COMCEC Tourism Outlook-2016
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6.2 Tourism Cooperation under the COMCEC Umbrella
Tourism cooperation could play a significant role in the socio-economic development of the
COMCEC Member Countries, if properly planned and managed.
The COMCEC Economic Summit, held in İstanbul in 2009, has prioritized the cooperation in the
field of tourism sector. Since then, the COMCEC has increased its efforts for enhancing
cooperation among the Member States in this field.
In addition to ongoing activities such as Tourism Ministerial Meetings, workshops, seminars,
tourism fairs, COMCEC encourages modalities that enable involvement of relevant stakeholders
such as private sector and local communities in tourism activities. In this respect, the
“OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum” was established in 2011 and convened its 1st
Meeting on 7-8 December 2012 in İzmir, Turkey. The Forumannually brings together the private
sector representatives of the member states operating in the field of tourism to share their
experience and explore ways and means to enhance the cooperation in this field. The 2nd
Meeting of the OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum was held on 16-17 December 2013
in İstanbul with the theme of "Effective Marketing Strategies for Promoting Tourism
Destinations in the OIC Member Countries."
Moreover, the 3rd Meeting of the OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum was held on 29-
30 January 2015 in İstanbul with the theme of “International Branding of Tourism Destinations
in the OIC Member Countries.” The Forum emphasized the importance of effective marketing
and branding strategies for promoting the tourism destinations in the OIC Member Countries
and highlighted that effective marketing and branding requires utilization of full range of tools
available including digital marketing activities, social media, mobile phone applications, PR, etc.
Furthermore, it is also underlined the importance of multi-stakeholder engagement as a critical
success factor for tourism branding particularly through utilizing Public Private Partnerships
and stressed the significance of joint endeavors such as joint promotion work, cultural tourism
routes and joint tours and familiarization programs/trips to overcome the negative media image
of Islamic Countries resulting from misguiding media coverage and problems like Islamofobia,
Ebola, etc.
The 4th Meeting of the OIC/COMCEC Private Sector Tourism Forum was held on 14-15 January
2016 in İstanbul with the theme of “Promoting Muslim-Friendly Tourism (MFT) Products and
Services in the OIC Member Countries.” In this forum, the participants discussed the current
state of international tourism in the OIC Member Countries as well as prospects and challenges
in this regard. Moreover, the participants also deliberated on the global trends and policies in
promoting MFT products and services and the challenges faced by the private sector in the
Member Countries in promoting MFT products and services. The participants emphasized the
importance of raising awareness about MFT, not only in the OIC Member Countries, but also in
the Non-OIC world. In this regard, the participants highlighted the significance of the effective
utilization of the existing mechanisms under the OIC/COMCEC, such as SMIIC’s technical
Committee on tourism, for enhancing cooperation in MFT.
Tourism has been defined as one of the six cooperation areas in the COMCEC Strategy , adopted
by the 4th Extraordinary Summit held on 14-15 August 2012 in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, Saudi
Arabia.