Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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2.4. OIC Tourism Corridor Marketing
With the rise of experiential tourism and the shifting focus from assets and attractions to
experiences, providing tourists with added value requires combining experiences and
attractions through offering ways to interact with local communities and to experience and get
an idea of the local lifestyle. In the case of the Umayyad Route, plans are underway in Jordan to
involve the local communities of Druze and Bedouins to enrich tourists’ experience through
taking part in desert “badiya” experiences from folklore, and traditional cuisine to local sports
such as camel and horse racing, which enrich the tourist’s experience. 247
Branding
Branding or the creation of a unified “corporate identity” is essential for increasing awareness
of MDTCs. As discussed in the global chapter, MDTC themes play an important role in
positioning and differentiating tourism corridors. The work done by UNWTO on developing the
Silk Road theme has created a strong base for the Silk Road TC as a distinctive brand. Research
indicates high levels of awareness of the Silk Road. According to the 2016 TripAdvisor
consumer survey, which had over 15 thousand respondents, the top ten countries people
associated with the Silk Road included three OIC countries, namely Turkey, Indonesia, and
Egypt. In the same study, 61% of respondents indicated their interest in visiting old Silk Road
cities while 58% cited interest in visiting UNESCO cultural heritage sites on the Silk Road.248
Figure 26: Awareness of Silk Road Countries
Source: TripAdvisor (2017)
UNWTO has also sponsored several Silk Road documentaries to increase awareness of the
history of the road and put forward the narrative associated with the Silk Road on the global
stage. 249 Logos are also an important component of branding. In the case of the Silk Road,
UNWTO has created a logo of the program shown in the figure below. However, this logo was
not initially designed for promotional purposes and is not uniformly used by the tourism
industry in corridor countries. While some entities use the UNWTO logo, others have created
247 Taqniyat At-Turath (CulTech) and the Local Support Group. 2015.Strategic Local Action Plan for Jordan Umayyad Project:
A strategic ENPI-CBCMED Project.
248 TripAdvisor. 2016. TripAdvisor Travel Trends for the Silk Road 2016.
249 UNWTO (UNWTO) and European Travel Commission. 2017. Handbook on Marketing Transnational Tourism Themes and
Routes.