Sustainable Tourism Development in Qatar

This report explores sustainable tourism development in Qatar, analyzing challenges and opportunities. It examines the importance of interactive planning, methods to measure tourist impact, and conflict resolution strategies. The report also compares tourism development in Qatar with a developing country, Jordan, and provides recommendations for the future of tourism in both destinations.

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
DEVELOPMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Discussing how stakeholders can benefit from planning of tourism developments........1
1.2 Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of public/private sector tourism planning
partnerships ............................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Analysing features of tourism development planning at different levels.........................6
2.2 Evaluating significance of interactive planning systems and processes in tourism
developments..........................................................................................................................8
2.3 Evaluating different methods available to measure tourist impact..................................9
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Justifying introduction of the concept of sustainability in tourism development............9
3.2 Analyse factors that may prevent/hinder sustainable tourism development with reference
to Qatar.................................................................................................................................10
3.3 Analyse different stages in planning for sustainability with reference Qatar................11
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................13
4.1 Evaluate methods of resolving a conflict of interests to ensure the future well being of a
developing tourism destination such as Qatar......................................................................13
4.2 Analyse the implications of balancing supply and demand with reference to Qatar. .. .13
4.3 Evaluate the moral and ethical issues of enclave tourism in Qatar................................14
5.1 Compare current issues associated with tourism development in a developing country and
an emerging destination........................................................................................................14
5.2 Evaluate, with recommendations, the future development of tourism in these chosen
destinations...........................................................................................................................15
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................16
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................17

INTRODUCTION
Sustainable tourism is the approach to sustain the healthy environment within the nation
or country. It is the big approach through million of tourist has come to visit attractive
destinations. Economic and social cultural aspects of tourism development. Tourism sector has
huge impact on the coastal landscape, ecosystem and cultural heritages management as well.
Countries or nation is constantly growing towards sustainability development of their own
heritages, cultural heritage by spinning international agreements.
Present study will conduct a study on sustainability development of Tourism in the
context of Qatar. Report will be presenting the effectiveness of planning of tourism
developments in order to sustained the stakeholders needs and wants. Further, it also explaining
some of the features of tourism development that helps in planning for the development to get
attraction of tourists. However, study will also be presenting the methods of available to
measures tourist impact, that helps to undertake some new methods and corrective action plan.
Overall, report will be presenting some essential features, in order to make a good environment
in Qatar tourism industry. Sustainability development is now a big concept to keep maintained
the value of historical places of the country. Government should need to keep upgrade the
policies and procedure of tourism industry so that it helps in the future. For the present study,
report will be taking The Tourism Company which is one of the leading tourism consultancy
firm in UK that helps organise a good Workshop on sustainability.
Study conducts the evaluation process in order to identify the loss of tourists from Saudi
Arabia and other Gulf states after the gas rich country was boycotted by its neighbours in June
2017. Present assignment will also emphasizing challenges to sustainable resources use in Qatar.
LO 1
COVERED IN LEAFLET
TASK 2
2.1 Analysing features of tourism development planning at different levels.
Each process of development basically starts with recognition in terms of local and
regional government (Mowforth and Munt, 2015). This is done in consultation with private and
also with public sector. Thus, if proper development planning in terms of tourism is to be
designed in successful way than it becomes significant in order to have clear understanding of

the various objectives that are necessary in terms of development. These objectives have to be
achieved at different levels including national, regional or local levels and also participation of
international institution becomes necessary. Thus, features of tourism development planning at
different levels has to be discussed as per below context-
International level
International organisation that includes OECD has the basic mission in order to promote
the policies that may help them in improving economic and also social well being of people
around the whole world and also around those nations that are in developing stage. Thus, the
main aim of this international organisation is to work together with Governments and seek for
solutions to the problems that are faced and share their experiences accordingly. It becomes
essential for this organisation to work with governments so that they can focus in understanding
the drives that change in terms of social, economic environments which has its impact greatly on
destination and tourist attractions (Sharpley, 2015).
National level
Public and private organisations works at national level and it includes governments,
national volunteer or private organisations that work together with government. The main
example of this level is Qatar where international tourist arrivals has shown virtually
uninterrupted growth. Further, it has also been nominated as international sport arena.
Regional level
The regional strategic plan is basically related to cities and particular destination. Thus,
the official website with every information that is required to know for tourist. At regional level,
organisations have emphasis in terms of location, marketing, media advertising and also
brochure that may lead in promoting particular attraction or place.
Local level
This strategic plan mainly relies on international organisations so that they can promote
and protect destinations. They have detailed plan that includes water supply, sanitation, types of
services that has offered, number of accommodation etc. Qatar has 25310 rooms and the
occupancy rate was 63% across all hotels and also various departments.

