certain actions such as "establishing measures for the identification, protection, conservation, revaluation and rehabilitation" (UNESCO, 2019, p. 11) but does not contribute to the management of World Heritage properties. Therefore, it is once again the public administrations of the locality or region that are responsible for maintaining and safeguarding them . On the other hand, UNESCO does contribute to the popularity of the place with that intrinsic seal of quality that comes with the recognition of such magnitude and the international publicity generated in the early years Irles-Quirant, Ana; Riquelme-Quiñonero, . "Social perspective about the evolution of a cultural asset as a World Heritage Site. Case study: the Palmeral of Elche" Journal of Social Sciences: Transformations & Transitions (JOSSTT) 2(04):14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.52459/josstt24140422 . And so, it happens in the case study, after 2000 and 2001 2 , when the city achieved two World Heritage Sites, the number of tourists increased from 83,000 to 115,000 in two years according to data from the Elche Tourist Office (Sagasta & Pineda, 2012).

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
To begin with, it should be noted that the binomial cultural heritage is formed, on the one hand, by the concept of heritage. The different meanings included in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) link it to property, defining it as "a set of goods belonging to a natural or legal person, assigned to a purpose, susceptible to economic estimation" (RAE, n. a., definition 4). Likewise, Bustos (2004) relates it to the family heritage or even that of a specific group, recognising these elements as part of its identity and history. On the other hand, the concept of culture, in the words of Garcia (2012, pp. 14-15), refers to an: A set of models or patterns, explicit or implicit, through which a society regulates the behaviour of the people who make it up. And that would include customs, practices, codes, norms, and rules of the way of being [...] Culture is all the information and skills that we human beings possess and that allow us to integrate into society or collective.
In other words, culture has a cohesive function and is considered as the identity of a social group. Considering both clarifications, the definition that most closely adheres to this research is the one provided by the previous author, who conceives cultural heritage as all those material and immaterial goods that have been inherited from the past and transmitted to the present, thus configuring the historical heritage of a society and which everyone has the right to enjoy (Garcia, 2012). Likewise,  also refers to the set of goods legitimised as symbolic references of a society, that is, the capacity of certain elements to represent the cultural identity of a collective, generating a social construction around them. Following the same line of thought, Endere states that cultural heritage is "a social construction that is made from the present with a strong intentionality concerning what is to be preserved" (2009, p. 29). This is because a set of people, who are part of a society, are the ones who decide at a certain point in time what tangible and intangible elements of the past will be transferred to the next generations. Ultimately, these concepts follow the same current of thought, since they are based on the definition par excellence that UNESCO adopted after the 1982 World Conference on Cultural Policies held in Mexico City. Another aspect that must be considered about cultural heritage is that it needs to be valued, that is, that the population recognises these assets as their own, both for their history and for the tradition intrinsic to them (Bustos, 2004). This phenomenon, known as the patrimonial appropriation of territorial values, generates a "heritage awareness, which in general, under current conditions, has a representational and communicational character" among the individuals of a society, since it is about the recognition of the culture of a Page 41 ERUDITUS® -PUBLISHER OF SCHOLARLY, PEER-REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS https://www.eruditus-publishing.com/josstt particular group (Bustos, 2004, p. 21). This justifies Molano's (2007, p. 74) statement in one of his texts where she mentions that "identity is linked to history and cultural heritage" since it is the social group that decides which manifestations of their common heritage will be conceived as symbols.
It was not until the inter-war period that international awareness of the need to safeguard and conserve certain historical and artistic assets emerged (Endere, 2009). Such was the magnitude of this social phenomenon that the International Congress of Architects and Technicians of Historic Monuments was held in Athens in 1931, at which a series of recommendations for the preservation of this type of heritage was discussed (Endere, 2009). From this meeting, the Athens Charter of 1931 was drafted, which was subsequently used to draw up other safeguarding documents and international congresses on this subject, as Cardenas (2012) points out. As an example, we can highlight the agreements reached in the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 in The Hague or the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970 in Paris, both promoted by UNESCO. These conventions were intended to create a set of suggestions, practices and normative instruments that were accepted by the member states of the United Nations and could subsequently be ratified in the form of law in each country.
