Analyzing the Impact of Tourism Policies in Bahrain

Bahrain's tourism industry is undergoing significant transformation aimed at enhancing its global appeal while ensuring sustainability. The legal framework governing this sector includes various legislations designed to protect businesses and employees alike, such as occupational safety regulations. Strategic priorities identified for boosting Bahrain's medical tourism potential highlight opportunities within the hospitality education system despite existing challenges. Additionally, cultural dynamics play a crucial role in attracting international tourists, aided by Bahrain's liberal Gulf region status that fosters a diverse cultural environment. However, environmental sustainability remains a pressing issue due to negative impacts like air pollution and land degradation. Effective policies are necessary to mitigate these effects and promote long-term sustainable tourism development.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS
Bahraini Tourism
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Table of Contents
Part 1..........................................................................................................................................2
Bahraini culture:.....................................................................................................................3
Creativity brought by youth:..................................................................................................4
Criteria to be a tour guide:......................................................................................................5
Legal Rules and protection:....................................................................................................5
Part 2..........................................................................................................................................7
Reward system:......................................................................................................................7
Reward motivation:................................................................................................................7
Competitive policies:..............................................................................................................8
Responsible ministry:.............................................................................................................8
Methods of evaluation:...........................................................................................................9
Statement of law:..................................................................................................................10
Reference:................................................................................................................................11

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Part 1
There is no uniform definition of tourism. It is more than just travel with pleasure.
There are many subsets present in tourism and cultural or historical tourism is one of them.
Cultural tourism concentrates on the cultural aspect of a country and defines the lifestyle of
the country from the perspective of its arts, culture, architecture and other objectives
(Mowforth and Munt 2015). The ultimate motto of cultural tourism is to present the cultural
secret to others with an intention to make them aware and connect them with the tradition.
The main criteria needed for the development of tourism is openness.
Source
www.bahrain.com/
The Kingdom of Bahrain is able to firm their steps in the cultural tourism because
of its openness. Bahrain is an Eastern Arabia region and popularly known for the
cosmopolitanism and cultural ethics. Unity in diversity is the main attraction of Bahraini
culture (Horner and Swarbrooke 2016). It is a historical place and it is important to promote
the heritage to the current generation. This objective can be solved only with the involvement

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of the youths in the tourism industry. The youths should enrich their mind with the cultural
heritage of Bahrain and therefore, proper education should be given to them. There are
certain processes to involve the youth in the tourism industry. Cultural preservation can be
absorbed by the youth by conducting public discussion and necessary action is needed for the
active participation of the youth in the social and educational programme. Proper study and
necessary awareness should be given to them and projects can be helpful to them (Hall and
Page 2014). Capsule courses should be designed for the youths so that they can deliver the
right cultural information to the tourists regarding the cultural heritage of the country. They
should know how to respect the tangible and intangible heritage. The role of the
environmental education is important to grow the cultural diversity among the youth and they
will know how to save the heritages from the evil side of environment degradation (Kreishan
2015).
Bahraini culture:
Bahrain is considered as the oasis of social liberalism. An ethnical diversity can be
found among the people of Bahrain and unity in diversity is its major side. In Bahrain,
different kinds of ethnic groups can be seen who have carried out the tradition of medieval
culture (Elsahn, Aziz and Yacout 2016). The main two groups of Bahrain are the Shias and
Sunnis. Bahrain has an old musical tradition of different “Gharana” and the poetic verses of
Bahrain culture have been creating great impression in the mind of the tourists. The artistic
skill of Bahraini citizen and the historical monuments are eye catching in nature. Every
monument and architecture has its own stories and the youths should get them updated
regarding those cultural stories.

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Architectural impacts
Source architecturalimpact.biz/
Religious diversity in Bahrain
Source: https://patch.com/california/hollywood/conscience-peace-bahrain-s-religious-
diversity
Creativity brought by youth:
The creative thinking is always on demand in any types of business. Proper
identification of the skills of the young tour guide is important in this case. They should be
inspired so that they can contribute their mind to enrich the cultural tradition and enhance the
cross-sectoral cooperation (Karolak 2014). The creativity power of the youth can be