2.2 Evaluating significance of interactive planning systems and processes in tourism
developments.
Interactive planning is defined as effective initiative motivator as it provides chance in
terms of achieving satisfaction that mainly comes through thinking and carrying out a course of
action (Mason, 2015). Further, there are three unique characteristics of interactive planning
system as follows-
 It works backwards as from where particular organisation desires to achieve that position
from which the present acquired position.
 It is a continuous process and does not start or stop.
 This system lets stakeholders of particular organisation in participating in process related
to planning.
Therefore, evolution of tourism comes with number of problems towards local
community and this includes crowded destination, traffic, mega events, etc. and maximum of
these problems that are involved can be attributed towards unrestricted policies and lack of
planning in terms of tourism. Further, there are various destinations that have benefited without
any kind of plans before. And there are number of countries that have been prepared various
plans and strategies in terms of development in tourism sector. But some of these plans can come
into action in partial manner due to lack of interactive planning system.
The main importance of this interactive plan is therefore to make sure that all levels of
organisation, communities and also tourists may get involved to plan so that they can avoid
maximum spending of a budget, minimising of negative impact that they have on local
communities and also maximising destination potential (Iniesta-Bonillo, Sánchez-Fernández and
Jiménez-Castillo, 2016). Thus, there are number of communities is therefore turning into big
construction sites and the population that are involved have no idea about aim of construction
and also benefits that they can acquire from it. Further, lack of transparency and also corruption
increases disagreement and dissatisfaction of host communities with development of tourism. In
addition to this, lack of interactive planning from private developers, local and national
authorities with host communities, the particular city is therefore suffering with poor facilities
and also suffers with lack of skilled workers.

Another main issue that occurs includes environmental degradation and also loss of
integrity in terms of socio cultural in the tourism area. The elements that generates unsustainable
tourism in a region includes poor sanitation system and lack of education.
2.3 Evaluating different methods available to measure tourist impact.
There are number of methods that are available in order to measure impact of tourism
(Veal, 2017). There is a huge importance to measure this impact as it may lead in avoiding mass
depreciation of social, economic, cultural and environment impacts in attraction and also in
destination. Thus, there are different methods that can be used by them in order to measure
impacts of tourism. This includes Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM)
and environmental Impact Assessment.
 Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor (STEAM)- this is the model which is
tourism economic impact process that approaches tourism measurement basically from
bottom up through local supply side data use and performance of tourism and visitor
survey data collection. This model helps in measuring number of visitors, its income
generated and their level of expenditure.
 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)- This model aims in measuring the cost in
terms of environment and many countries that has been included in their legislation. The
main objective of this model is to predict the consequences that occurs due to
environment and propose activity that may later helps them in development. The main
aim or motive of Environmental impact assessment is to gather information in such way
that may further leads them in carrying out exercises by the developer. In addition to this,
it also leads them in being other bodies that enables authority that are related to local
planning which has to be understand about environmental affects of development before
that decision has to be taken in terms of changing position.
TASK 3
3.1 Justifying introduction of the concept of sustainability in tourism development.
Sustainable development is a path of economic and social development and is not
dependent on natural environment. Sustainable development is not just an issue related to health,
well-being and longevity but it is also fundamental issue in terms of security. Thus, Qatar, unlike
many countries, has extreme great opportunity and the ability to “leapfrog” in its pathway

