The 11^th Session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM) was held on 27-29 June 2022 in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. The Conference brought together Ministers of Tourism and high level officials from the OIC Member States along with representatives of relevant OIC institutions and international organizations. SESRIC was represented by the H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, Director General and Dr. Cem Tintin, Senior Researcher, thereat.

The Conference provided the OIC Member States and institutions with an important opportunity to discuss the state of the tourism sector in the OIC Member States; review the progress made towards the implementation of the “Strategic Roadmap for the Development of Islamic Tourism in OIC Member Countries”; exchange ideas on how to enhance the intra-OIC tourism cooperation and announce the ‘OIC City of Tourism’ award for the years 2023 and 2024.

H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, DG of SESRIC, addressed the Ministerial Session of the Conference on 29 June 2022 and briefed the Ministers about the activities and programmes of the Centre in the domain of tourism under its three mandated areas of statistics, research and training. Prior to the Ministerial Session, Mr. DABUR also addressed the Senior Official Meeting (SOM) of the Conference on 27 June 2022 and apprised the participants of the activities undertaken by the Centre towards the implementation of the “Strategic Roadmap for the Development of Islamic Tourism in OIC Member Countries” and the tourism capacity building programmes of the Centre.

During the SOM, H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, DG of SESRIC, also launched and presented the main findings of SESRIC’s regular report on “International Tourism in the OIC Countries 2022: Prospects and Challenges amid the Covid-19 Pandemic”. The report serves as the main technical background document of the ICTM and provides a comprehensive analysis of the state of international tourism in the OIC Member States and proposes a number of policy recommendations for the post-pandemic recovery and development of the tourism sector in the OIC Member States. During his presentation, Mr. DABUR highlighted that while the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as the biggest crisis in the recent history of the tourism sector with the reversal of tourist arrivals and receipt trends across the world, OIC Member States have taken a wide range of measures to mitigate the negative impacts on the sector, support tourism stakeholders and revive tourism activities. He further stressed that intra-OIC tourism cooperation has the potential to boost international tourism activities in the OIC member states and support the post-pandemic recovery efforts such as through the exchange of knowledge and best practices among the Member States.

On the sidelines of the 11^th ICTM, SESRIC delegation also participated in the 7^th Coordination Committee Meeting on Tourism’ which was held on 26 June 2022 in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan. During the meeting, H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, DG of SESRIC, briefed the members of the committee about the SESRIC’s contribution to the assessment of the nominated cities for the ‘OIC City of Tourism’ award for 2023 and 2024.

The 11^th ICTM was concluded with the adoption of a number of resolutions and the Baku Declaration with a view to spearheading the intra-OIC tourism cooperation. The Conference also announced the cities of Şanlıurfa (Republic of Türkiye) and Khiva (Republic of Uzbekistan) as the ‘OIC City of Tourism’ for 2023 and 2024, respectively. The 12^th Session of the ICTM will be held in the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2024 and the 13^th Session will be hosted by the State of Qatar in 2026.

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