Jointly with the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT), SESRIC organized a virtual Training Workshop on “Tourism Destination Marketing Strategies” on 02-04 March 2021 through an online video conferencing platform. The training workshop was organized within the framework of SESRIC’s Tourism Capacity Building Programme and in line with the relevant resolutions on tourism development adopted by the 47th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the OIC and the 36th Ministerial Session of the COMCEC, both held in November last year.

The training workshop aimed at bringing together tourism experts and executives from different national tourism authorities of the OIC member countries to strengthen their capacities with a view to developing effective tourism destination marketing policies and strategies. The workshop provided insights into better understanding of different aspects of tourism destination marketing, including strategy development, stakeholder management, and financing and ICT based marketing. The training workshop also provided a platform for the exchange of knowledge and best practices and to facilitate cooperation opportunities among the participants to enhance intra-OIC cooperation in the domain of tourism. 73 participants from public tourism boards/authorities and relevant national institutions of 20 OIC member countries attended the workshop to learn more about how to establish effective Tourism Destination Marketing Strategies in their respective countries.

The workshop commenced with the opening statement by H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, Director General of SESRIC who stressed the importance of the potential for developing a sustainable tourism sector in the OIC countries for enhancing their socio-economic development. Mentioning the great touristic potentials of the OIC countries, which ranges from natural attractions to historical, cultural, and religious ones, he added that OIC Countries should overcome challenges such as political and security instability, lack of adequate investment and efficient tourism infrastructures, and further develop efficient promotion and marketing strategies. At the end of his statement, H.E. Mr. DABUR briefed the participants on the various activities of SESRIC in the domain of tourism. In particular, he highlighted examples from SESRIC training activities organized within the framework of SESRIC Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tourism-CaB) and various technical background reports and research studies, which aim to analyse the current situation of tourism development at the OIC level and to suggest appropriate policy actions.

H.E. Mrs. Latifa ELBOUABDELLAOUI, Director General of the Islamic Centre for Development of Trade (ICDT) also addressed the participants in the opening session and emphasized the importance of developing the tourism industry in the OIC through different resolutions and fora.

Furthermore, Mrs. ELBOUABDELLAOUI highlighted the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry all around the world and, in particular, in the OIC countries. She underlined the need for SESRIC and ICDT to further enhance their existing cooperation towards alleviating the negative effects of COVID-19 by proposing other activities on key themes relating to the tourism sector in OIC countries.

Over the course of three days, the training workshop was conducted by competent experts from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, the Dinar-Standard and the International Institute for Halal Research and Training of Malaysia.

This training workshop was designed in line with the virtual training solutions undertaken by SESRIC to better serve the Centre’s training activities and keep participants motivated and engaged during this difficult time of the global crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Documents:

• Concept Note: (English) (Arabic) (French)

Photos