towards development, because it is developing quickly at present, has abundant resources and
bold leadership. Qatar has the ability to “design” the sustainability of a country. Most countries
have gone through a time of damaging in environmental manner or, natural resource based
industrialization to emerge later with a knowledge and technology based economy. Sustainable
tourism is defined as that industry that is basically committed in terms of making a low impact
on environment and local culture (Baggio and Klobas, 2017). This is to help in order to generate
employment in future for all local people. The main aim of this industry is to ensure that
development becomes positive experience for local people, for companies related to tourism and
also for guests. Thus, sustainability tourism plays very significant role in terms of development.
It has been analysed that environment plays crucial role in tourism so both natural and built
environment must be preserved for areas so that they can be environmentally sustainable.
Further, sustainable tourism basically involves social responsibility, commitment towards nature
in strong manner and also integration of local people in any kind of tourist operation or
development. In addition to this, there are some factors that may drive tourism industry towards
sustainable development which has been discussed as per below context-
 To increase regulatory pressure.
 Growth of awareness in terms of cost saving from sensible consumption of resources.
 The awareness by governments and also by operators so that tourism growth has negative
impact on environment.
3.2 Analyse factors that may prevent/hinder sustainable tourism development with reference to
Qatar.
The concept of visiting a place as a tourist and making efforts to create positive impact of
the environment, society and economy is known as sustainable tourism. There are many factors
that prevent/hinder sustainable tourism development to Qatar. As every traveller has a different
experience in their own way, so there are few factors that can deter tourist visiting their
destination. Furthermore, safety and cost are initial key concerns of many visitors.
 Cost- Cost is termed as the primary factor, as domestic travel becomes increasing
restricted as gas prices rise. As a result as the prices of gas increases, the cost of flights
goes high, further, negatively affecting long distance and international travels of Qatar
(Smith, 2015). Moreover, it also affects international tourism by increased rates of

inflation and poor exchange rates. In addition, safety is also a key concern of travellers as
it becomes specifically crucial when travelling overseas and to developing countries.
 Key Resources and Supply Chain - Apart from this, the next factor that hinder sustainable
tourism development is Key Resources and Supply Chain, as it involve all the variables
associated to the basic resources that represent that attractiveness of the tourism
destination and also include the basic components of the tourism supply chain to deliver
all the services to the customers (Timothy, 2016).
 Economical, environmental and social forces- Then comes the factors such as
economical, environmental and social forces that hinder sustainability of tourism in
Qatar. As an important role is played by tourism sector in creating both direct and
indirect employment by small scale industry, infrastructure development, etc. As a result
tourism is creating negative impact of fishes and aquatic resources in many ways and the
ultimate results demonstrates that economic losses for the community.
 Weather- it is also considered as an important and key factor preventing sustainable
tourism development at Qatar. As warm and mild temperature is preferred by most if the
travellers, with little rain. Likewise, incidents of extreme weather and national disasters
prevent many tourist from visiting certain areas of Qatar, as safety becomes key
concerns.
3.3 Analyse different stages in planning for sustainability with reference Qatar.
The use without exploitation of natural, cultural and all other tourist resources from the
present generation is known as sustainable development, as it means to prevent them for future
use. Further, planning for sustainable tourism development actually being termed as
environmental preservation planning and such involves various research activities and analysis
before to the decision for determining the direction for development. Planning and sustainable
development of Qatar tourism industry can be seen from two aspects that are, in terms of local
community and in terms of the concept of the quality of tourism. There must be great
involvement of local community in the planning process, particularly when it comes to the
development of those divisions of tourism community. The planning process for suitability
consisted of steps are; preparation, setting goals, investigation of all components, analysis and
synthesis, preparation of the plans and policies, preparation of recommendations and other
implementation.

 Planning- The first step of planning is termed as careful formulation which direct through
the whole planning process, and hence relates to the guidelines preparation, assortment of
team for conducting investigation, also creation of committees for controlling and
organising activities at the time of preparation of the study.
 Determination of objectives and goals for tourist development - The next step is
concerned with the determination of objectives and goals for tourist development.
Keeping in mind the fact that the successfulness of the aims or goals set, depends on the
final results and impact of tourist development, Qatar must know that approaching to this
activity should be taken really seriously. At the time of setting goals, the particular areas
that are important for the development of the tourism should be taken into account.
 Examination of all elements of tourist activities and attraction- The comes the most
important stage is examination of all elements of tourist activities and attraction. It is
essential to categorise these attractions by their types, and to rate them relying on their
availability, prospect for marketing trends development, or initiation of a brand
destination including other factors.
 Formulation of alternative scenarios for the development- Then the most suitable method
in the preparation of policies is the formulation of alternative scenarios for the
development. Just after finishing the analysis and synthesis of the elements, comes the
conclusion and recommendation.
 Implementation and monitoring- The final step is of implementation and monitoring, as
at the time of application, it is essential to supervise the development of tourism of Qatar
in order to measure the achievements of the objectives and recommendations.

