Review article
Concept, opportunities and challenges of urban tourism in the Arab world: Case studies of Dubai, Cairo and Amman
Saad Ahmed Al-Saad
orcid.org/0000-0001-6851-3601
; Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
Abdelkader Ababneh
; Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan
Abstract
This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the current situation of urban tourism with referring to the experiences of the Arab World. By using bibliographic documentation and descriptive-analytic method, this paper addresses the main opportunities, impediments, and challenges of urban tourism in three Arab cities (Dubai, Cairo and Amman). This paper indicates that the three cities have many opportunities stemming from their location and their rich tourism resources. Moreover, urban tourism in these cities should confront some internal (country based) and external (global and regional) challenges such as seasonality, pollution, congestion, competition, funding and instability. Some recommendations and policy implications were suggested. The paper concludes, by arguing, that common internal and external challenges need to be addressed in a systematic manner within the broader cultural and tourism policy context in which urban tourism is now implicated. There is a lack of literature on urban tourism within the Arab countries, which is attributed to that tourism in the Arab world is heritage dominated type. Therefore, this research also attempts to bridge the gap in the existing literature about urban tourism in the Arab cities.
Keywords
urban tourism; instability; urban growth; sustainable tourism; Arab world
Hrčak ID:
186959
URI
Publication date:
29.9.2017.
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