Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
40
and little influence may be informed through “first level” engagement strategies through the use
of newsletters and emails. 129
Educational institutions and local communities have low influence but high interest in
sustainable tourism, they need to be consulted in sustainable tourism strategies. Consultation
can be initiated using a variety of tools such as feedback loops, focus groups, and surveys. For
stakeholders with high influence in strategy area but low interest in the sustainable tourism
strategies, they need to be involved to ensure their needs and interests are met to avoid potential
conflicts. These stakeholders can be invited to join workshops, special forums, and joint planning
and strategy formulation sessions. Tourism businesses are considered as having both high
influence and high interest in sustainable tourism, thus their opinions and suggestions need to
be assimilated in developing sustainable tourism strategies. Collaborating with these
stakeholders can be carried out through regular meetings or special committees for
stakeholders.130
While direct engagement techniques, such as stakeholder meetings and ongoing advisory
groups, can be very useful in terms of generating acceptance and creating a sense of ownership,
it is both time consuming and resource intensive as well as not adequately accessible and
representative of all stakeholders. This has led to an increase in the adoption of modern
technology tools to ensure broader engagement. Some of the earliest engagement efforts in this
area was led by the WTO in 2002. This was done in preparation for the conferences for the
International Year of Ecotourism that was held as an international web-conference, which was
carried out through emails for stakeholders who were not able to attend the regional meetings.
In Australia, stakeholders were also consulted using on-line tools in the formulation of the
medium to long-term strategy for the Tourism Industry in 2003.131
To facilitate cooperation between stakeholders, it is important to communicate the importance
of sustainable tourism and identify the areas of mutual interest through dialogue. In some
instances, the tourism industry may have conflicting interests with other stakeholders such as
destination management bodies or local communities with regards to some such as optimal
carrying capacities. However, meaningful and sincere dialogue can help navigate these
differences and find mutual areas for collaboration. An important area for engagement and
collaboration with the tourism industry is the creation and implementation of sustainable
tourism regulations.132
Survey Insights: As the following figure illustrates, findings from the destination management
organizations and tourism industry survey for this study indicate lower levels of involvement and
collaboration in tourismsustainability strategies; close to half of the respondents reported being only
informed of strategies as opposed to being consulted or involved. Respondents were also asked about
the incentives their organizations receive to implement sustainable tourism strategies. 37% of the
respondents stated that they didn’t receive any incentives. 40% of respondents mentioned receiving
capacitybuildingor training, 35%citedbenefiting fromconsultationoradviceonsustainability issues,
and 21%mentioned receiving free sustainability or eco certification and financial incentives.
129 COMCEC. (2018). Destination development and institutionalization strategies in the OIC member countries. COMCEC.
130 COMCEC. (2018). Destination development and institutionalization strategies in the OIC member countries. COMCEC.
131 UNWTO. (2013). Sustainable tourism for development guidebook. UNWTO.
132 UNWTO. (2012). Destination wetlands supporting sustainable tourism. Retrieved from