dubai tourism organization structure

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Destination Organizations: Case of Tourism Organizational Structure in the UAE

Abstract This paper is an attempt to investigate and analyze the nature, structure and compulsions of the organizational set-up of the tourism sector in the UAE. UAE is a federal state comprising of seven Emirates. The Emirate of Dubai took the pioneering step of diversifying away from the ‘Oil Economy’ into tourism in the seventies. Other Emirates took the cue and started developing their own models of tourism industry. In the year 2006 U.A.E. attracted 6.44 million tourists. It has the highest tourism growth rate in the region and one of the highest growth rates in the world, but interestingly is not a member of the UN World Tourism Organization. Not much research is available on the role of Destination Management Organizations especially in the Middle East region which despite its troubled environment has proved to be a great attractor of visitors. The political and economic system in a particular country largely influences its official tourism organization. With wide review of existing literature, and in depth case analysis this paper tries to find out the role of tourism organizations in development and growth of tourism destinations, comparative analysis of various organizational models practiced in selective countries, examination of existing structural framework of tourism sector in the UAE, and suggesting a suitable organizational structure for further growth of UAE tourism. The paper moves on the premise that ‘tourism achieves its perceived success in a country within a framework of a defined organization at the highest level for taking meaningful policy decisions’ and ‘the tourism industry structure in the UAE, despite having several organizations at the industry and individual Emirate level, does not have a coordinating authority at the federal level which is an impediment in the growth of tourism in the long run’. The paper also suggests a suitable model of a tourism organizational structure for the U.A.E.

Related Papers

Amitabh Upadhya , Mohit Vij

ABSTRACT The chapter explores the role and importance of Destination Management Organizations in managing the delivery of creative tourist experience. The study is divided in two parts whereby the first part adopts a qualitative methodology of exploration in regard to Destination Management Organizations and Creative Tourist Experiences while the second part is a case study of the tourism organizations of the UAE. The role of creativity in managing the total tourist experience is the core theme of the study. The study finds that co-creation of tourist experiences have a lasting memory value. Creative tourist experience can be achieved in the creative-theatre by a combination of designed aesthetics, choreographed activities and co-created souvenirs as the major elements. Key Terms: Creative Experience, Aesthetics, Souvenir, Co-Creation, Creative-Theatre, Destination Management Organization.

Filareti Kotsi

Amitabh Upadhya

Abstract: Tourism, the dynamic and viable industry that it is, remains majorly dependent upon the adoption of an approach to strategic planning and formulation of policies for achieving successful destination management. This study hypothesises upon the concept that the political system of a country influences its structure of tourism governance and tourism development policies. The study investigates and analyses the nature and structure of tourism governance in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries namely, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain besides a few more for a comparative analysis. The study examines the role of state in developing and nurturing tourism in the light of tourism development policies within their respective countries. This is an exploratory study combined with case studies, used for analysing governance of tourism in the selected countries. The study notes that political environment of a country plays a major role in management of tourism. Keywords: political system; tourism management; governance; policy; destination management organisation; DMO; Gulf Cooperation Council; GCC.

Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research Working Paper Series

Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research , Sarath Ganji

In 2010, the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) spent a quarter of its total healthcare budget to send its citizens abroad for medical treatment. These patients are participants in a phase of globalization referred to as “medical travel” or “medical tourism.” Their movement coincides with the cross-border flow of health services, professionals, and companies, shaping a global industry valued at as much as U.S. $55 billion. In the years ahead, this industry is expected to grow—and, in doing so, to bring a greater number of national health systems in contact with international patients and providers. Bearing witness to these changes, the UAE has increasingly looked to medical travel—and attracting international patients—to improve its health system and to diversify its economy. This working paper provides evidence, based on the examples of Dubai and Ras Al Khaimah, that medical travel presents the UAE with a mix of equity benefits and harms. To manage these harms, the paper recommends that local governments and healthcare providers incorporate monitoring and planning mechanisms into their medical travel initiatives.

Oliver Mtapuri

This article unpacks the development of Abu Dhabi as a tourist destination, looking at its diversification strategy from the perspective of an oil-dependent economy attempting to move away from oil dependency. Based on a review of academic literature, government documents, and online sources, it fills a gap in understanding the growth trajectory Abu Dhabi has chosen in overcoming oil dependency. Abu Dhabi has gone beyond the 3S’s to incorporate cultural tourism among its value propositions, as well as shopping and architecture; its strategy for sustainable tourism development embraces the economic, environmental, cultural, and social pillars of development. This article postulates a framework of tourism development for Abu Dhabi that shows movement beyond the 3S (or other multiple-S) model based on tourism attractions; the framework is important to inform both practice and policy with respect to tourism development in the U.A.E. and elsewhere in the world.

Theoretical Economics Letters

Gouher Ahmed , Nabeel Al Amiri

Medical tourism is the travelling of people to a different place to receive treatment for a disease, an ailment, or a condition, or to undergo a surgical procedure. It is a form of international trade in services. Medical tourism allows some countries to export their products and services to other countries and improve their balance of payments. It also gives many advantages to the travelers, such as getting high quality of medical treatment that is not available in their home country or to get it at a low cost. As a part of its economic diversification strategy, the UAE has invested heavily in establishing world-class medical facilities, standard, with high treatment standards for citizens as well as for people from outside especially from the middle-east and Africa, who come to UAE on the medical tourist visas, which is a paradox. The study is of outward tourism is set to study in terms of numbers, ailments, procedure and destination lists and efficiency. The study found many interesting trends of medical tourism in the outward of the UAE, some of these trends are positive and are in need to be boosted by health authorities to build a better and profitable healthcare industry in the country. In sum, the study is a study of the dynamics of outward medical tourism with the help of a sample of 232 medical tourists from UAE to other countries. It is found that there is a rising trend of outward medical tourism which can be well taken care by raising the status of medical and treatment facilities in the UAE to the global level.

