Proceedings of the 12th Meeting of
The COMCEC Tourism Working Group
25
can be introduced to create the finances needed to invest on sustainability and correct
negative consequences.
Policy advice 5. Ensuring effective destination planning and marketing in such a way
that the supply and demand meet at the optimum level and diversified.
Rationale:
Mass tourism involves huge numbers of tourists with relatively low spending capacity.
According to Tourism Statistics, though the number of tourists is increasing, their
spending has not increased as desired. Current spending in the OIC is around 750 USD
per tourist which is well below the global average. Therefore, the product development
and marketing activities need to target less price sensitive markets. The OIC have
various potential tourism products that can attract diverse markets through an effective
planning and marketing.
Instruments to Realize the Policy Advices:
 COMCEC Tourism Working Group : In its subsequent meetings, the
Working Group may elaborate on the above-mentioned policy areas in a more
detailed manner.
 COMCEC Project Funding: Under the COMCEC Project Funding, the
COMCEC Coordination Office calls for projects each year. With the
COMCEC Project Funding, the Member Countries participating in the
Working Groups can submit multilateral cooperation projects to be financed
through grants by the COMCEC Coordination Office. For the above-
mentioned policy areas, the Member Countries can utilize the COMCEC
Project Funding and the COMCEC Coordination Office may finance the
successful projects in this regard. These projects may include organizing
seminars, training programs, study visits, exchange of experts, workshops and
preparing analytical studies, needs assessments and training
materials/documents.
 OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum: In its future meetings, the
OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum may elaborate on the above-
mentioned policy areas and the sub-areas from the private sector perspective.