COMCEC Tourism Outlook-2018
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 Improving international cooperation on MFT certification on different requirements of
MFT standards and appointing an authority responsible for MFT certification both at
national and international levels.
The 10th Meeting of the COMCEC TourismWorking Group was held on September 21st, 2017 in
Ankara, Turkey with the theme of “Risk and Crisis Management in Tourism Sector: Recovery
from Crisis in the OIC Member Countries”. The Meeting has considered the Studies "Risk and
Crises Management in Tourism in the OIC Member Countries" commissioned by the COMCEC
Coordination Office and the "COMCEC Tourism Outlook 2017" prepared by the COMCEC
Coordination Office. Following policy recommendations were suggested as the out outcome of
the meetings, discussions as well as the analytical studies:
 Recognizing and identifying threats and risks, planning scenarios for each of the likely
threats, establishing crises management processes and recovery task force during pre-
crises periods.
 Preparing national crises management strategies and contingency plans and
communicate these with the tourism industry stakeholders.
 Diversifying products and market portfolio in order to expand the portfolio and target
less sensitive markets.
The 11th Meeting of the COMCEC Tourism Working Group was held on February 15th, 2018 in
Ankara, Turkey with the theme of “Destination Development and Institutionalization
Strategies in the OIC Member Countries”. The Representatives of the Member States have shared
their experiences, achievements and challenges regarding destination development in their
respective countries. The Meeting has considered report on “Destination Development and
Institutionalization Strategies in the OIC Member Countries” commissioned by the COMCEC
Coordination Office. The policy recommendations offered after the meeting were as follows;
 Decentralization in destination management, empowering local structures and
governance.
 Involving stakeholders including local governments, tourism industry, NGOs and public
into destination planning and creating a shared vision of the destination.
 Improving private sector involvement in destination management, enhancing
effectiveness and transparency of DMOs, diversifying their funding sources including
membership fees and commercial income besides the public funding.
Another instrument envisaged by the COMCEC Strategy that will strengthen tourism
cooperation among member states is the COMCEC Project Funding. The Strategy has a viable
funding mechanism through which member countries registered to the TourismWorking Group
submit projects to be financed through grants by the COMCEC Coordination Office. The first
project call was made in September 2013. Within the framework of the 1st project call under the
COMCEC Project Funding, 2 projects in tourism sector were successfully implemented in 2014.
One of them was “Cities of Common Cultural Heritage” project implemented by Azerbaijan
Ministry of Culture and Tourism. There were 3 partner countries namely; Turkey, Uzbekistan
and Kazakhstan in this project. The project aimed at creating a joint cultural tourism product
and at the end of the project with the help of the analytical study prepared as an outcome of the
project, cultural heritage routes were created. The other project was “Improving Statistical