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Destination Place Identity, Touristic Diversity and Diversification in the Arabia Gulf

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Economic Diversification in the Gulf Region, Volume I

Part of the book series: The Political Economy of the Middle East ((PEME))

Abstract

This study compares tourism models of five Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE). It assesses to what degree each of these countries has managed to create a distinctive place identity and whether these identities are competitive enough to secure a flow of international tourists in the future. Creation of place identity takes place through the use of text combined with signs and images to add meaning to destinations, explain the destinations or the experience tourists can expect there. Using the method of content analysis and critical discourse analysis, this research brings new evidence to the study of semiotics in tourism in general. Furthermore, by pointing out tourism strategy gaps, this research provides recommendations on improvement of such strategies adopted by each of the GCC countries analyzed and for the region overall.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zayed University, Dubai, UAE

    Magdalena Karolak

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  1. Magdalena Karolak
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom

    Ashraf Mishrif

  2. Supreme Council for Planning, Muscat, Oman

    Yousuf Al Balushi

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Karolak, M. (2018). Destination Place Identity, Touristic Diversity and Diversification in the Arabia Gulf. In: Mishrif, A., Al Balushi, Y. (eds) Economic Diversification in the Gulf Region, Volume I. The Political Economy of the Middle East. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5783-0_9

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