One of the most important meetings was the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage held in Paris, which discussed the interrelationship between cultural heritage and nature, and the need to preserve both elements (UNESCO, 1972). In it, the concept of "World Heritage" was introduced, to rescue those natural and cultural tangible assets that met a series of characteristics of authenticity and exceptionality .
Another phenomenon, brought about by the 1972 Convention, was the birth of the World Heritage List, whose mission is to carry out an inventory of those cultural ensembles, sites/places and monuments, and natural heritage of outstanding universal value, i.e. "of such extraordinary cultural and/or natural significance that it transcends national boundaries and is of importance for present and future generations of humanity as a whole" (UNESCO, 2019, p. 20). In addition, to facilitate the verification of such outstanding universal value, a total of six criteria were developed for cultural heritage, and four more for natural properties, with two additional characteristics concerning authenticity and integrity to ensure that the registered elements have a common set of characteristics.
However, the declaration as a World Heritage Site was not sufficient to safeguard these elements. Therefore, UNESCO compiled a series of actions to be carried out to ensure that the outstanding universal value and the rest of the criteria would be maintained or even progressively improved. These suggestions are contained in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, first elaborated in 1977, and revised from time to time, because of the need to make changes in these practices.
Because of these recommendations, one of the major problems surrounding this type of recognition arises, as stated by Fernandez (2008) in his work. This intergovernmental body suggests that the regions with a World Heritage Site should protect and manage this property by ratifying the Guidelines but does not oblige them to do so (UNESCO, 2008). Therefore, in many cases, these suggestions are not put into practice, or only minimal actions are carried out, even though the nomination document of the heritage property presented to the World Heritage Committee details which institutions or practices will be put in place for the protection of these elements (Fernandez, 2008). Therefore, to alleviate this phenomenon, "the Convention stipulates the obligation of States Parties to submit periodic reports to the World Heritage Committee on the state of conservation of their heritage properties" (UNESCO, 2008, p. 9) so that the intergovernmental body can evaluate them and warn those in charge of protecting the property of the possible problems that may arise from certain actions that are being carried out.
In the same way, the international organisation became aware in the 1990s of the need to incorporate new concepts into its list to cover the different types of properties. Thus, during the modifications of the 1992 Guidelines, the World Heritage Committee added the concept of cultural landscape: Cultural landscapes represent the combined work of nature and man as defined in Article 1 of the Convention. They illustrate the evolution of human society and settlements over time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive social, economic, and cultural forces, both internal and external. (UNESCO, 2019, p. 20) Therefore, the cultural landscape was understood as that hybrid heritage present in a society, which should be protected both for its cultural and natural characteristics, as it is a question of the identity values of a social group (Silva & Fernandez, 2015). In turn, within this concept, at "La Petit Pierre" meeting held in France (1992), subdivisions are established: designed landscapes, evolutionary landscapes -relict or fossil and continuous in time-and associated cultural landscapes.
Likewise, Silva and Fernandez (2015) mention the complexity involved in the inscription of a cultural landscape on the list, since when determining which criteria are the most appropriate, those linked to culture rather than to nature are mostly recognised, as they are easier to identify. Even the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (UNESCO, 2019) themselves determine that criteria I-IV and VI are usually assigned to the evolving landscape, criterion V to the designed landscape, and finally, the associated cultural landscape is represented under criterion VII.
