Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
6
Table 4: Theme Formulation - Best Practices versus OIC Examples
Best
Practices
- The HANSA Culinary Route creating a culinary theme with elements such as
visits to local producers and markets, special menus in restaurants, and
culinary festivals.
- The Prehistoric Rock Art Trails use criteria for the evaluation of the quality of
rock art sites to be included in the route.
OIC - The ICOMOS analysis of sites along the Silk Roads in terms of uniqueness and
distribution. Identifying major nodes or large cities along the Silk Road and
route segments between those nodes.
- The Jordanian NGO Cultural Technologies for Heritage and Conservation
researching the historical value of the sites to be included in the Umayyad
corridor and assessing their condition.
- The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, in cooperation with the Coptic Church,
researched the Holy Family sites to decide on the sites to be included in the
TC.
Best Practices versus OIC Governance and Management of MDTCs
Governance Structure: In terms of governance structure, the GMS TC offers an excellent
example of best practices, with bodies representing the various stakeholders and having
distinct functions. GMS tourism ministers appoint NTO officials to represent GMS countries in
the GMS Tourism Working Group, which meets to set GMS tourism strategies and initiatives,
approve resources for their implementation, and monitors implementation. The GMS Tourism
Working Group cooperates with development partners and private advisory groups as well as
acts as an advisory body to the Mekong Tourism Coordination Office. The Mekong Tourism
Coordination Office promotes cooperation among GMS governments and assists in
coordinating and implementing programs. The GMS Tourism Working Group Task Force sets
priorities for national implementation for GMS TC countries. Programs and initiatives are
implemented by the various national agencies of the GMS TC countries.
Figure 3: Greater Mekong Subregion TC Governance Structure