Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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guideline for all reconstruction and conservation procedures. A recent presidential decree (УП-
5781 of 13 August 2019) in Uzbekistan also covers a very sensitive point: no new construction
or commercial activity (except selling of souvenirs) is allowed in the territory of UNESCO
heritage sites, except a UNESCO special commission permit is obtained. In the UNESCO cultural
heritage list, “plov” (an Uzbek national dish accepted by UNESCO in December 2016) is listed.
The UNESCO has also accepted the Khorezmian national dance as a cultural heritage object, as
well as the traditional procedure of producing khan-atlas (also called Uzbek print) from silk.447
The opinion of an interview partner from Samarkand is that the Ministry of Culture has very
little experience in preserving attractions. The problem is that no-one has relevant experience
at this point in time in Uzbekistan. DMCs only have experience in utilizing heritage for business.
The Ministry of Culture should become a core organization, working to preserve heritage, and
which constantly upgrades the expertise of its specialists according to modern technologies
and trends in historical monument preservation. 448 External help to establish such capacity
building is the quickest way to save unique historical heritage.
In Kazakhstan, there is a new state program in place for intangible objects called “Rukhani
Zhangyru,” meaning “The Revival of the Past.” According to this program, Kazakh Tourism is
filming documentaries, publishing books and identifying sacred places and putting them on the
map or digital solutions such as online maps, or a 3D map of sacred sites, so that people become
aware of their existence and are driven to visit them. They want Kazakhstan citizens to learn
more about their culture and history, too, and using technology is a sustainable way of reviving
it.449
Visitor satisfaction. The number-one expected outcome from UNWTO activity on the Silk
Road is a high-quality visitor experience of the world’s most outstanding cultural and natural
heritage in the Silk Road Corridors.450
The search for new experiences and destinations, so-called experiential travel, is a growing
global phenomenon. Silk Road countries offering unique and untapped travel opportunities can
benefit from this in the years to come. Rich and authentic experiences are already available
here, and UNWTO sees its role not so much in reinventing available routes, but in boosting best-
practices as examples already taking place in Central Asian destinations.451
The preconditions for maximizing experiences are based on safety and accessibility. In 2019,
Kazakh Tourism launched a Tourist Police initiative in Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Turkestan, and
Burabay. They are still in the process of evaluating Tourist Police work, in which the main issue
is mutual coordination. Being police, they are a part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, not the
Ministry of Tourismor Culture, but need to possess the unique qualities or traits a tourist police
officer should have and follow.
The Kazakhstan government-initiated information services in airports and different attractions
in Nur-Sultan and Almaty. They have a bigger stand in Almaty, which is more involved now, and
447 Interview with Head of the Department of Scientific Research and Work with Educational Institutions of GosComTourism
448 Interview with Director of Silk Road Destinations DMO
449 Interview with Deputy Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Tourism
450 "Roadmap for Development, Heritage Conservation & Tourism: Promoting Sustainable Growth Along the Silk Roads
Heritage Corridors," UNWTO, last modified 2014,
conservation-tourism-promoting-sustainable-growth-along-sil.
451 "Technical Cooperation and Silk Road. Key Focus Areas," UNWTO, accessed October 13, 2019,