Finally, once the cultural heritage has been recognised by the population, a series of activation dynamics take place that involves "the integration of the element in question into a context and a discourse, an interpretation among other things" (Prats, 2011, p. 263). The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), through the ratification of the assembly held in Quebec in 2008, draws up the ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Cultural Heritage Sites. This document presents various concepts and objectives that interpretation should have, and therefore the presentation of heritage, both tangible and intangible, for the public to understand the identity of these sites (ICOMOS, 2008). It defines interpretation as: Page 43 ERUDITUS® -PUBLISHER OF SCHOLARLY, PEER-REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS https://www.eruditus-publishing.com/josstt All potential activities are undertaken to increase public awareness and knowledge of the cultural heritage site. This includes print and electronic publications, conferences, site installations, educational programmes, community activities, as well as research, training programmes, and systems and methods for ongoing evaluation of the interpretation process itself. (ICOMOS, 2008, p. 2) In this way, if an interpretation is carried out based on the principles and objectives set out in this document, visitors will be able to understand more easily the reason why this property is an identifying element of a given society. Likewise, Ariño (2012, p. 6) recognises that there are two main trends regarding this type of action on the value of historical heritage, those coming from local groups that "defend the durability of those elements in which they find the traces of their identity present: and the tourist dynamism and the generalisation of consumption practices towards heritage assets". Consequently, the tourism sector is intertwined with cultural heritage, generating two aspects of tourism consumption. According to Prats (2006), on the one hand, those cultural visits that are considered as a complement to the trip and, on the other hand, visits where cultural goods are the main reason for the tourist's trip, linking them to cultural tourism. Moreover, this type of tourism generates important economic synergies between the different sectors involved in heritage activations (Prats, 2006). However, "the commodification of heritage can lead to identity problems when there is excessive trivialisation" (Prats, 2006, p. 78), or when the carrying capacity of the asset is exceeded, endangering some of its physical or socio-cultural aspects, for example, the risk of generating dissatisfaction on the part of the visitor during their tourist experience (Garcia, 2012).
The World Heritage distinction also has tourism-related effects. In the first instance, this "heritage brand" has a positive side for the destination, such as the acquisition of a great influence worldwide and even becomes another variable within the competitiveness between tourist territories, as indicated by Silva and Fernandez (2015). Continuing this line of thought, other authors speak of the "UNESCO effect" as "a fundamental element in the promotion aimed at attracting tourist flows" (Hernández-Ramírez & Quintero-Morón, 2019, p. 78) as it is a recognition of the authenticity of this heritage and, therefore, an added value and quality for the destination. However, the problems that tourism attracted by this distinction could generate are precisely related to the loss of authenticity or of the fundamental values of these assets (Fernandez, 2008). If this were to intensify, UNESCO could consider removing these properties from the World Heritage List as the outstanding universal value or the criteria of integrity and authenticity would be threatened. Consequently, this exemplification also demonstrates that although the World Heritage List has a purely World Heritage safeguarding orientation, it has a double aspect related to the commercialisation of these cultural elements, being directly linked to the tourism sector, since it generates an undoubted attraction towards them (Hernández-Ramírez & Quintero-Morón, 2019).
Because of this situation, some international organisations such as UNESCO itself expressed "their concern about the relationship between tourism and heritage" (Garcia, 2012, p. 140) since this sector could generate negative and irreversible impacts when tourism is overexploited. However, the tourism sector can play an important role in the conservation of cultural heritage, thanks to the development of certain activities and investments in suitable and responsibly managed properties (Garcia, 2012).

METHODOLOGY
The present study is developed through the Cartography of Knowledge (Cardinale, 2014;2017). In this methodology, the research subject occupies a preeminent place, thus creating a map where different paths converge and form a complex landscape. In it, the transformations produced by the convergence of psychosocial, cultural, economic, political, etc. processes can be interpreted.
