Tourism in the United Arab Emirates - Essay Example

Symptomatic of this trend is the proliferation of new and increasingly specialized tourism journals. Growth in the amount of research on tourism has not necessarily been matched by a parallel increase in the quality of research being done in this field. Not only is there a growing need to study tourism further as new issues and problems appear and the increasing magnitude of the sector enlarges its significance-socially, economically, environmentally and politically-but there is also a need to understand the phenomenon better as to why is tourism growing, and why is its development being encouraged?

This issue can essentially be addressed from either a demand or a supply-side perspective. Demand or origin studies stress changes in market conditions which affect peoples motivation to travel and the factors which influence their ability to do so, for example, increased leisure time and disposable income, improved technology and travel organization (Pearce 1995). Supply-side or destination research tends to address the benefits that the development of tourism brings or is perceived to bring, to consider what leads both the public and private sectors to foster its growth and how this might best be achieved.

The benefits of tourism development have largely been seen in economic terms, as in tourism ability to generate income, jobs and corporate profits, bring in foreign exchange, boost tax revenues, diversify the economy and aid regional development. Social and environmental benefits have also been recognized. As more traditional sectors of the economy, first agriculture and then manufacturing, have come under pressure regarding their ability to deliver in these terms, so tourism has been increasingly targeted as a potential alternative or complement in an increasingly wide range of settings from the urban to the rural, from developed to developing countries.

This paper will essentially discuss all the above-mentioned points in a general perspective, getting particular of UAE.