The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has teamed up with online travel company TripAdvisor in a move designed to mobilise travellers' support in preserving the natural and cultural sites on its World Heritage List.

At the partnership's launch, TripAdvisor founder and chief executive officer, Stephen Kaufer, pledged to donate up to US$1.5m (£920,400, 1.02m euro) of support over the next two years to UNESCO's World Heritage Centre. The donation will help the Centre handle the task of monitoring the conservation of the 890 natural and cultural sites inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Centre provides technical and administrative support for states that have ratified the 1972 World Heritage Convention, enabling them to translate its provisions into action.

The two-year agreement envisages TripAdvisor helping to raise awareness of World Heritage sites and their safeguarding among the more than 25 million online visitors who use its websites every month to find and share travel information.