The mentioned paths are personal knowledge or "knowledge-experience", formed by the memories and everyday life recorded in the researcher's field diary; theoretical knowledge, which involves an in-depth bibliographical review; and the usina de produçao or production factory, where research approaches and actions are intertwined. This study is approached from a qualitative perspective to approach the reality of The Palmeral of Elche in its tourist context. This approach is defined by Mejía (2004, p. 278) as follows: A methodological procedure that uses words, texts, discourses, drawings, graphs, and images to understand social life through meanings and from a holistic perspective, as it is about understanding the set of interrelated qualities that characterise a given phenomenon.
Therefore, this type of research is aimed at investigating specific case studies, since the main objective is to learn about the existing social situation through the qualitative data obtained by the researchers, whether they are descriptions of the environment or dialogues with the people who are part of the phenomenon (Guerrero, 2016). Likewise, this study is based on the ethnographic approach and, therefore, there are different qualitative methods to obtain such information (Bracamonte, 2015). To choose the type of technique, a conceptual map was made in order to find a common thread between the different unknowns and define which would be the specific lines that each qualitative method would cover (Table 1).

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW
Three structured interviews were translated from Spanish by the main researcher, and conducted during the last two weeks of April 2021, lasting approximately 1 hour each.
Experts with important academic knowledge and social links to this cultural heritage, thus being able to provide different perspectives about The Palmeral of Elche, what they consider to be the role of UNESCO at present, as well as to share their vision on the management and tourist communication of this place.
The last path is the intuitive dimension that runs through and is manifested in the researcher's narrative, as well as the researcher's ability to write and describe coherently both the research itself and the rigorous analysis of the data obtained, drawing conclusions, or opening new academic debates that contribute scientific knowledge to the community, always following the ethical principles of any research.
Therefore, through these paths, which continuously intertwine to form a weft, integral and transdisciplinary knowledge is obtained. Therefore, this methodology focuses on the research subject since: Needs to know that any phenomenon, any theme he/she is studying, is something complex and, in this sense, needs to be considered in its complexity, in its interweaving. Thus, it is necessary to have patience, to go on feeling, apprehending, understanding the "way", capturing the evidence and the subtleties. And this is not done with "a technique", with "a method". This is done with a web of resources [...] (Cardinale, 2014, p. 6)

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
This section studies the data obtained by the researcher during the participant observation and in-depth interviews. The choice of The Palmeral of Elche as the object of study arises from the desire to know this heritage in depth due to its great relevance worldwide. Moreover, it is a landscape that has accompanied the city of Elche throughout history, but which lacks a transmission of its cultural roots to the people of Elche and tourists in general.
Therefore, it was decided to take the guided tour offered by the Elche Tourist Office, as well as the rest of the tourist routes following the information leaflets. Both services lack a thorough historical and cultural interpretation, as can be seen in the text on the information panels placed along the routes, as well as greater care of the infrastructures themselves. There is no clear explanation of the background and unique characteristics of this space, thus preventing the dissemination of the values that make The Palmeral of Elche a universally exceptional place (Image 1). This issue can also be seen during the guided tour, as only the Municipal Park, i.e., a group of palm orchards transformed into gardens, is contemplated. Therefore, the tourist is unable to contemplate a plot with the peculiarities of this system or to understand the whole of the palm trees, the hydraulic infrastructures and the traditions linked to them.
