Tourism Planning and Development in the Middle East

Given the historical and cultural richness of countries in the Middle East region, as well as the economic development many have exhibited in recent years, tourism planning and development gains much significance for both scholars and practitioners. Turbulence, conflicts and crises exhibited in the area add further dimensions that need to be incorporated in tourism strategies and planning, and be taken into consideration by experts at an institutional, corporate and educational level. Furthermore, in order to effectively deal with aspects of sustainability, visions and strategies in the region need to build upon good practices. As a result, a greater understanding is required of the factors influencing decision-making on tourism matters as well as on the impacts and implications of sustainable tourism development. This book, written by an international team of experts, addresses the need to examine tourism development and planning in the Middle East from a sustainability perspective by embracing case studies and examples from the region. Through its collection of chapters, the book considers tourism planning and development from the economic, socio-cultural, environmental and regulatory perspectives of sustainability. Thus, the book advances understandings of the positive and negative impacts of tourism development as well as how turbulence, crisis, synergies and the top-down and bottom-up approaches to tourism development are connected to different problems and implications for local communities, the region and the relationship of the Middle East with the rest of the world. An essential resource for tourism practitioners, decision-makers in private and public organisations, government bodies and consultants, not only from the Middle East, but for all those who want an encompassing view of global tourism.

Stella Kladou is a Postdoc researcher at the Hellenic Mediterranean University in Crete, Greece. She has served as an Assistant Professor in the Tourism Administration Department at Bogaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey and a Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. Her PhD in 'Evaluating Cultural City Brands: The case of Athens, Istanbul and Rome', was realized in cooperation with the Hellenic Open University in Greece, Istanbul Bilgi University in Turkey and the University of Rome La Sapienza in Italy, and partially funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. She has published in prominent academic journals and books of international publishers, and presented at well-esteemed international conferences. She has participated and/or led several international and national projects as a researcher or consultant. She is an International Place Brand Specialist for the Place Brand Observer, and in the scientific and editorial board of international conferences and the Journal of Qualitative Research in Tourism respectively. Her research mainly pertains to place branding, cultural and wine tourism, and digital marketing.

Konstantinos Andriotis is a Professor in Tourism at Middlesex University London. He holds a PhD in Tourism Development and Planning (Bournemouth University, 2000) and a Post Doc in Tourism Marketing (Hellenic Open University, 2006). He edits the 'International Journal of Tourism Policy', the 'Journal of Qualitative Research in Tourism' and the CABI Regional Tourism Series. He has an h-index of 32 and more than 4500 citations. He was listed in the Stanford University list of top 2 per cent of scientists in the World. His research interests include tourism development and planning, alternative forms of tourism, tourism experience and degrowth.

Anna Farmaki is Assistant Professor in Tourism Management at the Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus. She holds a doctorate (PhD) in marketing. She has worked for several years in private institutions of tertiary education in Cyprus and was course leader of the undergraduate hospitality and tourism management programme at the University of Central Lancashire (Cyprus). She has published extensively in reputable, peer-reviewed academic journals and has presented her work in various international conferences, seminars and workshops. Anna is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and a member of the Management Committee in several COST Actions. She has also been involved and/or led several nationally and internationally funded research projects. In addition, she is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Tourism Management Perspectives, Tourism Review and the Journal of Service Theory and Practice. Her research interests lie primarily in the areas of tourism planning and development with emphasis on sustainable tourism, and tourist behaviour.

Dimitrios Stylidis, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in Tourism Marketing at the University of Crete, Greece. Prior to this, he was Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Research Cluster Leader at Middlesex University London, and a Postdoc Researcher and Visiting Lecturer at the Ben-Gurion University, Israel. Dimitrios holds an MSc and PhD in tourism from the University of Surrey, U.K. His research interests include place image and marketing, tourist destination image and behaviour, tourism impacts and sustainable development. His work has been published in several journals including Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, and Journal of Sustainable Tourism.