Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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4. Policy Recommendations for the OIC Member States
Prelude
There are two key issues in producing policy recommendations as an outcome of this report: (a)
whether tourism – and at what scale – can ever be defined, in any meaningful way, as being
‘sustainable’ and, if so, (b) what does this imply by way of policy formulation for destinations,
and for the OIC at large.
Tourism is one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors in the world economy generating more
than US$ 7.5 trillion a year and supporting an estimated 1 in 10 jobs across the global
economy395. In recent years, tourism has accounted for the largest movement of people across
the globe. But this comes at a cost: with an estimated 1.5 billion people travelling the world every
year their consumption of natural resources, especially energy and water, is placing severe
demands on the resources of many countries, particularly less rich countries experiencing a rise
in activity as tourists seek ever-more exotic destinations.
In effect, the point will soon be reached – if it hasn’t been already – when every person in the
world that can be a tourist, is a tourist. All this is having a major impact on what has been termed
‘the tourism ecology’.396 From this viewpoint, tourists and tourism facilitates are acting as
organisms that interact with one another and the physical environment, creating a dynamic and
complex system. Tourists and tourism facilities are thus essential parts of the environment, not
an addition to it: they are players, not spectators. This view suggests that any new event in the
ecosystem will have an impact on the rest of the system, thus changing the state of equilibrium.
Equilibrium – as in nature – is reached through ecological adaptation … in this case either
through a change (adaptation) in the tourism product, the physical environment, the market, or
all three … or a new equilibrium may not be reached, leading eventually to the extinction of the
system and its replacement by another. The adoption of this perspective has profound
implications for sustainable tourism across-the-board, including in the countries of the OIC.
A large part of the annual growth in tourism projected to, say, 2030 is expected to come from
the fast-growing (and huge) economies of China and India, thus creating a very different tourism
ecology to that which exists now, and which is currently fuelled by the established western
economies of, predominantly, the EU, the USA, Japan, Australia and Canada. Recognising and
adapting to this is the key challenge for tourism providers, managers and policy-makers in the
coming years. How they respond will determine the well-being of much of the world’s cultural
and natural heritage resources which stimulate and underpin most of tourism demand. Hence,
because of its relative size and the global impact it makes, policies related to tourism’s
sustainable future are essential for the well-being of the planet and the ecosystems that it
supports. This is nothing less than a global concern, and it must be treated as such.
Over the years a huge amount of time, effort, research grants, conferences andmeetings of world
leaders have been focused on the idea, and the ideal, of promoting sustainable tourism projects
and programmes. There is no doubt that tourism, when built upon principles of sustainable
development, can – in theory at least – help facilitate inclusive growth, provide opportunities for
395 World Travel and Tourism Council. (2018). Annual economic impact research report.
396 Bego, F., (2013). Evolving ecology: the tourism potential of the Drinos valley, Albania; Cultural Heritage without Borders,
Gjirokastra.