In this way, it was obtained a general idea of the state of this World Heritage Site to carry out a better analysis of the data obtained, based on the scientific research and academic concepts set out in the theoretical framework. Thanks to this holistic vision of El Palmeral, the following map (Image 2) shows the signposting of the tourist routes -La Ruta del Palmeral, El Sendero del Palmeral PR-CV 439, La Ruta de les Palmeres Singulars-the location of the written interpretative infrastructures; and the categorisation of the 67 plots of The Palmeral of Elche into palm groves with a traditional structure, plots with crops inside them, groves converted into parks and gardens and those that had completely lost their identity. From this point, the interviews with the mentioned experts were structured around four axes. The first focuses on awareness of cultural and heritage values. Thus, this awareness is given by the World Heritage seal, generating a link between The Palmeral and UNESCO, given that "the UNESCO declaration has helped us ourselves to believe in the value of the palm grove in an agricultural area" (Informant 2). The same interviewee mentioned: It should also be remembered that the identity of heritage assets is given by the historical and cultural values intrinsic to them , and the non-dissemination of these characteristics is one of the problems being experienced in the case study. On the one hand and using as an example a study carried out by the Informant 2, in which a series of surveys were carried out on the image of The Palmeral, both among tourists and locals, he was struck by the fact that the perception of it as an agricultural system was being lost and was being replaced by the idea of a garden. This same perspective can be observed in another interview:

Although UNESCO as such does not have a direct effect, it is true that the moment someone from outside tells you that what you have of value is this
People have also become accustomed to a vision of the Palm Grove, and the vision they have is of a clean palm grove, with all the plots without any small plants, and the palm trees well pruned. That is the vision that the people of Elche have. (Informant 1) On the other hand, the fact of dispensing with the agricultural identity in the promotion of The Palmeral was generating an erroneous image, as Informant 2 stated since this could affect the expectations of tourists as they were not satisfied with the heritage that was being shown. Informant 3 was also of the opinion that the publicity, promotion, and tourist posters generated around the different World Heritage Sites in Elche had generated a "frustration of expectations".
The second axis links protection with the role of UNESCO. Let us remember that the declaration of The Palmeral had several difficulties related to the identification of this heritage site, which is still present today. The first of these was that: This factor is still not understood by any of the interviewees and people who know well the characteristics of The Palmeral, given that for the year 2000 the Council of Europe (CoE Int, 2000) celebrates the European Landscape Convention and in which the concept of the cultural landscape is included as the legislation that protects this type of places. Again, Informant 3 hoped that in the future "if we remain on the list, which is another matter, we can convince UNESCO to change the criteria for inscription [from cultural site to cultural landscape]".
A second fundamental pillar of these recognitions is the measures required by UNESCO to safeguard this World Heritage Site. In the case of The Palmeral, the Special Protection Plans for the Palm Grove that were included in the candidacy were never carried out. Nor has any Periodic Reporting been drawn up, which the member states are obliged to do every 6 years for the World Heritage Sites of their nation (Informant 3). Likewise, in the last year, a draft bill for the Protection and Promotion of The Palmeral of Elche has been launched, which includes the Acequia Mayor and El Pantano de Elche as a Property of Cultural Interest and the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the management of this heritage. All the interviewees agree that this law is more than a necessary action for this Cultural Site, as the 1986 Law had become outdated in different ways. On the one hand, in the 80's the UNESCO inscription was not yet in force, and this inscription subsequently entailed a series of protection obligations and prohibited actions which that legislative instrument did not envisage; and, on the other hand: The new law is much stricter and protects a series of elements such as irrigation elements, elements that the other law does not protect. In this law, a register must be made of all the assets that the law must protect, something that should have been done with the other law, as well as a census of palm trees and a qualification of the asset to be protected, which was not done either. (Informant 1) Thirdly, it is worth mentioning that during this research and coinciding with the perspective of Informant 1, it has been emphasised that the nomination is requested and granted to a state.
