Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
67
MDTCs’ management organizations are typically composed of representatives from corridor
member countries, with local committees formed to fine-tune and implement strategies along
the different nodes of the corridor. 212 In the case of the Umayyad Route, the corridor
management consists of a Steering Committee, Advisory Committees, and Local Action Groups.
The Advisory Committees and Local Action Groups are formed at the local level. In Jordan, both
the Advisory Committee and the local action groups include various groups of stakeholders,
from public to private and non-governmental bodies.213
In Jordan, the Advisory Committee of the Umayyad Route combines representatives from the
public sector and the tourism industry as well as local and international organizations. It
includes high-level representation from the Ministry of Tourism, Department of Antiquities,
the Tourism Promotion Board, Jordan Museum, EU Delegation, the European Neighborhood
Policy Instrument CBCMED Program, Petra Tours, Greater Amman Municipality, Plaza Tours,
and the NGO Cultural Technologies for Heritage and Conservation. 214
As the Jordanian partner for the Umayyad Route, the NGO Cultural Technologies for Heritage
and Conservation formed a Local Support Group that included members from various
stakeholder groups, including public sector bodies such as the Ministry of Planning and
International Cooperation, Greater Amman Municipality, and the Department of Antiquities.215
The Local Support Group has also members from the private sector, including Jordan Travel
Agency and Plaza Tours, as well as the Tourism Board, which is an independent public-private
partnership. Representatives from universities also feature on the list of the Local Support
Group members, including representatives from the Yarmouk University, the Hashemite
University, and the German Jordanian University-School of Architecture and Built
Environment. Both UNESCO and the European Neighborhood Policy Instrument CBCMED
Program are represented in the Local Support Group.216
In the case of the Holy Family TC, In Egypt, the Tourism Development Authority is responsible
for the coordination of efforts of the various government bodies that working together to
manage and promote the corridor, including the Ministry of Antiquities, the Ministry of
Tourism, and the Ministry of Local Development. In Jordan, the Ministry of Tourism and
Antiquities and the Jordan Tourism Board (JTB) cooperate in the management and promotion
of the MDTC sites. Although several agreements were signed in late 2016 between Egypt and
Jordan for the development of the trail, there is currently no joint formal organization
overseeing the MDTC.217
Examples from the OIC MDTCs illustrate some differences in the governance structure. On the
one hand, both the Silk Road and the Umayyad Route have formal governance structures with
well-defined roles for the various bodies facilitating management and coordination of activities
for the TCs. On the other hand, the Holy Family TC, which is still in the process of formalizing
the cooperation between two member countries, is reliant on state bodies for governance and
212 Ibid
213 Taqniyat At-Turath (CulTech) and the Local Support Group. 2015.Strategic Local Action Plan for Jordan Umayyad Project:
A strategic ENPI-CBCMED Project.
214 Ibid.
215 Ibid.
216 Ibid.
217 Please refer to the Holy Family case study for details and references.