Sustainable Destination Management

Strategies in the OIC Member Countries

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countries on the Silk Road. A joint working group with meetings twice a year to foster

intergovernmental collaboration is recommended. The advantages of formalizing a sub-

corridor on the Silk Road are to promote specific aspects of Turkic heritage and culture as part

of the overall Silk Road.

Creating a secretariat to help coordinate activities on the corridor is recommended. Working

groups can support the secretarial on specific topics involving stakeholders. It has to be

assessed, though, if the Turkic Silk Road requires an operations office for product development,

marketing, and capacity building activities. This would strengthen the corridor vis-à-vis the

national tourism bodies but would overall benefit tourism arrivals in the region.

Enabling Legislation

Tourism corridors are often dependent on multi-lateral government relations, long-term

development, and changes in legislation. These factors are often not directly influenced by the

respective tourism ministries but by other government bodies. These development areas,

however, have a significant impact on the success of cross-border tourism and thus should be

taken into consideration when formulating policies for cross-border tourism corridors.

It is essential to include the following goals, depending on the format of the TC.

Facilitation air connectivity approvals, especially for regional carriers, are required

to enable easy connectivity for travelers once they are in the region and for

domestic travelers.

Visa facilitation to enable easy border-crossing. It is recommended that countries

partner on visa facilitation regionally. The planned “Silk Visa” of the Turkic Silk

Road is a good example. Another example of this would be the development of the

ASEAN, which allows citizens of ASEAN countries to travel within the region freely

(Chapter 1.3.2). Even though it did not address border crossings of non-ASEAN

travelers, the Mekong region benefited from easier traveling facilitation.

Strategic transportation (cross-border roads, bridges, railways) and other tourism

infrastructure is important

ICT connectivity infrastructure is very often one of the most important factors for

travelers, and governments should consider the importance of mobile connectivity

to enable open travel and inclusive growth.

Developing new air, land and sea routes connections

Creation and implementing common tourism and competency standards

Undertaking programs to build supply chains in the region and allowing local

businesses to have access to local sources to sustainable products.

Sustainability

It is recommended that standards are jointly created to preserve the cultural heritage of the

Turkic-speaking countries on the corridor. This includes architecture, gastronomy, religion,

and culture. This should be done with sustainable and inclusive growth in mind and following