Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
145
Area Lessons Learned
Corridor
Development
 More intergovernmental collaboration to develop tourism in the
region is needed.
 Corridor product development based on the challenges the
private sector faces and skills they possess.
 Encouraging improvement of connectivity along the Silk Road by
addressing infrastructure gaps.
Funding
Sources
 To create better conditions for stimulating direct private
investments, thus ensuring sustainability.
 Countries have to be proactive when it comes to funding
initiatives.
Governance  There is a need to negotiate and implement special tourism
legislation between neighboring countries.
 NTOs need to work together to generate unique joint projects in
Central Asian countries. Silk Visa may become the first.
 Statistics based on traveler satisfaction surveys, collected by NTOs,
need to be easily accessible to private businesses.
 Both government tourism officials and the private sector need to
increase training on sustainability criteria application to start
using them in their work.
 There is a need to deliver holistic planning with well-integrated
stakeholder participation for long-term sustainability to optimize
opportunities for tourism while safeguarding heritage.
Management  NTOs need to work more closely with tour operators by
conducting audits and identifying problem areas that currently
hinder the connectivity of Silk Road routes.
 International and national private sector players should be
engaged in the long-term vision of destination competitiveness
and sustainability aspects.
 Private sector and NTOs must cooperate with young
professionals/startups to work together as part of the capacity
building program and use existing online modules and onsite
training to create transnational projects.
Marketing  There’s a need to provide more market research and better
understanding of travel motivations to empower destinations to be
more innovative and competitive in their national marketing
strategies.