Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
2
Program in the late 80s and the involvement of UNWTO in the Silk Road and Slave Route
initiatives in the early 90s, the concept and development of MDTCs gained increasing attention.
The inclusion of the Spanish section of the Camino Francés of Camino de Santiago routes in the
World Heritage List in 1993 started the debate on cultural routes and led to the addition of a
specific category for cultural routes on the list. 5
From a thematic perspective, corridors can be classified as cultural or natural heritage
corridors. Cultural corridors are based on historical, cultural, spiritual, and economic ties that
are part of the “collective memory” of society.6 They may combine various elements, including
religion, cultural traditions, gastronomy, art, and architecture, such as the Camino de Santiago,
or may focus on a single element, such as the cave art route focusing on prehistoric art. 7
Cultural corridors can be formed on the basis of religious heritage such as the Santiago de
Compostela Route, arts and architecture such as the Transromanica Route, famous
personalities’ lives, and activities such as Destination Napoleon and the Mozart Ways, and the
movement of people such as the Phoenicians’ Route. 8
Figure 1: Classification of Multi-Destination Tourism Corridors
Source: DinarStandard Analysis
Natural corridors are based on natural resources, such as landscapes, plants, and wildlife,
which are underdeveloped to a certain extent. Natural corridors may combine various
elements, including experiencing adventure, natural landscapes and wildlife, and educational
and conservation nature-related tourism activities.9 An example of nature-based corridors is
the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, the largest conservation area in Africa, consisting of the
Limpopo National Park of Mozambique, Kruger National Park of South Africa, and Gonarezhou
National Park of Zimbabwe, offering a variety of trails including walking and wilderness trails
as well as self-drive trails across Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.10
From a design perspective, MDTCs can be classified as either linear or network corridors.
Linear corridors can have either one or several start points and one end point, such as the
Camino de Santiago, which has various start points but ends at one particular point - the
Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Linear corridors are sequential, going from the
various start points to the final point, as opposed to network corridors, which consist of various
5 UNWTO (2015), Affiliate Members Global Reports, Volume twelve – Cultural Routes and Itineraries, UNWTO, Madrid.
6 Valkova Shishmanova, Maria. 2015. Cultural Tourism in Cultural Corridors, Itineraries, Areas and Cores Networked.
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 188: 246 – 254.
7 UNWTO Global Report on Public-Private Partnerships: Tourism Development
8 ROUTES4U. 2018. Feasibility Study: The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR).
9 Hamzah, A. and Ismail, H. N. 2008. A design of Nature-Culture Based Tourism Corridor; A Pilot Project at Kelantan Darul
Naim. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
10 Hawkins, D., et al. 2015. Multi-Country Destination Development: An Opportunity to Stimulate Tourism in the Americas.
International UNWTO Seminar on Multi Destination Opportunities for Regional Integration.