TASK 4
4.1 Evaluate methods of resolving a conflict of interests to ensure the future well being of a
developing tourism destination such as Qatar
The tourism sector and the visitors it serves can exert major influences on host
communities as range of levels. Conflict is considered very common among humans and in
tourism industry. In tourism sector of Qatar where there is high level of competition and
complexness there have to be some dispute that may arise during the operations of the
countries. This happens specially in travel and tourism industry where trends of the sector keep
on changing at the speed of the light. There are various conflicts in Qatar that is mainly between
host and guest and also related to moral, ethical or religious issues or many more. Below are
the methods involved in resolving conflict of interests to make sure the future well being of
developing tourism destination of Qatar (Boes, Buhalis and Inversini, 2015).
 Determining roles
 Assessment
 Involving the affected stakeholders
 implementation and evaluation
4.2 Analyse the implications of balancing supply and demand with reference to Qatar.
Sustainable tourism refers to the balance between the supply and demand, so that Qatar
tourism Industry could develop and evolve without harming the interests of the stakeholders.
Hence, it is necessary that visitors are satisfied by Qatar and it is also not influenced in the
negative manner as of the tourism activities (Benur and Bramwell, 2015). The demand of
tourism is described in various ways, as depending on the economic, geographical, social and
political drivers. Balancing both supply and demand of tourism in Qatar has various
implications. The tourism sector of Qatar has changed in the last few years. This progress has
been basically affected by demand, and the reason behind this is that the more the travellers
visits the country, the greater the demand will be and such the level of supply has to be raised.
Moreover, there is also a feature of the sustainable development that assists the countries like
Qatar to fulfil their demands in the best possible way with restricted resources that are available.
Additionally, the balance between them also helps the countries to understand the level of
degree of demand. Today, Qatar has recently experienced a time of tourism growth, hugely in

response to the observed demand increase.
4.3 Evaluate the moral and ethical issues of enclave tourism in Qatar
Enclave tourism refers to the tourism destination where visitors activities are planned
and accumulated in one small geographic area, in order to enable the tourists to experience the
whole of their travel purpose without having to travel far out into remote locations of the host
country. A lot of ethical and moral issues are brought by travel and tourism in Qatar including
leakage of revenue, environmental problems, false advertisement's ethics, unethical consumer
problems and ethics of employment (Boes, Buhalis and Inversini, 2016). The key reason behind
the enclave tourism is to make profit by decreasing the spending on the facilities by the tourism
companies in Qatar. Therefore, large tourism firms are now concentrating on enclave tourism in
only the domestic market but also the foreign market. Moreover, in this sector of travel and
tourism there are numerous concepts that are coming up like the eco tourism and the wildlife
tourism and slowly that is making their place in the market. Additionally, leakage is one of the
most common issues with the all-inclusive packaged holidays, which states that the money
which meant to improve the quality of life. Further, it has been determined that, due to the fact
that tourists pay for everything in advance and the tour operators take advantage of it, means
that the local population of Qatar are going out of business. Big enclave tourism, establishments
are another ethical and moral debate topics for the destination like Qatar. They are basically
huge developments that take a lot of space and land, sometimes a land is used by local farmers.
Moreover, it has been observed that there always will be some green issues with travel and
tourism industry such as emissions from jets, utilising finite resources from the local area or
pollution created by the travellers, but it can be reduced if people are aware of it.
5.1 Compare current issues associated with tourism development in a developing country and an
emerging destination
Jordan as developing country Qatar as emerging country
There are some key issues and challenges
faced by Jordan regarding tourism
development. Those issues are:
 The unawareness by the big segment in
It has been determined that the head of tourism
Authority of Qatar has accused conutry's
neighbours of using tourism as a weapon, as
the Gulf emirate continues to search in light of

