Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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undergraduates are studying tourism through design, marketing, services technology, logistics,
professional education, hotel business, catering business, and event management. 475
In Kazakhstan, tourism education and capacity building are currently undertaken through
tourism associations (KTA and KAGIR), which receive some funding to conduct such training
either from the government directly or from international organizations. Kazakh Tourism is
planning to offer training on capacity building. The National Chamber of Entrepreneurs
sometimes organizes forums or masterclasses on tourism. About 30 universities in Kazakhstan
currently offer a degree in tourism, and another 15 colleges also offer vocational training for
hospitality jobs. On top of that, the Kazakhstan government is in the process of launching an
international tourismuniversity. The school has just been registered, and they are now building
a campus in Astana.476
Corridor Marketing
In Uzbekistan, there is a special government marketing agency, the National PR Center,
operating under, and sponsored by, GosComTourism. The National PR Center is responsible for
promoting Uzbekistan through marketing activities and bringing tourists to the country.
For tourists from long-haul destinations such as the USA, Canada, Australia, and Western
Europe, there is a lot of interest in visiting at least two of (or even all) the 5 “stans,” and tour
operators are now developing this type of combined tour. They are increasingly interested in
combined tours for travelers because the Silk Road has great marketing leverage as well as a
narrow niche, which is still not easy to organize for new, young tourism companies.477
Target segment identification. In general, segmentation is answering two questions: what
are we going to offer and to whom? Without knowing its potential, a destination can’t make a
valid offer. Kazakh Tourism works on both these questions – tour products and promoting
them to segments of travelers. First, they looked at historical statistics, at a list of countries
from which they received tourists and identified the major groups of potential target markets,
which is Russia and China; in Europe – Germany, the UK, and Poland; in Asia – Korea, India,
Hong Kong, and Malaysia; and in the Middle East it is the United Arab Emirates. Inside each
target market, they identified segments by answering the question: “Who do we target?” They
did this via different age, income, and gender demographics, and so they got to know who a
tourist or traveler to Kazakhstan is. After this, they started market initiatives.478
Another approach utilized by Kazakh Tourismwas generally identifying tourism positioning as
4Es, with each E standing for a certain type of tourism: Eco, Ethnic, Entertainment, or Events.
With Eco and Ethnic tourism being the core offer, and Entertainment and Events being
complementary products. Based on this positioning, they promoted their tourism products
based on these 4Es and also tailored them to specific markets. For instance, in Europe, they
mostly promoted Eco and Ethnic tourism to Kazakhstan. For China, this was both Eco and
Entertainment, and for Russia, it was mostly Events and Entertainment. 479
475 "Promoting Regional Tourism Cooperation under CAREC 2030, a Scoping Study".
476 Interview with Deputy Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Tourism
477 Interview with Co-founder of DMO
478 Interview with Deputy Chairman of the Board of Kazakh Tourism
479 Ibid.