Page 49 ERUDITUS® -PUBLISHER OF SCHOLARLY, PEER-REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS https://www.eruditus-publishing.com/josstt However, it is the municipal administration, together with other territorial public bodies, which bears the costs involved in the protection and maintenance of this property. Therefore, "UNESCO does not directly give you money or anything, but it gives you publicity and a label that can be used to improve the property, but we think that this opportunity is not being used at all" (Informant 1). Furthermore, he maintains that during the last 20 years, none of the problems has been changed or solved in The Palmeral. Following the same line of thought, Informant 3 assures that there is a problem in considering the UNESCO declaration as a tourist brand since: The inscription on the World Heritage List, a UNESCO recognition in the attention of heritage values [...] is confused with a tourist quality mark, and it is not. (Informant 3) The third axis focuses on the tourism management and communication of the Cultural Site over the last two decades. In this aspect, the different perspectives of two of the interviewees stand out. On the one hand, Informant 2 considers, that the impact of tourism in The Palmeral:

It has been very small, I would say that it has had a very immediate and powerful effect on the projection of the first years because that happens in all World Heritage Sites, the number of visitors shoots up because of the diffusion of the images in newspapers and the media, [...] but afterwards, the situation has been diluted. (Informant 2)
On the other hand, Informant 1 believes that "tourism has not been detrimental, it is not mass tourism that comes to Elche, as happens in other places where there are so many people that the purpose of the visit is distorted". However, both agree that the tourism management carried out over the last 20 years has not been the most appropriate. According to Informant 2, "there was no desire to transform The Palmeral into a garden area for tourist consumption or a garden-park in the same way as had been done with the Municipal Park". It should also be noted that the visitor: Nor is it very easy, because it is not easy to visit The Palmeral of Elche. Nothing has been done to make it suitable for tourists. The Palm Grove Path has been made, but it is not well cared for, the elements are not as they should be to beautify the environment, the terraces are not even cultivated. (Informant 1) When tourists arrive in Elche and ask where The Palmeral is, they do not understand the essence of this heritage asset due to the lack of dissemination and interpretation activities. Likewise, the fact that this cultural landscape is currently fragmented due to the different transformations it has undergone throughout its history does not help either.
Continuing with the theme of cultural heritage as a tourist resource, Informant 3 states that to offer a sustainable tourist product, it is necessary to recognise it as a cultural asset in the first  [...] All of this, in the end, is experience" (Informant 2).

CONCLUSION
The enhancement and protection of those elements that form part of a society's cultural heritage, as well as the communication of heritage values, is a practice that should be carried out so that the historical and identity legacy does not fade over time. It is also worth recalling the important work of UNESCO in recognising tangible and intangible, cultural, natural, and mixed tangible, and intangible assets as World Heritage, due to their outstanding universal value, thus ensuring their safeguarding. Likewise, thanks to regional or local legislation, it is possible to determine the duties of social agents when it comes to protecting this type of property, an example of which is Law 14/2003, of 10 April, on the Heritage of the Generalitat Valenciana (Valencian Regional Government). Therefore, as has been mentioned in the various sections, public and private entities in the different territories must be involved in the dissemination of these characteristics to protect their authenticity and integrity.
Having said that, if cultural heritage activation is to be carried out, it is first necessary to consider the opinion of the local population and assess whether society is aware of these assets and the uses and customs associated with them. Secondly, tourism planning should be devised so that people from other places get to know those unique elements of the region, thus achieving sustainable management of tourism activity, both in social, economic, and environmental terms, as well as in terms of the carrying capacity of the heritage itself. This will avoid, on the one hand, the trivialisation of the unique characteristics that this property may have, by giving it the importance it has for the common mankind. On the other hand, it will prevent the generation of tourist dissatisfaction during their visit, the appearance of deterioration in the heritage itself and possible social problems that may be caused by overcrowding of tourists. In short, any action based on responsible ethics, regardless of the organisation or social agent that manages it, will be positive for the maintenance of heritage assets and their identity value, thus guaranteeing the enjoyment of future generations.
Page 51 ERUDITUS® -PUBLISHER OF SCHOLARLY, PEER-REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS JOURNALS https://www.eruditus-publishing.com/josstt In the case of The Palmeral of Elche, the presence of various problems linked to the conservation and dissemination of cultural heritage is evident, according to the theoretical and contextual review carried out during this research. Firstly, the identity of this group of palm groves, despite having been recognised more than two decades ago as a World Heritage Site for its values as a living agro-system and cultural landscape typical of North Africa, continues to fade and to be replaced by the image of an exotic place promoted by tourists. This has been confirmed by participant observation during the guided tour offered by the Tourist Office, as well as in the itineraries related to the Historical Palm Grove.
