Business Tourism and Hospitality in Dubai

This project investigates the contribution of business tourism and hospitality to the economic growth of Dubai. It analyzes trends, factors, and the impact of these industries on Dubai's economy, providing insights and recommendations for future development.

Business tourism and
hospitality in Dubai:
why Dubai tourism remains
key to economic growth

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC: ............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Aim and Objectives.....................................................................................................................1
Background of Research.............................................................................................................2
Rationale.....................................................................................................................................2
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
Introduction.................................................................................................................................3
Theme 1 : Trend of hospitality business and Tourism in Dubai.................................................3
Theme 2 : Factors associated with economic growth and development ....................................4
Theme 3 : Impact of business tourism and hospitality on economy growth of Dubai. ..............5
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.....................................................................................................6
Introduction.................................................................................................................................6
Research Methods or Type..........................................................................................................6
Research Approach.....................................................................................................................7
Research Design..........................................................................................................................7
Sampling.....................................................................................................................................7
Data Collection............................................................................................................................7
Data Analysis..............................................................................................................................8
Ethical consideration...................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................11

TOPIC:
“To assess the contribution of business tourism and hospitality in the economy growth of
Dubai.”
INTRODUCTION
Business tourism and hospitality has become an important part of economy in the world
and many regions, states and local areas gave identified expenditures by business tourist as a
potential source of economic growth. Tourism is now a core sector contributing to the economy
of Dubai. Over the last decades, Dubai has managed to become one of the global hubs for travel
and tourism (Michael, Reisinger and Hayes, 2019). It has developed as one of the top destination
for travellers and has becomes a centre of attraction for business visitors and leisure offering
guest with a multifaceted destination combining deserts, beaches, shopping, luxury hotels and
thriving business point.
Dubai is known for its uniqueness placed on the world map which makes it a favoured
destination for millions of people both on leisure and business. In addition to this, the hospitality
sector of Dubai is one of the top international performers. There, the total number of hotel has
risen from just under 400 symbolising around 25000 rooms to over 670 properties offering over
98000 rooms (Ahmad and Saber, 2015).
This present research will identify the impact of business tourism and hospitality on the
economic growth and development by using various techniques and methods.
Aim and Objectives
Aim: “To assess the contribution of business tourism and hospitality in the economy growth of
Dubai.”
Objectives:
 To identify the trend of hospitality business and tourism in Dubai.
 To assess the factors associated with economic growth and development.
 To investigate the impact of business tourism and hospitality on economy growth of
Dubai.
 To provide further recommendation for the development of tourism and hospitality.
Research Question:
1. What are the trends of hospitality business and tourism in Dubai?
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2. What are the factors that are associated with economic growth and development?
3. What is the impact of business tourism and hospitality on economy growth of Dubai?
4. What are recommendation for the development of tourism and hospitality?
Background of Research
This present research is based on the business tourism and hospitality of Dubai and it is
most important topic for the economy of Dubai in respect to the development and growth of
nations. The hospitality sectors is a wide category of area within the service sector which
includes services of food and drinks, lodging, event planning, transportation, theme parks, cruise
line, travelling as well as surplus filed within the tourism sector. Hospitality and Tourism both
the industries are somewhat same but there are slight difference as hospitality operation includes
restaurants, hotels, country clubs, cruise ships, centre of convention and amusements parks
whereas tourism management emphasise on the development and management of travel and
tourism, tourism services and marketing (Nadkarni and Heyes, 2016). Both these industries are
very essential for the development and growth of the economy. The contribution of Dubai
tourism last year was $90 billion.
