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Tourism research for the GCC region: Current status and future research directions

Author

Listed:
  • Ali Salman Saleh

    (61780Qatar University, Qatar)

  • Charbel Bassil

    (259419Notre Dame University—Louaize, Lebanon)

  • Arsalan Safari

    (61780Qatar University, Qatar)

Abstract

Tourism in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has recently been considered by policymakers as a new avenue for economic diversification. Despite the considerable literature concerning the impact of tourism worldwide, only a limited number of studies have looked at the tourism sector in the GCC region or analyzed its economic, sociocultural, and environmental impacts. This article therefore conducts a systematic review of the state of the literature related to tourism in the GCC region. It provides effective insights about the current status, gaps, and challenges and proposes future research directions in this area for academics, practitioners, and policymakers with an interest in regional tourism development. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses approach was used to identify and select the papers. Some 23 papers were identified and analyzed. The majority of these studies focused on the United Arab Emirates, specifically the Dubai emirate. We found the most dominant research theme to be tourism planning.

Suggested Citation

  • Ali Salman Saleh & Charbel Bassil & Arsalan Safari, 2022. "Tourism research for the GCC region: Current status and future research directions," Tourism Economics, , vol. 28(6), pages 1626-1646, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:toueco:v:28:y:2022:i:6:p:1626-1646
    DOI: 10.1177/1354816621999968
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. John G.C. Kester & Sandra Carvao, 2004. "International Tourism in the Middle East; And Outbound Tourism from Saudi Arabia," Tourism Economics, , vol. 10(2), pages 220-240, June.
    4. Piera Centobelli & Valentina Ndou, 2019. "Managing customer knowledge through the use of big data analytics in tourism research," Current Issues in Tourism, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(15), pages 1862-1882, September.
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