Secondly, and according to some of the perspectives of the social agents who have collaborated in the study, this Oasian agro-system is a unique cultural heritage that, thanks to its recognition by UNESCO, has been maintained to this day. Likewise, this brand was and is understood as a seal of tourist quality and authenticity of the place and meant the take-off of the tourist sector in the municipality. On the other hand, the actions that were carried out in The Palmeral, in terms of adding value, were minimal at the beginning and only lasted for a short period. An example of this tourist management was the creation of The Palmeral's Museum located in the Huerto de San Placido and from which the Ruta del Palmeral also begins. This route is the most appropriate of the 3 that currently coexist in terms of giving a vision of what The Palmeral represents, visiting different palm groves with their traditional structure and those that have undergone various transformations during the different eras. In addition, the information points that have been maintained since 2004 suggest that a good interpretation of the history and traditions intrinsic to this cultural landscape has been made, but that it has not lasted over time. Therefore, it is proven that a partial interpretation of The Palmeral of Elche has been made, and, at present, there is a lack of adequate tourist communication about the historical and cultural values of this place.
Thirdly, it is worth mentioning that, of the 67 plots protected by UNESCO, only 10 of them maintain their agricultural identity by being cultivated and 26 show the alignment of palm trees around the terraces. Thanks to the anthropological fieldwork, it has been possible to confirm that this group of orchards is in a state of abandonment despite being one of the few almost reliable representations of this cultural landscape. Furthermore, this state is evident in the lack of cleaning and maintenance of the orchards, as well as in the lack of protection of the heritage assets linked to irrigation or the traditional houses located on these plots. As a result of this neglect on the part of the administration managing this Cultural Site, a neglected image of The Palmeral of Elche is being generated, as the experts interviewed for this research have indicated.
Fourthly, thanks to the contribution of the informants and the literature review, it has been shown that the UNESCO brand had a positive impact on Elche in its early days, as it allowed the tourism sector to develop in the municipality with the international publicity it received. Likewise, the recognition of The Palmeral of Elche as a Cultural Site within the World Heritage List made the citizens themselves realise the value of this cultural landscape. However, UNESCO does not currently contribute directly to the conservation of this heritage, but only makes a series of recommendations that should be carried out by public administrations. Therefore, it can be argued that despite the "UNESCO effect" on this Cultural Site during the first decade of its designation, it now seems that the impact of this mark of authenticity, and indirectly of tourist attraction, has been diluted over time. For all these reasons, this World Heritage Site is in urgent need of intervention by the public administration in collaboration with society to prevent the loss of the exceptional universal values that have been recognised for it. To this end, in the first instance, those elements linked to this cultural landscape should be rehabilitated as far as possible. A practical example could be the recovery of the tangible assets that are in poor condition, such as irrigation channels, dividers, and mills; and, the intangible aspects, such as the uses of water, the trade of the palmerer or the traditional agriculture in the palm orchards, among others. Once this safeguarding of the tangible and intangible assets has been carried out, it will be time to provide coherent content for a tourist route or a guided tour of these orchards in which part of the characteristics recognised by UNESCO has been re-established. In this way, both visitors and locals will be able to understand what The Palmeral is, what its functions were and are, etc. and thus reverse the idyllic image that is currently held of this Cultural Site. To close the cycle, and in line with the recommendations given by the social actors interviewed, educational programmes linked to this cultural landscape would be carried out. For example, the organisation of informative talks and recreational activities with schools and secondary schools, such as the celebration of The Palmeral's Day, to reinforce the cultural foundations of the people of Elche from an early age, as well as to raise awareness of this World Heritage Site among adults through specialised workshops.