Rationale
The reason behind choosing the topic “Business tourism and hospitality” is that it is one
of the most popular industry in Dubai. Dubai is known for its top destination, leisure services and
is one of the famous place in the world as it is world's best tourist destination. The outstanding
growth rate in terms of the capacity of hotel as well as supply may wonder how all extra capacity
gets filled up to keep the hospitality along with tourisms sectors in a healthy state. These
destinations by which Dubai is famous makes the researcher to select the topic for study. The
another reason to select this topic is to identify the key areas for which the tourisms of Dubai is a
key to economic growth and development (Sharpley and Telfer, 2015). To identify the
contribution made by the tourism and hospitality business of Dubai. Apart from the topic,
another reason for choosing this topic is the key interest of researcher in area of tourism and
travel industry along with the knowledge of destinations of Dubai as well as the factors which
are associated with the economic growth and development.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Literature review is one of the most important chapter of the research paper as it provides
the insight of deep knowledge about the topic. This present literature review will discuss the
Dubai tourism, its contribution on the Dubai economic growth as well as its contribution to
Dubai economic growth for last few years. Thematic literature review will be included in this
section. All the data or information are collected from authentic sources of Dubai tourism and
hospitality. It is the method which includes the use of current knowledge and finding of authors
to present the authentic information in the study. The researcher by providing the views and
perception of authors through use of various books and journals is able to make the study more
useful. The literature review for the present study is as follows :
Theme 1 : Trend of hospitality business and Tourism in Dubai
According to Views of Zaidan ( 2017), Hospitality business and tourism in Dubai are the
growing trend which are contributing in the economic growth of the Dubai. It has the largest
number of hotel rooms of around 100000 and is forecast to grow to 28000 new hotel rooms as
there is going to increase in the hotel chain of Dubai as 80 new hotels are opening up. The
Dubai hospitality is welcoming new generation of travellers in 2018. Also, the travellers will not
be motivated towards by traditional hotel rating rather they would be attracted through use of
sustainability, personalized and culturally conscious experiences. The hospitality trend is going
to shape as there are various changes in the hospitality sector of Dubai such as health food which
means there is increase in the demand for the healthy food and environmental friendly food. The
trend in the hospitality and tourism business are developing which have increased the attraction
of many tourists (Top Trends Driving The Hospitality Industry In Dubai This Year, 2016). With
the reduction in the oil prices in Dubai, the tourism sector is benefited as the reduction in prices
of oil increase their profitability and share of market in the economy. The trends which are
developing in the tourism and hospitality business are theme parks and other development which
has grown the importance of the tourism and hospitality business as by developing this trend,
Dubai is able to attract more travellers which assist in economic growth of Dubai.
However on the critical note Stephenson (2017) stated that, Hospitality business and
tourism of Dubai faced various challenges in the year 2017 due to decrease in satisfying the
demand level specifically in Summers. Hotel operators in Dubai faced difficulty in increasing
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their occupancy rate due to less demand in summers as well as lower room rates. The Dubai
department of Tourism and commerce marketing indicated the changes in the trend of hospitality
sector which shows that there has been decrease in average daily rates to Dh472 on the other
hand it also shows decrease in revenue per room available as Dh360 in September 2017.
Moreover, Dubai requires paying attention to manage and monitor demand and supply. But with
the increase in trend, there have also been increases in various challenges which are being faced
by the hospitality business. Due to increase in the trend the industry is becoming competitive
which means the firms involved in the hospitality business and tourism are competitive with each
other to increase their profitability. The trends have negative impact on the small hospitality and
tourism business as they are not able to invest or adopt these trend due to which the small
business involved in these factors face problems.
Theme 2 : Factors associated with economic growth and development
In the views of Mason (2015), The economic growth assist in developing the country for
the good. There are various factors which are associated with the economic growth and
development such as capital formation, poverty, employment rates. These factors affect the
economy to a large extent and development. For example, due to reduction in poverty in Dubai
will result into growth of economy and its development. The economy of Dubai is amongst the
most diversified region. There are various business which have attracted more foreign
investment due to which there is growth in the economy of Dubai. The another factor which
contribute to the economic development and growth is employment. This factor shows that the
number of workforce employed in 2016 reached to 99.6% which leaves an unemployment rate of
only 0.4%. The reason for very high labour workforce is due to high population dominated by
foreigners. The unemployment is low. The tourism sector of the Dubai has contributed to the
great extent in the development of economy by attracting the foreign travellers towards Dubai.
