Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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consumption of natural resources. In Mexico, green bonds were used to finance the
construction of the New Mexico City Airport. 404 In Morocco, the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) in coordination with the state electricity organization
of Morocco provided subsidized loans to support the use of solar water heating in hotels.
In many OIC countries, lack of financing options hinders the private sector from
developing sustainability initiatives. Having access to green finance will facilitate the
development of sustainable tourism projects.
Governments to encourage private sector financing and investment in sustainable
tourism projects: Governments can encourage the private sector to invest in sustainable
projects through subsidies, green loans and by providing insurance for green assets.
5. Monitoring Destination Sustainability – Destination/national/regional level
Monitor Current Sustainable TourismPractices: Perhaps the most important factor for
achieving sustainable outcomes at the destination level is robust and independent
monitoring of current practices on site. Since destinations will vary considerably, it is
important that monitoring protocols are developed in context-specific and locally
meaningful ways. This does not mean that ‘anything goes’ in terms of monitoring
protocols, but it does acknowledge that destinations across OICmember states are dealing
with a wide range of sustainable tourism challenges.
For example, the case study analysis clearly indicates that the primary threat facing the
Maldives is sea-level rise due to climate change. While Uganda will also be affected by
climate change, the impacts will differ from those faced by the Maldives. Thus, and
obviously, destinations in the Maldives and Uganda will need monitoring protocols that
reflect their specific contexts.
In recent years, significant advances in the IT sector, coupled with the application of
Business Intelligence to tourism destinations, has yielded real-time, big data decision
support tools for destination managers. Such tools represent the next generation in
destination performance monitoring across a range of indicators. Such tools have been
built on a number of the indicator protocols referenced earlier in this report.
The leading winter alpine destination of Åre (Sweden) developed and pilot tested one
such platform that initially focused on the customer experience. The platform was then
commercialised and is now available for purchase by destinations on the open, global
market.405 It is anticipated that such platforms will soon integrate sustainable tourism
dimensions. Destination managers will need to become proficient in the use of such tools
and link them to a range of decision making that includes sourcing, infrastructure and
experience offers.
Regardless of which monitoring tool is used, every case study presented in this report
employed a formof monitoring to assess and understand its current performance in terms
404 OECD. (2018). OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2018 . Paris: OECD Publishing.
405 Geztio. (n.d.). Website. Retrieved from