Updated: Feb 10, 2023
Commissioned by COMCEC (The Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation), the “Developing Multi-Destination Tourism Corridors In the OIC Member Countries” report provides tourism policymakers with recommendations to successfully plan, establish, manage, and market multi-destination tourism corridors.
A multi-destination tourism corridor (MDTC) is a tourism route with a common theme covering more than one country. It combines the assets and attractions from various destinations to form an integrated attraction.
Best practices in developing tourism corridors: Important steps in planning a tourism corridor include assessing potential demand and evaluating the feasibility of establishing a corridor based on infrastructure. In terms of corridor governance and management, choosing a suitable governance model and setting a legislative framework are key. Determining key performance indicators and how to measure them is an important part of monitoring performance. In terms of marketing best practices, theme-based branding involves creating a story or narrative to be associated with the corridor and communicating this story across the various channels to all relevant stakeholders.
Case studies of successful tourism corridors include:
The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Tourism Corridor, which provides a strong example for stakeholder collaboration and use of digital marketing
The Danube Tourism Corridor, which sets a good example for visa facilitation and collaboration with the private sector
The Turkic Silk Road Tourism Corridor, a route with high brand awareness
The Holy Family Tourism Corridor, a tourism route with tremendous potential but is not fully utilized by countries involved
Some of the main challenges in developing multi-destination tourism corridors in OIC countries include limited research and data collection efforts, challenge in infrastructure development, strict visa requirements for most countries, limited funding sources, and limited use of uniform branding for corridor.
Recommendations for Potential Corridors: After looking into existing tourism corridors between the OIC countries, other possible cross-border corridors to promote specific themes or regions of the OIC countries collaboratively include the following: