Sustainable Destination Management
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries
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including the 2017 series “Silk Road Journey” on Globe Trekker, the 2016 “David Baddiel on
the Silk Road” aired on Discovery Channel Networks International as well as the three episodes
of “The Silk Road” documentary series aired on BBC4. UNWTO sponsored Silk Road presence
in key international travel fairs in Berlin, London, Madrid, and Moscow. 254
In terms of digital tools, The Silk Road does not have a dedicated consumer-oriented website.
However, there is a website for UNWTO’s Silk Road Initiative, which mainly covers activities
and research commissioned by UNWTO. In 2011, UNWTO organized a competition for bloggers
from around the world “the Silk Road Challenge” to create a travel blog on the Silk Road. It
helped set-up meetings between the competing bloggers and the Silk Road destination
representatives at the World Travel Market in London to allow the bloggers to collect
information.255 Silk Road TC members from OIC countries have also invited travel bloggers to
promote their destinations, as in the case of Uzbekistan’s hosting the World Influencers
Congress.256
In the case of the Umayyad Route, the corridor’s website includes documentary videos and
guidebooks for corridor member countries that provide information on the Umayyad heritage
in these countries, including the significance of the sites.257 In Jordan, familiarization trips to
Jordanian attractions on the Umayyad Route were organized for Spanish public sector
employees as well as Spanish and Jordanian tour operators. Jordan’s Tourism Promotion Board
(JTB), which has currently 12 international offices in key markets such as New York and Dubai,
is also anticipated to play an active role in promoting and marketing the Umayyad corridor.258
In the case of the Holy Family TC, as Egypt and Jordan are still in the process of formalizing
cooperation on the corridor, there are no dedicated sites or joint marketing efforts. Both
countries currently use traditional tools to promote the Holy Family sites within their
destinations. In Egypt, with the help of the Coptic Church, the Tourism Ministry has organized
familiarization trips for tour guides to Holy Family sites, which was followed by a visit from an
Italian religious delegation hosted by the Coptic Church in Egypt in 2018.259
The OIC MDTCs have also benefited from collaboration with various stakeholders in marketing
efforts. Within the context of the East Africa Northern Corridor, local tourism businesses and
government bodies, including Rwanda’s Department of Tourism and Conservation, Kenya’s
Tourism Board, and Uganda’s Tourism Board, cooperate in formulating joint tourism
marketing strategies and campaigns for the TC. 260
2.5. Successes and Challenges of OIC Tourism Corridors
The OIC MDTCs have been successful in a number of areas, including the formulation of TC
themes and identification of assets, creating platforms for cooperation between public and
private stakeholders, and supporting capacity building for tourism stakeholders. The examples
brought forward in this chapter shows that the existing OIC MDTCs have succeeded to a large
254 UNWTO (UNWTO) and European Travel Commission. 2017. Handbook on Marketing Transnational Tourism Themes and
Routes.
255 UNWTO website.
256 Please refer to the Silk Road case study for further details.
257 Umayyad Route Website.
258 Taqniyat At-Turath (CulTech) and the Local Support Group. 2015.Strategic Local Action Plan for Jordan Umayyad Project:
A strategic ENPI-CBCMED Project.
259 Egypt Independent Website. 2018. Italian tourism in Egypt to witness boost after Holy Family Journey: Ambassador.
260 e-Turbo News. 2015. Northern Corridor Integration Projects countries seek uniform tourism marketing approach.