The National Park Service manages most of the US World Heritage sites, including Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park (pictured above). Some are concerned that stepping away from UNESCO risks losing international support and funding as the NPS struggles with domestic budget and staffing cuts.

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How will this affect travel to the US?

The US withdrawal is set to take place on December 31, 2026, and the US will remain a full member of UNESCO until then. An active membership in UNESCO is not a requirement for having a site listed, and the 26 existing World Heritage sites in the US will not lose their UNESCO designation, according to a UNESCO spokesperson.

However, the US withdrawal will mean a loss of American influence around what future UNESCO projects are supported and funded. At the moment, 17 sites in the US are on the “tentative list” for consideration for inscription on the World Heritage List. Concerns about their prospects post-withdrawal have been raised at places like Serpent Mound in Ohio, where local media reported that the site could now “see years of delay in World Heritage nomination.”

Leigh Barnes, President of the Americas for Intrepid Travel, a small-group adventure tour company that frequently incorporates UNESCO sites into its itineraries, raised concerns about the potential impacts. “Stepping away from UNESCO risks reducing critical international support, funding, and technical expertise for their preservation—in areas like ecosystem protection, education leadership, and cultural heritage stewardship,” he says.

Barnes was particularly concerned about how the move could further impact the National Park Service, which manages most of the US World Heritage sites, and is already facing what he calls “severe domestic threats” from staffing cutbacks and funding cuts. Nearly 25% of permanent National Park Service staff has already been lost in 2025.

“The National Park Service was known for its incredible expertise, its historians, its archeologists, its climate change specialists, its wildlife biologists,” says Barrett. “And all of them contributed to conserving the values that the parks had, but particularly the World Heritage park values.”

Will international UNESCO sites be impacted?

Azoulay said the US withdrawal was expected by UNESCO, and that steps had been taken to diversify the agency’s funding sources since the US first pulled out in 2018. US contributions now represent 8% of UNESCO’s total budget.

Azoulay added that UNESCO intends to continue carrying out its mission “despite inevitably reduced resources,” and that organization is not considering layoffs at this time.

A UNESCO spokesperson tells Condé Nast Traveler that the agency does not anticipate changes for the visitor experience at World Heritage sites as a direct result of the US withdrawal, and that US travelers will always be welcome to UNESCO sites. “The relationship between UNESCO and the American people is not stopping,” the spokesperson says.

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With extremely high temperatures coming together with strong winds and dry vegetation, a Grand Canyon fire sparked by a bout of lightning on July 9 expanded rapidly in 24 hours and spread throughout large swaths of Grand Canyon National Park’s North Rim.

This is a significantly less-visited and less-accessible portion of the park that, due to the four-hour drive or physically demanding hike it takes to get there, most tourists never see.

While what has been dubbed the White Sage Fire has so far resulted in no injuries, it has burned through tens of thousands of acres of parkland and destroyed a historic lodge that was the only source of accommodation in the North Rim: the historic Grand Canyon Lodge.

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‘Dangerous and fast-changing conditions’: Fire destroys historic Grand Canyon Lodge

Designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood in 1927 in a style mirroring the traditional log cabin, the Grand Canyon Lodge has welcomed those taking on strenuous hikes through the North Rim for nearly 100 years.

Built out of logs made from Ponderosa pine trees, the lodge burnt within hours of being touched by flames. The wildfire also destroyed numerous nearby structures such as the gas station, a waste water treatment plant, an administrative building and visitors center, and over 50 cabins used for guests and employee housing.

Related: This national park has had 125-degree weather for two weeks straight

“Firefighters made significant efforts overnight to slow the fire’s progression under dangerous and fast-changing conditions,” the NPS wrote of the fire. “Aerial bucket drops were conducted to slow fire movement near the Grand Canyon Lodge and Transept Canyon. However, the use of aerial retardant was not feasible due to a chlorine gas leak at the water treatment facility, which required the evacuation of firefighting personnel from critical zones nearby.”

‘It’s tragic, it really is’: former NPS chief historian

Robert K. Sutton, who retired from his role as NPS chief historian in 2016 after nine years in the role, classified the loss of both the lodge and the other historic structures as “immeasurable,” given their role in the park’s history and resource for hardcore adventurers who take on the 20-mile hike upwards in the canyon.

It is the only lodging available in the North Rim; the only other option is camping.

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“It’s tragic, it really is,” Sutton told The Independent of the loss.

“I am incredibly saddened by the destruction of the historic Grand Canyon Lodge, and my heart goes out to every person impacted by the Dragon Bravo Fire near the Grand Canyon’s North Rim,” Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said in a statement.

Aramark, the company that operates the hotel and all lodging inside national parks, also issued a statement saying that it is “grateful that all our employees and guests have been safely evacuated, and we join the National Park Service in mourning the loss of these iconic and beloved structures.”

The original lodge built in the 1920s had similarly burnt down in a fire in 1936 and was eventually rebuilt by 1937 into what stood to this day with the original stonework that had been salvaged.

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