Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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The East Africa Northern Corridor provides a persuasive argument for unified visas in the OIC
countries. The three East African countries that are members of the Northern Corridor,
Rwanda, Kenya, and Uganda, have instituted a common tourist visa, the East African Tourist
Visa, which allows tourists three-month multiple entries to Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. Visa
fees are also waived for foreign residents of the three countries, while country citizens can
travel using their national ID.222
Some of the OIC countries offer visa waivers for neighboring countries or member countries of
the same economic blocks, which facilitate intraregional tourism, as in the case of the Gulf
Cooperation Council countries. 223 In the case of the Silk Road, many of the OIC countries are
providing visa waivers or simplified visa procedures to an increasing number of countries.
Kazakhstan offers visa waivers for 63 countries, while the Kyrgyz Republic provides visa
waivers currently to 45 countries with plans to extend it to an additional 18 countries.224
Monitoring Performance
As outlined in the previous chapter, the approaches that can be used to monitor the effective
management of MDTCs include the use of visitor metrics, the measurement of organizational
effectiveness of the corridor management entity as well as the effectiveness of its marketing
communications activities, the measurement of changes in consumer-based brand equity as a
result of the corridor’s management entity’s activities, gauging stakeholder evaluation of DMO
performance, and evaluating the sustainability of tourism along the corridor.
The data available suggests that few of the OIC MDTCs use a comprehensive approach to
monitoring performance. With the support of UNWTO, TripAdvisor has monitored travel
trends and researched branding metrics. In the case of the Abraham Path, in addition to visitor
metrics, namely the annual total number of walkers on the path, indicators for monitoring
organizational effectiveness are used including the number of trained and certified local
wilderness guides and the number of tour operators operating tours on the Abraham Path, in
addition to marketing communications metrics including the number of journalists and local
tour operators who participated in familiarization trips and the number of monthly visits to
the Abraham Path online guidebook.225
Furthermore, the Abraham Path also uses many indicators for economic impact on the
community including the annual direct and indirect income for involved communities along the
Abraham Path, new jobs created in communities along the Abraham Path and the percentage
of female and youth in those new jobs, the number of inhabitants that are trained on the project,
and the number of local councils or associations with partnership agreements with the Masar
Ibrahim. It is worth noting that these indicators were developed in the context of the World
Bank project.226
Collaboration with Tourism Corridor Stakeholders
As indicated in the previous chapter, the success of MDTC requires collaboration of all
stakeholders, including public, private, and non-governmental entities, to ensure effective
222 e-Turbo News. 2015. Northern Corridor Integration Projects countries seek uniform tourism marketing approach.
223 International Seminar on Multi Destination Opportunities for Regional Integration
224 CAREC Institute. 2018. Regional Workshop Promoting Regional Tourism Cooperation under CAREC 2030.
225 The World Bank. 2017. Implementation Status & Results Report Abraham Path: Economic Development across Fragile
Communities.
226 Ibid.