Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
157
Capacity Building
Training and capacity building efforts are also evident in the best practices of global MDTCs. In
the case of European routes, the Council of Europe and the French Federation of European
Cultural Routes, training, and knowledge-sharing initiatives have been launched targeting the
European MDTCs. In the case of the GMS TC, capacity building for entrepreneurial initiatives is
provided through boot camps or incubators.
Most of the existing OIC MDTCs have also launched initiatives aimed at capacity building for
tourism stakeholders along the corridor. In the case of the Silk Road, a handbook was
developed, and training was provided for tour guides, in addition to training for tourism
officials on sustainable and transnational tourism development. For the Umayyad Route,
training was provided to tourism officials covering the areas of marketing and management,
while tour guides were provided training and certification as Umayyad Route guides.
Table 27: Capacity Building - Best Practices versus OIC Examples
Best
Practices
- The Heritage and Cultural Tourism Open Resource project for
innovative training associated with the Cultural Routes of the Council of
Europe supported by several European universities.
- The French Federation of European Cultural Routes sessions for
exchange of best practices in physical and digital accessibility, local
community involvement and social inclusion for tourism stakeholders
from more than 15 cultural routes.
- The GMS TC Mekong Innovative Start-ups in Tourism Program, training
through intensive boot camps with the help of mentors and access to
incubators and investors.
OIC - The Silk Road Quality Guide Training Initiative and Handbook, official
tourism training on sustainable and transnational tourism development
and use of digital media tools.
- The Umayyad route in Jordan, training for the tourism industry in the
areas of management and marketing in addition to cultural itineraries.
Training also provided in Tunisia and Lebanon.
Sustainability
Sustainability is an area that could stand for some improvement, both globally and for the OIC
MDTCs, especially in terms of monitoring tourism impact, as shown in the monitoring
performance section. Examples from global corridors show cooperation in the preservation of
shared assets, as illustrated by the “Joint Declaration on the Protection of the Wadden Sea”
between the Wadden Sea TC countries. Examples also show the use of demand management to
preserve corridor assets and ensure benefit to local communities.
In the case of the Silk Road, UNWTO has led the efforts for the preservation and conservation
of cultural heritage in Silk Road countries, as illustrated by the 1999 Khiva Declaration, calling
on Central Asian countries to preserve their cultural and natural heritage and to promote
sustainable tourism. In the case of the Holy Family, in Jordan, the TC sites are protected through
heritage legislation with a construction moratorium issued preventing any new construction
projects, except those exclusively dedicated to the protection of archaeological remains.