Analysis of Sustainable Tourism Development Strategies in Qatar

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SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
DEVELOPMENT
1

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LO2 UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO TOURISM PLANNING AND
DEVELOPMENT............................................................................................................................4
ANALYSIS FEATURES OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AT DIFFERENT
LEVELS WITH REFERENCE TO QATAR..............................................................................4
EVALUATE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERACTIVE PLANNING SYSTEMS AND
PROCESSES IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT WITH REFERENCE TO QATAR................7
DIFFERENT METHODS AVAILABLE TO MEASURE TOURIST IMPACTS.....................7
LO3 UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR PLANNING OF SUSTAINABLE TOURISM..............9
CONCEPT OF THE SUSTAINABILITY IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT WITH
REFERENCE QATAR................................................................................................................9
FACTORS THAT MAY PREVENT/HINDER SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
DEVELOPMENT WITH REFERENCE TO QATAR.............................................................10
DIFFERENT STAGES IN PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY WITH REFERENCE TO
QATAR......................................................................................................................................11
LO 4...............................................................................................................................................12
METHODS OF RESOLVING CONFLICT OF INTERESTS.................................................12
IMPLICATIONS OF BALANCING SUPPLY AND DEMAND............................................14
MORAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES OF ENCLAVE TOURISM IN QATAR..........................16
LO 5...............................................................................................................................................17
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.......................................................................................................17
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................17
COMPARISON OF ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH TOURIST DEVELOPMENT...................17
EVALUATION.........................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22
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INTRODUCTION
Sustainability tourism development refers to the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources
to maintain the ecological balance. Its concept in the tourism industry is gaining importance in
order to limit the impacts of the tourist on the environment, culture and the environment of the
destination places (Choi and Turk, 2011). In Qatar country, tourism has been designated as a
priority sector for sustainable long-term development and economic diversification. Qatar
is building more hotels to meet the demand of the tourist.
The aim of this discussion is to determine the rationale of the planning in the travel and tourism
industry as well as approaches used in travel and tourism development. This report will also
describe the need for planning for sustainable tourism and current issues, threats come along
with tourism development. Analysis of socio-cultural, environmental and economic impacts of
tourism in developing countries and destinations will also get done in that report.
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LO2 UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO TOURISM
PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
ANALYSIS FEATURES OF TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PLANNING AT
DIFFERENT LEVELS WITH REFERENCE TO QATAR
Nature of the planning
Tourism development planning includes those activities which are to be performed to achieve
tourism development which would help to increase the social, economic and environmental
benefits of the development process.
 The main aim of planning is to generate income, traveller satisfaction, ensure renovation
of the resources and employment (Waligo, et al., 2013).
 The planning for developed can be termed as a means to revitalise the tourism sector and
maintain its future viability
Objectives of the tourism planning
Economic- such as increment in employment opportunities
Environmental –like control of pollution
Political – such as enhancement of national prestige
Socio-cultural – like maintaining cultural values, lifestyles of the people
Planning approaches in the tourism sector
Boosterism
According to this approach, tourism is providing benefits to destinations. And also
stimulates the market and increases economic benefits of the Qatar country (Waligo, et
al., 2013)
Conventional
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It is not implemented as state planning and this planning is oriented only to a style, a plan
and all reactive, sporadic, encompassing divorced from budget and extraneous data
processing.
Interactive
This planning approach includes collaboration, cooperation, and participation. This
approach facilitates participative decision making which is more beneficial to reach any
decision.
Integrated
Planning is a dynamic process which has to integrate changes and additional information
hence, the planning process should be flexible enough to adopt any changes in all the
situations (Waligo, et al., 2013).
Supply led
This approach implies only those types of facilities and services which could be best
integrated with minimum impacts into the local development patterns and society are
provided, and marketing of the products only to those people who have interest in the
product
Market-led
In that approach, tourism planning should be market-oriented providing the right and
beneficial product to the consumer. It brings short term economic benefits but it losses
the social integrity of tourist areas.
