Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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New Zealand Environment Trust (ANZET), in partnership with other organizations, to
support projects related to the conservation of biodiversity. Air New Zealand also
sponsors projects related to environmental education, to help children understand the
importance of protecting the cultural heritage of their region.402
3. Effective Tourism Sustainability Strategies
Strategies are discussed in detail in the next few pages, in the section pertaining to policy
recommendations related to sustainable tourism strategies, and include: (1) Increasing
awareness, (2) Protection of natural and cultural heritage, (3) Managing demand and
seasonality, (4) Managing environmental impacts, (5) Ensuring community well-being,
(6) Ensuring tourist satisfaction.
4. Access to Financing Tools – Destination/national/regional level
Apply for international funding for sustainable tourism projects: Several
international organizations offer funding for projects related to sustainability and it would
be wise to apply for funding for relevant projects.
In the Maldives, the Tourism Adaptation Project is funded by both the UNDP and Maldives
government. In Uganda, the World Bank has funded the development of sustainable
tourism plans for four districts in Western Uganda. While in Jordan, the Petra National
Trust, which is dedicated to the protection and preservation of the archaeology, culture
and nature of Petra, is funded by the Ministry of finance and various tourism industry
players as well as bilateral donors and international organizations.
Establish regional organizations to support sustainable tourismefforts and provide
funding: The European Commission, for example, provides funding to projects related to
sustainable tourism. Similarly, a regional or OIC-wide organization can be dedicated to
providing funding to support tourism sustainability projects in member countries.
An example of a regional organization from Europe that financed a regional sustainability
project, is the European Regional Development Fund which provided funding to set up an
organization in the Baltic Region (covering Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Germany, and
Lithuania) taskedwith the protection of the coastline, parks and other natural and cultural
resources. 403
Facilitate Green Finance: Green finance refers to a range of innovative financial
instruments that encourage green investments. This encourages more private sector
capital to flow to sustainable projects than to non-sustainable projects. For example,
Brazil requires that banks consider environmental and social risks when making loans.
Examples of instruments include a green credit line that provides loans for conservation
and emission reduction projects, green bonds, and crowdfunding.
For example, in France, green bonds were used by the French National Railway Company
in 2017 to fund its sustainability strategies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions and the
402 Wei, F. Compendium of best practices in sustainable tourism. Retrieved from
tainable%20tourism%20-%20fen%20wei%2001032014.pdf.
403 South Baltic. (n.d.). BSTC: Baltic Sea Tourism Center. Retrieved from
center-sustainable-development-structures-for-active-tourism.