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developed perfect recognition and proper learning. Well-equipped workplace and friendly
atmosphere should be given to the youths so that they can interact effectively. The role of the
non-formal education is necessary in this case, that will support the creation of the youth and
teach them how to deal with the informal environment. The approach should be systematic
and policy level should be construed in a uniform manner. Considering the effect of the non-
formal teaching, the method is recognised as catalytic (Avraham 2015).
Criteria to be a tour guide:
The role of the tour guide is very authentic as they provide service and assistance
to the tourist to understand the peripheral culture and tradition of any country. Certain
qualities and skills are necessary for becoming a perfect tour guide that could not be teach.
Education will only provide a theoretical notion to the youth. The leadership is inherent in
nature and therefore, proper skill is mandatory to become a good tour guide. Every tour guide
is required to be friendly in nature and should have excellent knowledge on the current
situation and the cultural diversity of destined country. The main job of a tour guide is to
assist the tourists and connect them with the unknown culture and tradition. Therefore, they
should have good communication skill and a strong personality (Bagaeen 2016). A leading
tour guide has the ability to tell stories to impress the tourists. A good sense of humour is
necessary for the tour guide and they should be punctual in nature. A good tour guide must
consume the ability to help the tourists and should be updated regarding the local happenings.
Legal Rules and protection:
Kingdom of Bahrain is a sovereign and independent Islamic region of the Persian
Gulf. It has constitutional monarchy and independence can be seen in case of the judiciary.
The tourism is one of the key attractions of Bahrain. It backs the economy of the country and
therefore the government owes certain duties and responsibilities to the tour guide. The
legislations of Bahrain have taken certain steps to secure the interest of the youth tour guide.

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The tour guides are required to obtain licence for their profession and they have to comply
with the rules stated regarding the same.
Source:
http://www.moic.gov.bh/En/Commerce/ForeignTrade/IndustrialPropertyDirectorate/Forms/
Pages/forms.aspx
According to Decree number 15 (1986) and resolution number 3 (2005), the
licence holder must be of Bahraini nationality and should crack the University examination.
Personality is one the most important criteria regarding a good tour guide. Therefore, the tour
guide is required to be of clear personality and should not have any bad criminal record. The
licence holder should be competent in nature that means they should achieve legal age. The
most important objective of tourism is to assist the tourist regarding the place and therefore
the tour guide should have a good knowledge regarding the history and cultural tradition of
Bahrain and he should have to pass the written and verbal test. The Tourism and Exhibition
Authority, Bahrain are conducting the test. The Labour law of Bahrain governs the waging
system of any occupational entity. Therefore, tourism is also come under the purview of
Labour law (Giousmpasoglou and Marinakou 2014). If any guiding youth has sustained
injury while working can be compensated by the government. They have every right to take
necessary steps to defend their interest. Article 15 of the Labour law has discussed with the

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occupational apprenticeship and provided necessary opportunities to the tour guides. The tour
guides are getting certain benefits regarding the health issue as per Article (1) of the
Occupational Health and Safety Act 2015.
Part 2
Reward system:
It is important to develop the quality of the tourism industry to compete with the
other business. Tourism connects the whole world with the particular cultural out frame of
the country. The government has adopted considering the importance of the tour guide for the
development of the business, certain techniques. It is important to encourage them so that
they can give their full effort in this business and reward system is one of main tactics.
Rewards can be different types such as the financial reward and non-financial rewards. The
main objective of reward is to attract the employees and improve their performance with the
compliance of the necessary rules of Tourism (Ebrahim et al. 2017). Reward ensures the
standard quality of work. It also inspired the youth tour guide to deliver creative thinking
regarding the development of the business.
Reward motivation:
The reward approach is known as the cafeteria approach and certain intrinsic and
extrinsic rewards are given to the tour guides. The reward system should not be limited to the
compensation or remuneration. Facilities regarding the working hour, various job
opportunities can come under the purview of the rewards. The tourism industry is a growing
industry and therefore, there is high level of competition present in this business. Teamwork
is needed for the overall development of the business and therefore, the employees and the
other staffs of the tourism business should be encouraged in this case (Marinakou and
Giousmpasoglou 2014). Reward system motivates the working capacity of the employees and

