Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
44
destinations as a result of marketing activities, need to be calculated to gauge the efficiency and
effectiveness of these activities. 106
As building a strong brand is essential to the development of MDTCs, there is a salient need to
measure brand equity. The Consumer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model measures brand
salience, brand associations, brand resonance, and brand loyalty. While brand salience focuses
on tourists’ mindset awareness of the destination and its inclusion in their “decision set” or in
the destinations, they are considering visiting, brand associations studies the relationship
strength between brand image and identity to gauge the efficacy of positioning strategies.
Brand resonance investigates tourist intention to repeat their visit to the destination, while
brand loyalty measures actual repeat visits and referrals.107
MDTC management entities’ organizational effectiveness can be assessed using various
indicators, including whether the mission statements and objectives are clear and feasible, the
purposes are suited to the corridor’s positioning strategy, the resources are efficiently
allocated to fulfill goals, the objectives are achieved, and cost-effectiveness is ensured
overall. 108 Measuring performance from stakeholders’ perspectives is also essential for
establishing the effectiveness of MDTC management entities, surveys can be used to assess the
satisfaction of tourists, local communities and the tourism businesses along the corridor with
performance in the areas relevant to them. 109
Measuring the social, cultural, and environmental tourism impacts is essential to ensure the
sustainability of tourism along the MDTC. Typically, economic impact indicators are used the
most by tourism management entities; however, to ensure sustainability, both environmental
and social impacts need to be taken into consideration by MDTCs management entities.110
In general, most MDTCs appear to focus on monitoring the economic impact of the corridor,
from visitor metrics to the economic impact of local businesses and employment. In the case of
the Council of Europe's cultural routes, seven routes are currently monitoring their
performance with the use of the European Tourism Indicators System (ETIS), which was
developed by the European Union in 2013. The system measures several areas, namely
governance, communication, both internal and external, sustainable management, the impact
of cultural activities, and the economic and environmental impacts of the route itineraries. 111
The Camino de Santiago provides a great example of conducting continuous performance
monitoring using an information system designed to monitor and analyze relevant data. The
data collected is used to measure the impact of the various measures and strategies and to
ensure that goals are met. Data on tourist satisfaction, tourist segments, spending, and their
knowledge of the route are collected through face-to-face intercept surveys at different
sections of the corridor. Data are also gathered from accommodation facilities on number of
overnight stays and percentage of occupied rooms throughout the year. 112
The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) is in charge of monitoring and disseminating
performance metrics and reports to the GMS Tourism Working Group (TWC) meetings, the
106 Destination Marketing Association International (2011). Standard DMO Performance Reporting: A Handbook for DMOs.
107 Pike, S. (2008). Destination Marketing: an Integrated Marketing Communication Approach. London: Routledge.
108 Ibid.
109 Crouch G.I., & Ritchie J.R.B. (2012) Destination Competitiveness and Its Implications for Host-Community QOL.
110 WTO. (2004). Indicators of sustainable development for tourism destinations: A guidebook.
111 ROUTES4U. 2018. Feasibility Study: The Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe and the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR).
112 UNWTO (2015), Affiliate Members Global Reports, Volume twelve – Cultural Routes and Itineraries, UNWTO, Madrid.