Proceedings of the 12th Meeting of
The COMCEC Tourism Working Group
5
3. Sustainable Destination Management Strategies: Global Trends and
Success Factors
Mr. Rafi-uddin Shikoh, Managing Director of DinarStandard, gave this presentation. He first
shared the research methodology which consisted of primary and secondary research. The
primary research involved an online survey, in-depth interviews and field visit case studies.
The secondary research consisted of desk-based case studies, the review of academic research
papers, and publications from international organizations, including the UNWTO, the UNESCO,
WTTC, and others.
Mr. Shikoh then shared the UNWTO’s definition of sustainable tourism. He then went on to
explain that tourism can have a positive and negative impact on a destination’s natural assets,
and shared examples of both positive and negative impacts involving social, economic and
environmental aspects.
Next, Mr. Shikoh pointed out that three of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) are linked to tourism, namely goals 8, 12, and 14, which are focused on inclusive and
sustainable economic growth, sustainable consumption and production, and the sustainable
use of oceans and marine resources.
In discussing challenges to sustainable tourism strategies implementation, Mr. Shikoh shared
the top strategies, which include lack of awareness, prioritization of economic objectives over
environmental and social issues, inadequate coordination and incorporation into wider policy
on the different governmental levels, weak stakeholder involvement and support, insufficient
resources committed to sustainability strategies implementation, the lack of coordination
between the various departments and different levels of government.
Mr. Shikoh then demonstrated how the UNWTO’s twelve goals for sustainable tourism are
linked to the triple bottom line approach of assessing the social, economic and environmental
effects of tourism on a destination. The UNWTO’s twelve goals for sustainable tourism, include
ensuring the competitiveness and local prosperity of the destination, improving local
employment conditions in the tourism sector, securing equal distribution of benefits from
tourism, and ensuring the well-being of the local community as well as empowering them
through the use of a participatory approach in tourism planning and decision making,
providing tourists with a fulfilling experience, using resources efficiently, and respecting the
cultural heritage of the destination, protecting the physical integrity, environmental purity and
biological diversity of the natural areas and habitats.