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salary opportunities, benefits create competitiveness among the service providers, and that
leads the business towards prosperity.
Competitive policies:
Competition is necessary regarding the growth and development of the business.
Certain rules and policies should be implemented regarding the systematic approach of
competitiveness. A logical sequence can be done by fulfilling six components such as
attraction, access, activity, services, qualified personnel and promotion. According to World
Trade Organisation, sustainable competition in the tourism can be possible by way of
appropriate policies regarding cultural values, environmental resources and economic results.
It should be bored in mind that the policies should not oppose the environmental resources
and should maintain the biodiversity policies. Reward system is one of the appropriate
policies. The prime objective of the policies is to develop the standard of business and create
competitiveness among the service providers. However, the policies should not go against the
society and ethics (Timothy 2017).
Responsible ministry:
Source: www.mofa.gov.bh/

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs are responsible for the tourism in Bahrain. The
ministry has been established by the decree of 1971 and has imposed with the responsibility
to implement policies regarding the tourism and other international businesses. The policies
are implemented to describe the vision and mission of the foreign policies. The nature of
work done by the ministry is diplomatic and arranges the summits and meetings related to the
work. There is no particular institution present in Bahrain to deal with the tourism business
and Foreign affairs are responsible for it in general.
Methods of evaluation:
The tourism business is one of the growing businesses in the modern time and
creates certain impacts on the society. The impacts can be categorised as economic and
cultural. Balance between the impacts is necessary for the sustainable development and the
impacts should be evaluating properly (AlSaqer 2017). The proper framework regarding the
evaluation is Triple Bottom Line (TBL). The evaluation process of tourism consists of
effective sustainable management and the base of the sustainability is depending on the
economic, cultural and environmental impact. Tourism is one of the main businesses of
Bahrain and therefore it creates impact on the economic policies of the country. However,
there are certain problems that can be taken place in the economic sectors. There is a
possibility that the tourism industry becomes fragmented and diversification in the economy
becomes impossible. This situation can be resolved by way of strategic planning only. There
are certain cultural effects too. It has been stated that the cultural background of Bahrain is
rich and it has been witnessed of multi-culture. Bahrain is considered as the most liberal gulf
region and the cultural framework of the country is attracting the international tourist since
long (Ramady 2014). A mixed cultural civilisation can be found in Bahrain and the openness
of Bahrain allows the tourists to be connected with the tradition of Bahrain. In this way,
tourism creates impacts on the culture. Environmental sustainability of tourism is very

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important. It has been observed that the negative impacts of tourism affect the process of
sustainability. Proper evaluation regarding this topic is necessary. The increasing rate of air
pollution, land degradation and shortage water resources are certain negative impacts.
Effective policies should be adopted to deal with these matters for the sustainable
development of tourism (Dey 2014).
Statement of law:
It has been observed that the Rule of Law in Bahrain has attempted to protect the
business and the employees and enacted several legislations. The principle of the laws are
followed the sovereignties. The Occupational legislations are helpful to secure the interest of
the tour guide and regulated various provisions of tourism. Reasonable policies must be
implemented to encourage the youths to join the tourism business and maintain sustainability
regarding the business.

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Reference:
AlSaqer, L., 2017. “Entfahem” Campaign: The Use of Social Media to Improve Consumer
Habits in Bahrain. The Social Sciences, 12(6), pp.1092-1105.
Avraham, E., 2015. Destination image repair during crisis: Attracting tourism during the
Arab Spring uprisings. Tourism Management, 47, pp.224-232.
Bagaeen, S., 2016. Bahrain’s Tourism Development: What constitutes success?.
Dey, S., 2014. The Future of ‘Bahrainization’of Workforce: Challenges and Solutions.
Ebrahim, A.H., Ebrahim, A.H., Ganguli, S. and Ganguli, S., 2017. Strategic priorities for
exploiting Bahrain’s medical tourism potential. Journal of Place Management and
Development, 10(1), pp.45-60.
Elsahn, F., Aziz, H. and Yacout, O.M., 2016. How do Bahraini residents perceive tourism in
Bahrain? A cluster analysis. International Journal of Islamic Marketing and Branding, 1(3),
pp.252-271.
Giousmpasoglou, C. and Marinakou, E., 2014. Higher education hospitality programmes in
Bahrain: Challenges and Opportunities.
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Horner, S. and Swarbrooke, J., 2016. Consumer behaviour in tourism. Routledge.

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Karolak, M., 2014. Tourism in Bahrain: challenges and opportunities of economic
diversification. Journal of Tourism Challenges and Trends, 7(2), p.97.
Kreishan, F.M., 2015. Empirical study on tourism and economic growth of Bahrain: An ardl
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Bahrain: challenges and opportunities.
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and new tourism in the third world. Routledge.
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