Sangeeta Peter

Prof. M. Sadiq Sohail

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been making incessant efforts to diversify its economy. One of the policy tracks being pursued by the UAE with great emphasis to attain the avowed objective of economic diversification relates to tourism. Lessons of experience from several countries explicitly suggest that tourism has come to be recognized as a means of sustainable economic growth and development (Blaine, Mohammad and Var, 1993). A number of events including shopping festivals, conferences, cultural and trade exhibitions, and sporting events have been carefully designed as a tourism marketing strategy in the UAE. These events have been the prime movers behind tourism marketing, taking advantage of the positive international business image enjoyed by the country far and wide. In this research study, an attempt is made to examine and analyze the role of strategic events in the tourism marketing strategy of the UAE. Based on a survey exercise, the study has tried to capture the perceptions of a cross-section of tourists particularly about event tourism in the UAE. The results provide interesting insights into the perceived significance of the events for policy makers willing to expand the tourism sector in the vibrant and diversifying economy of the UAE. Keywords: Events; UAE; Tourism Marketing Strategy.

Through its diversification thrust, Abu Dhabi has succeeded in reaping the benefits both of oil and gas and of the services sector, including tourism, through deliberate government action. Diversification and innovation have been key drivers in all sectors of the economy, including tourism, and innovations in one sector have spawned innovations in others. Drawing on literature sourced from secondary data, including government documents and publications available in the public domain, this article argues that innovation in various sectors can facilitate tourism diversification , innovation, and product/market development. The authors propose a diversification and innovation model, arguing that these aspects are interrelated and that their relationship is cyclical. Diversification and innovations are generated from and influenced by any economic, social, or institutional milieu and by entities such as government, business, and non-governmental organizations The article contends that Abu Dhabi's new growth path should be geared towards small and medium enterprises in the boutique and lifestyle lodging business, so as to spread the benefits of its success in the tourism industry to the broader population through diversifying the emirate's " traditional " hotel market. Grâce à sa campagne de diversification, Abou Dhabi a réussi à engranger les avan-tages à la fois des secteurs du pétrole, du gaz et des services, dont le tourisme, grâce à une action voulue de l'État. La diversification et l'innovation ont été des moteurs importants dans tous les secteurs de l'économie, dont le tourisme, et des innovations dans un secteur en ont entrainé dans d'autres. En s'appuyant sur la littérature sur la question et sur des données secondaires, dont les documents et autres publications officiels disponibles dans le domaine public, cet article soutient que l'innovation dans divers secteurs pourrait faciliter la diversification dans le domaine du tourisme, ainsi que l'innovation et le développement de nouveaux produits et marchés. Les auteurs proposent un modèle de diversification et d'innovation, en faisant valoir que ces aspects sont reliés et que leur relation interne répond à des logiques cycliques. La The Arab World Geographer / Le Géographe du monde arabe

Journal of the Indian Ocean Region

Jo-Ansie van Wyk

FULL DETAILS OF POLICY PAPER: Jo-Ansie van Wyk (2018) Tourism and cultural exchanges in the Indian Ocean region, Journal of the Indian Ocean Region. Vol 14.

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, reinventing tourism: the dubai phenomenon.

Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes

ISSN : 1755-4217

Article publication date: 10 June 2019

Dubai has been largely under-researched as a destination, particularly from a tourism perspective. Most current knowledge about the emirate tends to originate from broadcast media coverage, newspapers and business journals. Much of the recent academic research on the destination often positions Dubai in a broader development or management framework, resulting in what can be a narrow and largely western-oriented perspective that fails to highlight or identify many of the key issues underpinning its apparent success.

Design/methodology/approach

This research adopts an ethnographic approach based on the authors’ experiences in the destination and sets out to address this issue not only by presenting new information but also by analysing and explaining Dubai’s tourism development approach.

Some 40 years ago, Dubai was little more than a backwater tribal settlement, dependent on pearl fishing, trade and limited oil reserves. In 2018, it is now viewed as a futuristic city-state, rapidly expanding its global outreach and undertaking a range of high-profile development projects and acquisitions. The award of Expo 2020 has boosted government confidence in the sector with the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing planning to increase visitor numbers to 25 million by 2020 with an anticipated tripling of the associated economic benefit. However, despite its remarkable success, Dubai has been criticised for flying in the face of global sustainability trends and needs to think seriously about how it will manage the growth of its tourism industry.

Originality/value

Dubai has evolved to become one of the world’s leading tourism destinations, and it has done so despite our academic notions of sustainability, tourism planning, tourism resource requirements and demands for authenticity. This provides an opportunity for the authors to use Dubai as a vehicle through which to challenge these concepts and to move the established notions of “traditional” tourism thinking forward to acknowledge the value of alternative approaches to the creation of a tourism strategy.

• Sustainability
• Tourism development
• Tourism planning

Anthonisz, A. and Mason, G. (2019), "Reinventing tourism: the Dubai phenomenon", Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes , Vol. 11 No. 3, pp. 279-286. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-01-2019-0004

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Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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