To allow the graduating class of Heritage Management Programme to gain further international exposure to heritage management practices and situations, a fieldtrip to the Historic Town of Vigan, one of the four UNESCO World Heritage sites of the Philippines was organised by Institute for Tourism Studies. Thirty-one students of IFT's Heritage Management Programme and two faculty members took part in the fieldtrip from 10 to 16 April 2011. Established in 2005, the IFT Bachelor of Science in Heritage Management is a pioneer in the region in the delivery of heritage management focused training to future leaders and managers in the heritage field. According to UNESCO documents, Vigan was established in the 16th century by the Spanish colonial powers as a trading post and it is today "the best-preserved example of a planned Spanish colonial town in Asia". Vigan's architecture expresses the fusion of cultural elements from elsewhere in the Philippines, from China and from Europe, resulting in a culture and townscape that "have no parallel anywhere in East and South-East Asia". Macao and Vigan have many things in common: both have similar colonial past, were trading ports and are similar in scale. Moreover, both of them have urban cores that have been inscribed on the UNESCO's World Heritage List. The field study trip comprised of five full days of workshop and fieldwork. IFT students and faculty members were warmly welcomed and received by the University of Northern Philippines (UNP). Faculty members and students from the tourism and architecture programmes of UNP worked jointly with the IFT students and faculty members. For the five field study days, students alternated between indoor workshop discussion with their IFT and UNP teammates, local resource people and facilitators drawn from the local tourism council, Mayor's office, conservation council and their instructors, and independent fieldwork at their respective study sites. Some students revealed that the field study trip helped them develop deep understanding of the complex issues of World Heritage management in general and the management process of a World Heritage Town in particular. Moreover, being in a foreign country, the involvement of local students in the learning process and extended interactions with stakeholders helped the students learn how to deal with heritage issues in an unfamiliar place and culture, a situation often encountered by professionals working in the heritage management field.