Therefore, it is argued, on the one hand, the need to implement the dissemination of cultural heritage according to the identity and history of these elements, as well as the importance of making society aware of the protection of cultural sites. On the other hand, the inclusion of all social agents in the responsible and sustainable management of the heritage and tourism of these assets guarantees their permanence in the future. Finally, it is qualified that the role of international organisations such as UNESCO or ICOMOS is to draft guidelines for the safeguarding of these cultural sites, both in terms of protection and dissemination, and that it is up to the member states to ratify these documents and turn them into normative instruments that regulate management at the local level. In conclusion, as Bustos (2004), Prats (2011), Garcia (2012 and  have rightly pointed out, the main purpose of any enhancement action carried out on an asset must be to conserve the cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. In this way, the enjoyment of future generations and the permanence of remaining part of the common history of humanity are guaranteed. Bracamonte, R. (2015). La observación participante como técnica de recolección de información de la investigación etnográfica.

María-Teresa Riquelme-Quiñonero (Alicante, 1979), after graduating in History (2001, UA) and in Social and Cultural Anthropology (2006, Miguel Hernández University), received her doctorate in History (2016, UA), with the thesis Archaeological Reading of public and private spaces in the residential architecture of Alicante's orchards in the 19th century, qualified with outstanding cum laude, special award mention. He combines his work in the Mutxamel Municipal Archive with university teaching (UMH, UA, and UNED) and his research focused on two lines: the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Alicante orchard and the Moors and Christians celebrations. For this reason, he has participated in projects, international congresses and has published various academic and informative works.
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ANÁLISIS DE RESULTADOS
En este apartado se estudian los datos obtenidos por parte de la investigadora durante la observación participante y las entrevistas en profundidad. La elección de El Palmeral de Elche como objeto de estudio surge del anhelo por conocer en profundidad dicho patrimonio debido a su gran relevancia a nivel mundial. Además, se trata del paisaje que ha acompañado a la ciudad de Elche a lo largo de la historia, pero el cual está falto de una trasmisión de las raíces culturales a la población ilicitana como a los turistas en general.
El segundo eje vincula la protección con el papel de la UNESCO. Recordemos que la declaración de El Palmeral tuvo diversas dificultades relativas a la identificación de este bien patrimonial y que actualmente se mantienen. La primera de ellas fue que: Este factor sigue sin entenderlo ninguno de los entrevistados y las personas que conocen bien las características de El Palmeral, dado que para el año 2000 el Consejo de Europa (CoE Int, 2000) celebra la Convención Europea del Paisaje y en la cual se recoge el concepto de paisaje cultural como la legislación que protege este tipo de lugares. De nuevo, el Informante 3 deseaba que en el futuro "si seguimos dentro de la lista, que esa es otra, podamos convencer a la UNESCO para que cambien el criterio de inscripción [de Sitio Cultural a paisaje cultural]".

CONCLUSIONES
La puesta en valor y la protección de aquellos elementos que forman parte de la herencia cultural de una sociedad, así como la comunicación de los valores patrimoniales es una práctica que debería hacerse para que el legado histórico e identitario no se desvanezca con el paso de los años. También, cabe recordar la importante labor de la UNESCO a la hora de reconocer como Patrimonio de la Humanidad aquellos bienes tangibles e intangibles, culturales, naturales y mixtos, por su valor universal excepcional, y así garantizar la salvaguarda de estos. Asimismo, gracias a la legislación autonómica o local se puede dictaminar cuales son los deberes de los agentes sociales a la hora de proteger este tipo de bienes, siendo ejemplo de ello la Ley 14/2003, de 10 de abril, de Patrimonio de la Generalitat Valenciana. Por consiguiente, como se ha comentado durante los diversos epígrafes, es preciso que las entidades públicas y privadas de los diferentes territorios se impliquen en la divulgación de estas características para llevar a cabo la protección de su autenticidad e integridad.
Dicho lo anterior, en el supuesto de efectuarse una activación del patrimonio cultural, primero se debe considerar la opinión de la población del lugar y valorar si la sociedad conoce dichos bienes