The factors of economic growth and development consist of inflation, employment, foreign
direct investment etc which assist in development of economy.
Critically another author Mowforth and Munt (2015), stated that, Economic growth and
development is affected adversely due to reduction in those factors. The economic factors such
as inflation is one of indicator of economic growth and development. The inflation rate stood at
2.1% in 2017 which increase to 2.9% in 2018 sue to which there have been increasing in the
prices of goods and services provided in Dubai. The economic growth and development of
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Dubai accounted for 2.8% in 2017 which increased to 3.8% in 2018 which is good for Dubai.
The factors of economic growth and development can have their negative impact on the
performance of the country as reduction in those factors result into economy downturn which
reduced the development of economy. There are various sectors which are not performing well
due to which the economy is also affected to the great extent.
Theme 3 : Impact of business tourism and hospitality on economy growth of Dubai.
According to Michael, Reisinger and Hayes (2019), Tourism industry assist in the
economic growth of Dubai as it accounted for 66% of the tourism industry contribution to the
GDP of UAE. The tourism industry of Dubai is the major sector which has contributed in the
growth of economy as this assist in increase the number of travellers for the country from
different countries which increase the foreign exchange. The tourism sector contributed of about
8.7% in 2015. Dubai expects to have 20 million tourists by 2020( TOURISM'S CONTRIBUTION
TO DUBAI'S ECONOMY REVEALED,2017). Moreover, there is increase in the demand for the
hotel rooms in Dubai. The tourism industry represent 20% of Dubai 's GDP and account for
approximately 6% of employment. The tourism and hospitality business have a positive impact
on the economic growth and development of the country. The economic growth of the country is
largely due to the tourism sector of Dubai. The government in order to develop the tourism
sector is aiming to increase the number of visitors by 10%. The different components of travel
and tourism industry which consist of leisure spending have generated of 77.4% which is more in
percentage than the spending accounted by Business which is of about 22.6%.The tourism and
hospitality business have a positive impact on the economic growth of Dubai as this sector is
contributing in the larger amount in the economy as there have been increase in number of
tourist.
On the contrary the author Ahmad and Muhammad Arif (2016) stated, The economy
growth of Dubai is affected by the Tourism as due to increasing trend of tourism and hospitality
business which are increasing, there have been increase in the number of environmental
problems which are affecting the economy to the great extent. Moreover, the hospitality business
and tourism are providing employment opportunities but on the seasonal basis when there is
demand for the workforce or when there are travellers which means it creates employment
opportunities for the short period. The tourism is the main sector which is contributing in the
large percentage in the economy of Dubai. The tourism play a key role in development of
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economy. The total contribution of travel and tourism sector in UAE 's GDP is AED 159.1
billion (USD 43.3 billion) which is 12.1 % of GDP and it is forecast to increase by 4.9%. The
key motivating factor which attracted more tourists was the Expo 2020. The economy can grow
more through this sector as it the main factor leading to the growth and development of Dubai.
The tourism sector has also contributed in increasing the employment opportunities which have
given positive impact on the economy of Dubai. Moreover, Dubai by investing in the tourism
and hospitality sector can increase its economic growth which will be beneficial for them assist
will increase the foreign exchange for the country and will help in increase the gross national
income for the country. Tourism generated 317500 jobs directly in 2016 which is 5.4% of total
employment and this forecast to grow by 2.3% in 2017. The hotel prices are also going to
increase in the future due to increase in the demand of traveller in Dubai. The Dubai hotel in
order to attract more tourist can develop theme parks and resort to increase the attraction of more
tourists towards Dubai.
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
After completing the literature review chapter, researcher have to select the methods and
techniques which is used to answer the question as well as to reach the aims and objectives of the
study. Research methodologies are the scientific procedure which is used to collect data and
information for the purpose of making business decisions.
