SESRIC successfully organised a workshop on “Advancing Entrepreneurship in Rural Tourism” on 6-7 January 2025 via an online video conferencing platform. The event was held in line with the resolutions of the 12^th Session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers (ICTM), which designated Cairo as “OIC City of Tourism for 2026,” and within the framework of SESRIC’s Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tourism-CaB).

The workshop aimed to equip professionals from the OIC tourism national institution, particularly Egyptian experts, with the skills to develop sustainable, comprehensive, and competitive rural tourism sectors.

The workshop brought together 165 experts from relevant national institutions, tourism ministries, and authorities from 31 OIC countries, including the Arab Republic of Egypt. It covered key themes in rural tourism, including standardised governance and certification systems, Community-Based Village Tourism (CBVT) models, diversification, relevance to agro-tourism, ecotourism, gastronomy, and capacity building and resource mobilisation.

The presentations covered key topics such as:

• Malaysia’s strategy for agro-tourism development through infrastructure diversification.
• Indonesia’s Community-Based Village Tourism (CBVT) Model.
• Egypt’s “responsibility-centric” approach and 7Ps diversification strategy.
• Uzbekistan’s 16-category Tourism Village certification system.
• Bangladesh’s Tourism Master Plan (2025-2041)
• Uganda’s human-centric cultural tourism approach.
• Türkiye’s experience with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) criteria.

The workshop concluded with a common emphasis on the importance of local community involvement and human-based strategies as a key driver of rural tourism.

The presentations of the workshop are available here.

For more information about SESRIC Capacity Building Programmes, please visit: https://www.sesric.org/cbp-oic-tourism.php.

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