Levels of tourism planning
International level
 International transport services
 Different country marketing strategies and promotion programs
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 The tour programming and flow of tourist among different countries (Angelevska-
Najdeskaand Rakicevik, 2012)
 Complementary development of major attraction features and services in nearby
countries
Sustainable development of tourism industry at international level helps in to contribute to
make this world a better place. The development planning in Qatar country attracted many
tourists and last year 1.235 million travellers crossed international borders in one single year
National level
 Tourism promotion and marketing strategies development program
 Physical structure and tourism policy
 Tourism organisational structure, investment and legislation policies
 Accommodation and other facilities (Lee, 2013)
The Qatar tourism authority (QTA) launched the Qatar national tourism sector strategy in
2030 which is a catalyst for sustainable tourism development through 2030. And they are
continuously developing new plans and strategies for sustainable development of the
tourism industry
Regional level
 Regional level education
 Organisational structure and marketing strategies
 Accommodation and other facilities
 Location of tourism development and regional policy
The local and regional government of Qatar plays a significant role in planning and
developing policies along with this funding and operating the tourism sector in an
effective manner.
Sub-regional level
 Tourist attraction features
 Accommodation and other facilities (Angelevska-Najdeskaand Rakicevik, 2012)
 Internal transportation network
Evaluation of tourism development planning
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Unplanned tourism development is not beneficial. Supply- oriented planning is directed
towards the creation of the facility and supply but it ignores other problems. Market-
demand-oriented planning is focused on greatly no of tourist of Qatar and how to satisfy
them.
EVALUATE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF INTERACTIVE PLANNING SYSTEMS
AND PROCESSES IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT WITH REFERENCE TO
QATAR
There are several types of planning approach discussed above. Interactive planning is one
of them which includes effective participation of all the communities to take any decision
on a development plan. In terms of the Qatar country, the goal of interactive planning is
to create a better nation by involving the effective participation of all and it helps in
creating good infrastructure, facilities and system. As per the case study of the
Philippines, The interactive planning played a better role by involving all the
stakeholders in the decision making. It also limits the negative impact of the tourist on
destination places by formulating various policies for them (Mason,2015).
Interactive planning between QTA and its all stakeholders of the public and private sector
will help in to make coordination, collaboration and participation in all the decision
making regarding sustainable tourism development
DIFFERENT METHODS AVAILABLE TO MEASURE TOURIST IMPACTS
The need for measuring tourism impact
It will enable local authorities of Qatar to measure the changing volume and value of
tourism locally on the accurate basis and also assess the positive and negative impact on
the tourist along with this policies are getting implemented or not could be determined
(Heitmann, 2010).
Measurement techniques
Commissioning visiting survey
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Occasional, ad hoc local surveys
Disaggregating national data on volume and value into regional and local estimates
Measurement using models
Economic model measure – it helps in estimating the volume and value of the tourism industry
including day visitors in a particular area. It also helps in knowing income generated and
employment supported ((Spenceley, 2012).
Cambridge economic impact model
It is an affordable method to calculate the values of tourism to local communities of Qatar. It
uses readily available data to generate statistics. It is popular with local authorities because it is a
cost saving method
Steam model (The Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor)
It helps in monitoring the economic activity and provides a base of the local economic impact of
tourism for monitoring trends ((Spenceley, 2012).
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LO3 UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR PLANNING OF SUSTAINABLE
TOURISM
CONCEPT OF THE SUSTAINABILITY IN TOURISM DEVELOPMENT WITH
REFERENCE QATAR
Sustainability concept in tourism development reveals the sustainability of the local culture and
environment and also helps in the development of the economy of Qatar. It stresses the benefits of
preserving cultural and natural resources and creates awareness among all the stakeholders. It also
emphasises on the conversion of the resources to be available for the future generation (Harris, et al.,
2012). Sustainability tourism is economically viable and does not destroy the resources of the
environment.
Sustainable development key moments
o Qatar National Vision 2030 was launched in 2011 for sustaining long term development of
tourism
o QTA launched Qatar national tourism sector strategy
o UNWTO and QTA organised world tourism day in 2017 for sustainable development
o QTA and its partners organizing training programs for all the stakeholders to create
awareness of the impact of the tourism
The term sustainable tourism could be defined as the tourism activities that are responsible towards
the prevalent and upcoming economic, social and environmental impacts along with meeting with the
needs and demands of tourists, communities, industry and environment (Hammer and Pivo, 2017). in
order to achieve sustainable tourism development, Qatar can apply the concept of Triple bottom line
theory.
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[Source: Hammer and Pivo, 2017]
The triple bottom line theory focuses on the three key factors; people, planning and profit. By
focusing on these three factors, QTA can significantly analyse the socio-cultural, economic and
environmental factors and develop a successful sustainable tourism development plan. this theory
covers the basic principles of sustainable tourism; cultural sustainability, economic sustainability,
ecological sustainability, and social sustainability.
