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Sustainable Destination Management

Strategies in the OIC Member Countries

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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.

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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.

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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.