the Jordanian society about the
significance of tourism and its
activities.
 The deficiency of inclusion of Jordan
without tour operator's catalogues, as it
has been treated as an extension of
neighbouring countries regarding tour
packages and trade.
 The lack of facilities in many sites and
destinations, and if existed, there is an
inadequate distribution of them.
 Problems faced in training staff and
workers, particularly when it comes to
some services and sustainability of
resources (Christopher, 2016).
Additionally, there are some major problems,
particularly for what is related to some specific
kinds of destinations, such as archaeological
and historical sites which make a basic element
the ongoing trade boycott by Bahrain
(Colloredo-Mansfeld and et.al., 2018).
Moreover, the range of travellers to Qatar fell
by more than a third in the half of this year.
Also, the huge number of fall was due to the
collapse in visitor numbers from the Gulf
Cooperation Council.
5.2 Evaluate, with recommendations, the future development of tourism in these chosen
destinations.
After examining every component of the travel and tourism sector in Qatar, it can be
stated that there are many varied things that have to be managed at the same time by the
countries that want to do well in the market and make a place for themselves in the minds of the
tourists. Moreover, many trends are there of travel and tourism sector that have been altering in
the past few years and there is a very high possibility that they will constantly change in many
more coming years (Quiggin and Buswell, 2016). The biggest improvement of them all happens
to be the that the developing countries like Jordan is becoming more and more famous but there
are some aspects that they should to have an even stronger future. Qatar should also make sure

that what they are offering should be varied from what is already being offered in some other
country and at the same time they have to ensure that the common people are safe.
CONCLUSION
As per the above presented report on sustainable development in Qatar in order to
identify challenges and opportunities. This outlined some measure issues of sustainability in the
global context in order to get potential for success. Besides, report has been resent how much
sustainability of tourism mean for Qatar. Moreover, study discussed about the implications of
balancing supply and demand and several methods that helps to solving the conflict of interest to
ensure the future well-being of a developing tourism destination. Besides, it the end it has been
ended up by discussing some of the recommendation for the future growth of tourism in Qatar.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Arkema, K. K. and et.al., 2015. Embedding ecosystem services in coastal planning leads to
better outcomes for people and nature. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
p.201406483.
Baggio, R. and Klobas, J., 2017. Quantitative methods in tourism: A handbook. Channel view
publications.
Hatipoglu, B., Alvarez, M. D. and Ertuna, B., 2016. Barriers to stakeholder involvement in the
planning of sustainable tourism: the case of the Thrace region in Turkey. Journal of
Cleaner Production. 111. pp.306-317.
Iniesta-Bonillo, M.A., Sánchez-Fernández, R. and Jiménez-Castillo, D., 2016. Sustainability,
value, and satisfaction: Model testing and cross-validation in tourist destinations. Journal
of Business Research. 69(11). pp.5002-5007.
Mason, P., 2015. Tourism impacts, planning and management. Routledge.
Mowforth, M. and Munt, I., 2015. Tourism and sustainability: Development, globalisation and
new tourism in the third world. Routledge.
Sharpley, R., 2015. Tourism and development. Sage Publications.
Veal, A. J., 2017. Research methods for leisure and tourism. Pearson UK.
Boes, K., Buhalis, D. and Inversini, A., 2015. Conceptualising smart tourism destination
dimensions. In Information and communication technologies in tourism 2015 (pp. 391-
403). Springer, Cham.
Boes, K., Buhalis, D. and Inversini, A., 2016. Smart tourism destinations: ecosystems for tourism
destination competitiveness. International Journal of Tourism Cities.2(2). pp.108-124.
Colloredo-Mansfeld, R. and et.al., 2018. Conflicts, Territories, and the Institutionalization of
Post-Agrarian Economies on an Expanding Tourist Frontier in Quilotoa, Ecuador. World
Development.101. pp.441-452.
Quiggin, D. and Buswell, R., 2016. The implications of heat electrification on national electrical
supply-demand balance under published 2050 energy scenarios. Energy. 98. pp.253-270.
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Benur, A. M. and Bramwell, B., 2015. Tourism product development and product diversification
in destinations. Tourism Management. 50. pp.213-224.
Sharpley, R. and Telfer, D. J., 2015. Tourism and development in the developing world.
Routledge.
Smith, M.K., 2015. Issues in cultural tourism studies. Routledge.
Timothy, D.J., 2016. Relationships between tourism and international boundaries. In Tourism
and borders (pp. 29-38). Routledge.
Online
TOURISM PLANNING. 2018. [Online]. Available
through :<http://www.angelfire.com/ks/andriotis/Chapter3.pdf>.