FACTORS THAT MAY PREVENT/HINDER SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
DEVELOPMENT WITH REFERENCE TO QATAR
The key factors that may prevent or hinder sustainable tourism development in Qatar are:
 Crime and violence: - the level of crime and violence activities in the country has a great
effect on tourism development. for instance, the high rate of crime and violence in Syria
and Pakistan has resulted in reduced tourism development while the proper control on
crime in France has boosted tourism in the country (Lee, 2013). This suggested that the
level of crime and violence in the country creates a medium threat in Qatar.
 Climate conditions: - climate conditions may create a threat or boost sustainable tourism
development in Qatar. The weather conditions in the country have a great impact on
tourism. The pleasant climate conditions boost tourism and unpleasant creates a threat to
it. The climate conditions of Qatar are average and thus, had a positive influence on
tourism development.
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 Geographical conditions: - the geographical conditions like ecosystems, Landforms and
terrain types also affect the tourism development (Lee, 2013). The subtropical desert
climate at Qatar affects its tourism development during summer.
 Access to amenities: - the availability of services and amenities like an airport, rail routes
and infrastructure has a great impact on tourism development. the developed
infrastructure at Qatar supports in the development of sustainable tourism in the country.
DIFFERENT STAGES IN PLANNING FOR SUSTAINABILITY WITH
REFERENCE TO QATAR
The different stages in the sustainable tourism planning process are:
 Formulation of Goals: the first stage in the planning for sustainability is to formulate the
SMART goals. That is specific, measurable, accurate, reliable and time-bounded (Wheeler,
2013). It involves the development of key objectives on which he further planning for
sustainability depends.
 Analysis of stakeholders influence: the next stage is to analyse the key stakeholders and
their influence on the planning. The key stakeholders may be local communities, government
and private organisations, tourists, ecosystem and workers, etc. that may affect or get affected
by tourism planning.
 Establishment of sub-plans: after analysing the key stakeholders and their effect, the next
stage to prepare sub-plans for mitigating the negative influence of/on stakeholders of
sustainability plans and to achieve the set objectives of the sustainability planning (Wheeler,
2013).
 Identification of issues: the next stage is to assess the issues that may affect the
implementation of the sustainable plan. The issues may be community protest, lack of
infrastructural facilities and organisational strikes etc.
 Actions for improvement: the last stage in the suitability planning process is to set actions for
dealing with the current issues to meet the set objectives to achieve the sustainable tourism
growth in the country (Wheeler, 2013).
By following the aforementioned stages, Qatar can successfully develop and implement
sustainable tourism development planning.
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LO 4
METHODS OF RESOLVING CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
Tourism facilities are developing at a fast
pace at Qatar and the people of Qatar are
experiencing the benefits of this
development process in the form of better
infrastructure, but at the same time some of
the stakeholders associated with the travel
and tourism industry in Qatar may
experience a conflict of interest which is
discussed below:
LOCAL COMMUNITY
Qatar is an Islamic country and the residents
of the country live according to the
traditional Islamic way. In addition, women
of the country also wear traditional Islamic
dress in which most of the body parts are
covered with cloths (Grichting, 2013). When
tourists from different countries of the world
visit the country the local residents do not
find the western way of clothing appropriate
according to their culture and belief which
creates a conflict of interest. In addition, the
increased presence of the tourist in public
places also makes these place crowded.
TOUR OPERATORS
The tour operating companies at the local
level may also develop conflict in interest
when international tour operating companies
start affecting their business. Global tour
operating companies such as TUI have
better online facilities than the tour operators
at the local level and hence they are able to
attract a larger number of tourist (Khodr,
2012). Due to bulk purchasing of services,
global tour operating companies also offer
the tour package at a lower cost. All these
factors become a reason for conflict of
interest for the local tour operators. The
government of Qatar need to provide
training facilities to these local companies to
adopt new technology in the business.
GUEST HOST RELATIONSHIP
The guest host relationship is an important
factor while assessing the experience of
travellers visiting Qatar. A conflict of
interest in this relationship is developed
when the local residents find an irregularity
in the distribution of benefits obtained by
the travel and tourism industry. The policies
of the Qatar government are formed at the
central level but while implementing these
policies on the local level the interests of the
local population are often ignored which
creates a situation on conflict of interests
(Sharpley and Telfer, 2014). International
tourist failing to show enough respect to the
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