Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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government policy. By so doing, such an approach can help to reframe tourism growth to better
spread the benefits, address inequalities and improve the resilience of economies. Long-term
policies focused on promoting quality employment and job creation, skills development,
entrepreneurship, innovation, effective investment, and integrated regional development, are
central to achieving sustainable and inclusive tourism growth – growth that considers current
and future economic, social and environmental impacts, and addresses the needs of visitors, the
industry, the environment and host communities.
Governments should thus strive to further develop integrated and coherent tourism policy
responses that reflect the circumstances of individual countries and local communities, in
pursuit of shared goals including providing customers with high quality, reliable and safe
tourism experiences, increasing productivity and competitiveness (especially in SMEs), and
protecting, managing and enhancing both physical and cultural landscapes.
To deliver these policies requires cross-sector support from the various enterprises involved in
the promotion and delivery of tourism services, including the public sector (state, regional and
local), private companies, the not-for-profit sector, educational and research institutions, and
community initiatives. Identifying and coordinating the roles of such organisations must be a
central policy concern if competing or counter-productive initiatives are to be avoided. This
implies that sustainability issues need to be handled at the highest level within government,
promoted at every opportunity and maintained over the long-term.
A compounding issue here is the way in which such policies are developed, by whom and for
what purpose. Such issues relate to the role of the democratic process in developing whole-
country economies and hence long-term sustainability in those economies. Whilst no
demonstrable causal link between democracy and economic growth (measured by, for example,
GDP) has been found, there is significant historical evidence that there is a relationship between
sustained economic well-being and the democratic process. However, the issue is complicated
because other factors are also at play such as political stability, the capacity of government to
govern in a peaceful way, the ease-of-transition from one government to the next, and the role
that religion plays in determining socio-scientific and cultural priorities and policies.
Of central importance here is the fact that policies for sustainable tourism need to operate over
long periods of time. In fact, a sustainable economy is one that operates in perpetuity. Hence,
political stability – whether through democratic or other means – is essential if the strategies
those policies generate can be nurtured and allowed to bear fruit.
Hence, issues such as rapid social change, political instability or unrest, the recognition of the
needs of minorities and the unfettered pursuit of dogma can all derail the best-intentioned
policies and the best political initiatives. Having policies for sustainable tourism is just one
aspect of having policies for a sustainable country that people want to be part of, contribute to
and are willing to sustain.