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Sustainable Destination Management

Strategies in the OIC Member Countries

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Integration of capacity-building, start-ups, and local communities.

Central Asia’s

exceptional cultural and living heritage creates incredible opportunities for tourism.

420

One of

the expected outcomes of tourism corridors is enhanced regional and international

cooperation, as well as stakeholder engagement across all levels. Today, heritage corridors can

potentially offer economic benefits to local communities and cross-cultural exchanges through

tourism development. Taking the Almaty-Bishkek economic corridor initiative as an example,

it can be said that tourism is one of the most significant components, as it includes other sectors

such as agriculture, capacity building for human resources, etc. As for tourism, those overseeing

the corridor are developing a variety of transborder tours with varying means of

transportation (walking, biking, driving tours). Each type of traveler is presented with a

different set of routes and attractions. The next step is then to coordinate with both

governments to implement transborder tours.

421

Taking into consideration that tourism along the Silk Road is mainly historical and cultural,

tourist guides are also critical. UNWTO’s Silk Road Programme, which aims to improve the

standard of heritage interpretation and improve visitor experience, announced the Quality

Guide Training Initiative in 2015. The successful pilot course for participants from five

countries (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) took place in Khiva,

resulting in an international pool of Silk Road heritage guides and Silk Road heritage guide

trainers. Additionally, a specific Silk Road Guide Handbook was developed and distributed to

all participants.

422

Over the last two years, GosComTourism has launched many projects and released funds to

sponsor tourism projects and start-ups. There is a special department that takes care of and

supports all new projects, and start-ups focused on tourism in Uzbekistan, as well as in Central

Asia. It is now a government institution that provides money for tourism development in

Uzbekistan. Previously,

Uzbektourism

was an institution solely controlling tourism politics, and

the growth of tourism depended on the private sector, mainly DMCs and small stakeholders,

such as private hotels.

423

Funding sources:

Countries must be proactive when it comes to funding initiatives. Funding

is a complicated issue in UNWTO, and there are budgetary constraints. Concerning the funding

to support the Silk Road initiative, only a very minimal budget is provided for staff and

operations. The Silk Road Programme (which is now a department that falls under Technical

Cooperation) is understaffed and has been struggling to increase its budget by earning money

through participation in EU-funded projects (like VeroTour), individual project sponsorship

(as in the case of the Maritime Silk Road study, which was undertaken by a Chinese company),

or substantial support from countries hosting events and airline sponsorships, for example, for

its Annual Silk Road Task Force meetings.

424

The national company,

Kazakh Tourism

, is fully funded and owned by the government. It

participates yearly in international travel fairs, such as ITB in Berlin, WTM in London, KOTFA

in Seoul, ITE in Hong Kong, COTTM in Beijing, and CITM in Shanghai. It is fully government-

420

"Developing a Sustainable Tourism Strategy for the Silk Roads Heritage Corridors."

421

Interview with Deputy Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Tourism

422

"Enhancing Silk Road Interpretation and Quality Guide Training," UNWTO, last modified September, 2016,

http://www2.unwto.org/project/enhancing-silk-road-interpretation-and-quality-guide-training.

423

Interview with Director of Silk Road Destinations DMO

424

Email correspondence with former head of UNWTO Silk Road Programme, Silk Road specialist on sustainable tourism

development