Proceedings of the 12th Meeting of

The COMCEC Tourism Working Group

Introduction

The 13th Meeting of the COMCEC Tourism Working Group was held on February 5th, 2019 in

Ankara, Turkey with the theme of “Sustainable Destination Management Strategies in the OIC

Member Countries." The Meeting was attended by the representatives of 13 Member States,

which have notified their focal points for the Tourism Working Group namely Afghanistan,

Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Egypt, Gambia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia,

Uganda, Tunisia and Turkey. Representatives of the COMCEC Coordination Office, SMIIC,

SESRIC, UNWTO and GSTC have also attended the Meeting.

At the outset, the representative of the COMCEC Coordination Office informed the participants

about the tourism outlook of the Member Countries. The participants considered sustainable

destination management strategies in tourism sector through focusing on the Analytical Study

titled “Sustainable Destination Management Strategies in the OIC Member Countries” prepared

for the Meeting with a view to enriching the discussions.

The participants had the chance to discuss the policy options for enhancing the cooperation in

this important field during the policy debate session. The Room Document based on the

findings of the Analytical Study submitted to the Tourism Working Group Meeting and the

answers of the Member Countries to the policy questions sent to the Member States by the

COMCEC Coordination Office were the main inputs for the discussions during moderation

session.

COMCEC Coordination Office also presented the COMCEC Project Funding Mechanism and

informed the participants of its details.

The Representatives of the Member States have shared their experiences, achievements and

challenges regarding destination development and institutionalization strategies in tourism

sector in their respective countries.

Lastly, the international institutions’ perspectives and private sector efforts were also reflected

to the discussions.

The list of participants is attached as Annex 4.