Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
68
lacks formal platforms for collaboration with local stakeholders, which can enhance
cooperation in the management and promotion of the corridor.
Formulating Enabling Legislation
Entry requirements are instrumental to the potential success of corridors. The OIC countries
have very different entry requirements, with some countries being very restrictive, such as
Saudi Arabia. The development of common tourist visas for the OIC MDTCs remains one of the
most significant challenges faced for the development of MDTCs.218 In 2016, a TripAdvisor Silk
Road consumer survey with 10,678 respondents cited that 41% of the respondents reported
that they are more likely to travel to the region if there was a unified visa for Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. The percentage of respondents more likely to travel in
the case of a unified region goes up to 51% for respondents from the Asia Pacific Region.219
Currently, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are working on developing a unified Silk Road visa for
Central Asian countries similar to the Schengen visa.220
In the case of the Silk Road, only 12% of the world’s population do not need a visa to travel to
Silk Road countries, while 73% need to apply for a visa before traveling to the Silk Road
countries. Another 4% can apply for an e-Visa, and 11% can apply for a visa on arrival. As the
table below shows, the percentage of the world’s population needing a visa before travel
decreased from 87% in 2008 to 3% in 2013. This improvement was mainly due to the increase
in providing visa on arrival. It is worth noting, however, that the openness index score of Silk
Road countries in 2013, which was at 21, was nine points lower than the global average. It can
be argued that the fact that a small percentage of the Silk Road countries are members of well-
established economic blocs hinders its tourism potential as generally commercial agreements
can be a prelude for cooperation in visa facilitation and waivers.221
Table 18: Silk Road Visa Reciprocity (2008-2013)
Openness No Visa Visa on Arrival e-Visa Visa Required
% World Population Affected by Visa Policies
2013 World 30 18 15 3 64
Advanced Economies 26 24 1 3 72
Emerging Economies 31 17 19 3 62
Silk Road (SR) 21* 12 11 4 73
Advanced SR Economies 25 25 0 0 75
Emerging SR Economies 21 9 14 4 73
2008 World 20 17 6 - 77
Advanced Economies 24 24 0 - 76
Emerging Economies 19 15 8 - 77
Silk Road (SR) 11 9 4 - 87
Advanced SR Economies 24 24 0 - 76
Emerging SR Economies 10 7 5 - 88
Source: UNWTO (2014)
218 Shackley, Myra. 2002. The Frankincense Route: A proposed cultural itinerary for the Middle East. Historic Environment,
v.16 (2): 12-17.
219 TripAdvisor. 2016. TripAdvisor Travel Trends for the Silk Road 2016.
220 Please refer to the Silk Road case study for detailed information and references.
221 UNWTO. 2014. Tourism Visa Openness Report for the Silk Road Countries.