Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
25
responsible for environmental conservation, resource management, transportation, and
taxation among others. This level of coordination can be difficult to achieve in the absence of a
clear defined role for the different government bodies and in the event that sustainable tourism
is not placed high on political agendas and recognized as such by the various governmental
bodies.64
Stakeholder support is essential for the implementation of sustainable tourism strategies, which
emphasizes the need for stakeholder engagement and consultation in developing strategies to
ensure stakeholder buy-in and support. However, stakeholder engagement efforts are in many
instances influenced by the relative power of the various stakeholders with their different
agendas, which can lead to the exclusion of some stakeholders, such as local NGOs who are more
focused on environmental and social issues, from sustainable tourism policy development.
Finally, the resources committed to the implementation of sustainable tourism strategies seem
to be quite inadequate. As mentioned earlier, the implementation of sustainable tourism
strategies is costly with no immediate return on investment which may explain the reluctance
of governments to allocate the resources necessary for achieving long-term sustainable tourism
objectives.65
64 Dodds, R., & Butler, R., (2010). Barriers to implementing sustainable tourism policy in mass tourism destinations.
TOURISMOS, 5(1), 35-53.
65 Dodds, R., & Butler, R., (2010). Barriers to implementing sustainable tourism policy in mass tourism destinations.
TOURISMOS, 5(1), 35-53.