Research Methods or Type
This is very first need of research that needs to be decided by the enumerators while
conducting the research or study on any topic or subject. Research methods are the instrument or
tools which are used to do research as it can be qualitative and quantitative or mixed. The
methods which is non-numerical as well as which emphasize of establishing design or structure
is called Qualitative methods (Bell, Bryman and Harley, 2018). Whereas, the methods which is
numerical or figures as well as which emphasize on statical tools and techniques to answer the
research questions is called as quantitative methods. On the other hand, methods which focus on
both qualitative and quantitative is called as mixed research methods. Researcher will apply
qualitative methods for conducting the research and will asses the contribution of business
tourism and hospitality in the economy growth of Dubai.
Research Approach
Once the research techniques are selected, enumerator have to select the approach to
study the data. These are the plans, techniques and methods for study that span the steps from
wide assumptions in order to collect the information, analysis as well as interpretation.
Deductive and Inductive are two approaches mainly applied in this research. Enumerator will
apply inductive approach as it is one of the best way to answer the research questions as it focus
on generation of new theory based on the information as well as it also renders an efficient
manner of qualitative data (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016). However, researcher will asses the
contribution of business tourism and hospitality in the economy growth of Dubai by using
inductive research approach.
Research Design
Once researcher select the research approach, it is very important that the direction for
the collection of data. Research design is the outline of how the research will be conducted. All
the information like type of data, tool used to collect the data and all other relevant information
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are included in research design. Descriptive and Experimental research design are two types
mainly applied in the research (Creswell and Poth, 2017). This present study will include the
descriptive research design to answer the possible outcomes and will assess the contribution of
business tourism and hospitality in the economy growth of Dubai.
Sampling
The small part of the population is called as sampling. It is the division of big population
into small sample is called as sampling. Probabilistic and Non- Probabilistic are two techniques
of sampling which is used to study the population (Etikan, Musa and Alkassim, 2016).
Researcher will take sample size of 30 tour operators of Dubai as they will answer about the
increasing tourism and hospitality sectors in Dubai. The techniques apply by researcher will be
simple random techniques which is a sub part of Probabilistic sampling.
Data Collection
After selecting the sample size, the process of data collection begins. It is the process
which is used to collect data from various methods to reach the possible outcomes. Primary and
Secondary are two techniques of collecting data. The so called fresh and un-used information is
called as primary data whereas the information which is used and is second hand data are called
as secondary data. Some example of primary techniques are survey, interview, questionnaire,
schedule etc. while the example of secondary data are diaries, biographies, books, journals,
internet articles, website etc. Researcher will collect the information from both the sources as
they will prepare questionnaire and make it fill with 30 tour operators and various sources like
internet, books and journals will be used to collect the qualitative information (Guerra-Santin and
Tweed, 2015).
Data Analysis
The data collected by the researcher is raw data. Thus, in order to collect the data and
make it meaningful and useful, it required to analyse or evaluate by using scientific techniques.
Qualitative and Quantitative are two instruments which are applied in the research to analysis the
data (Paradis and et.al., 2016). Research will use qualitative techniques to analyse the data where
enumerator will present graph, tables and charts to present the data which is called as thematic
analysis of data.
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Ethical consideration
It means the use of ethics and norms used to distinguish between the right and wrong. In
the proposed research, the researcher will take the informed consent of the respondents for
disclosing the information provided by them through the various question. Moreover, the
information gathered from the respondents will be made confidential. The ethical consideration
for conducting the research are being followed properly. The researcher will take proper
consideration of these factors while conducting the proposed research to conduct the research in
the right manner.
CONCLUSION
The present research paper comes to the conclusion that business tourism and hospitality
is one of the most important sector for the economic growth of UAE. The contribution made by
both these sectors has becomes the very essential part of the economic growth and development.
Further, this research paper also discuss the various techniques and methods in order to assess
the contribution of business tourism and hospitality in the economy growth of Dubai.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Ahmad, S. Z. and Muhammad Arif, A. M., 2016. Entrepreneurial Characteristics, Motives, and
Business Challenges: Exploratory Study of Small-and Medium-Sized Hotel
Businesses. International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration. 17(3).
pp.286-315.
Ahmad, S.Z. and Saber, H., 2015. Understanding marketing strategies with particular reference
to small-and medium-sized hotel businesses in the United Arab Emirates. Tourism and
Hospitality Research, 15(2), pp.115-129.
Bell, E., Bryman, A. and Harley, B., 2018. Business research methods. Oxford university press.
Creswell, J.W. and Poth, C.N., 2017. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among
five approaches. Sage publications.
Etikan, I., Musa, S.A. and Alkassim, R.S., 2016. Comparison of convenience sampling and
purposive sampling. American journal of theoretical and applied statistics, 5(1), pp.1-4.
Guerra-Santin, O. and Tweed, C.A., 2015. In-use monitoring of buildings: An overview of data
collection methods. Energy and Buildings, 93, pp.189-207.
Mason, P., 2015. Tourism impacts, planning and management. Routledge.
Michael, N., Reisinger, Y. and Hayes, J.P., 2019. The UAE's tourism competitiveness: A
business perspective. Tourism Management Perspectives, 30, pp.53-64.
Michael, N., Reisinger, Y. and Hayes, J.P., 2019. The UAE's tourism competitiveness: A
business perspective. Tourism Management Perspectives. 30. pp.53-64.
Mowforth, M. and Munt, I., 2015. Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation and
new tourism in the third world. Routledge.
Nadkarni, S. and Heyes, A., 2016. Luxury consumption in tourism: The case of Dubai. Research
in Hospitality Management, 6(2), pp.213-218.
Paradis, E and et.al., 2016. Design: selection of data collection methods. Journal of graduate
medical education, 8(2), pp.263-264.
Sekaran, U. and Bougie, R., 2016. Research methods for business: A skill building approach.
John Wiley & Sons.
Sharpley, R. and Telfer, D.J., 2015. Tourism and development in the developing world.
Routledge.
Stephenson, M. L., 2017. Introduction: Deciphering International Tourism Development in the
GCC region. In International Tourism Development and the Gulf Cooperation Council
States (pp. 19-44). Routledge.
Zaidan, E., 2017. Analysis of ICT usage patterns, benefits and barriers in tourism SMEs in the
Middle Eastern countries: The case of Dubai in UAE. Journal of Vacation Marketing.
23(3). pp.248-263.
Online
Top Trends Driving The Hospitality Industry In Dubai This Year. 2016. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.posist.com/restaurant-times/uae/hospitality-industry-dubai.html>.
TOURISM'S CONTRIBUTION TO DUBAI'S ECONOMY REVEALED. 2017. [Online]. Available
through :<https://www.thefirstgroup.com/en/news/2017/1/tourisms-contribution-to-dubais-
economy-revealed/>.
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APPENDIX
Task Mode Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors
Auto
Schedule
d
Research proposal 2 days Fri 15-02-19 Mon 18-02-
19
Auto
Schedule
d
Aims and objectives 4 days Tue 19-02-19 Fri 22-02-19 1
Auto
Schedule
d
Literature review 5 days Mon 25-02-
19 Fri 01-03-19 2
Auto
Schedule
d
Research methodologies 7 days Mon 25-02-
19 Tue 05-03-19 2
Auto
Schedule
d
Data collection 8 days Wed 06-03-
19 Fri 15-03-19 3,4
Auto
Schedule
d
Data analysis 4 days Mon 18-03-
19 Thu 21-03-19 5
Auto
Schedule
d
Data interpretation 5 days Fri 22-03-19 Thu 28-03-19 6
Auto
Schedule
d
Finding and conclusion 2 days Fri 22-03-19 Mon 25-03-
19 3,6
Auto
Schedule
d
Recommendations 1 day Fri 29-03-19 Fri 29-03-19 7,8
Auto
Schedule
d
Execute the plan 1 day Mon 01-04-
19
Mon 01-04-
19 9
Auto
Schedule
d
Submission 1 day Tue 02-04-19 Tue 02-04-19 10
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Illustration 1: Gantt Chart
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