Tourism Planning and Development in the Middle East

Given the historical and cultural richness of countries in the Middle East region, as well as the economic development many have exhibited in recent years, tourism planning and development gains much significance for both scholars and practitioners. Turbulence, conflicts and crises exhibited in the area add further dimensions that need to be incorporated in tourism strategies and planning, and be taken into consideration by experts at an institutional, corporate and educational level. Furthermore, in order to effectively deal with aspects of sustainability, visions and strategies in the region need to build upon good practices. As a result, a greater understanding is required of the factors influencing decision-making on tourism matters as well as on the impacts and implications of sustainable tourism development. This book, written by an international team of experts, addresses the need to examine tourism development and planning in the Middle East from a sustainability perspective by embracing case studies and examples from the region. Through its collection of chapters, the book considers tourism planning and development from the economic, socio-cultural, environmental and regulatory perspectives of sustainability. Thus, the book advances understandings of the positive and negative impacts of tourism development as well as how turbulence, crisis, synergies and the top-down and bottom-up approaches to tourism development are connected to different problems and implications for local communities, the region and the relationship of the Middle East with the rest of the world. An essential resource for tourism practitioners, decision-makers in private and public organisations, government bodies and consultants, not only from the Middle East, but for all those who want an encompassing view of global tourism.

Stella Kladou is a Postdoc researcher at the Hellenic Mediterranean University in Crete, Greece. She has served as an Assistant Professor in the Tourism Administration Department at Bogaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey and a Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. Her PhD in 'Evaluating Cultural City Brands: The case of Athens, Istanbul and Rome', was realized in cooperation with the Hellenic Open University in Greece, Istanbul Bilgi University in Turkey and the University of Rome La Sapienza in Italy, and partially funded by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. She has published in prominent academic journals and books of international publishers, and presented at well-esteemed international conferences. She has participated and/or led several international and national projects as a researcher or consultant. She is an International Place Brand Specialist for the Place Brand Observer, and in the scientific and editorial board of international conferences and the Journal of Qualitative Research in Tourism respectively. Her research mainly pertains to place branding, cultural and wine tourism, and digital marketing.

Dr Konstantinos Andriotis works at the Hellenic Open University (Greece) and he is an adjunct professor at Taylor's University (Malaysia). In the past he worked as a Professor in Tourism at Middlesex University London and Associate Professor and Head of the Hotel and Tourism Management Department at the Cyprus University of Technology. He holds an MSc in International Hospitality Management (University of Strathclyde, 1995), a PhD in Tourism Development and Planning (Bournemouth University, 2000) and a Post Doc in Tourism Marketing (Hellenic Open University, 2006). He edits the 'International Journal of Tourism Policy', the 'Journal of Qualitative Research in Tourism' and the CABI Regional Tourism Series. He is author/co-editor of twelve books and over 50 peer reviewed articles and book chapters. His work has appeared in a variety of leading academic journals, such as Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Hospitality Management as well as International Journal of Tourism Research. He has an h-index of 38 and approximately 7000 citations. He was listed in the Stanford University list of top 2 per cent of scientists in the World. He has acted as Chairman and member of the Organising and Scientific Committees of various international conferences and he has given keynote speeches in several conferences. His research interests include tourism development and planning, alternative forms of tourism, tourism experience and degrowth.

Anna Farmaki is Assistant Professor in Tourism Management at the Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus. She holds a doctorate (PhD) in marketing. She has worked for several years in private institutions of tertiary education in Cyprus and was course leader of the undergraduate hospitality and tourism management programme at the University of Central Lancashire (Cyprus). She has published extensively in reputable, peer-reviewed academic journals and has presented her work in various international conferences, seminars and workshops. Anna is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) and a member of the Management Committee in several COST Actions. She has also been involved and/or led several nationally and internationally funded research projects. In addition, she is a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Tourism Management Perspectives, Tourism Review and the Journal of Service Theory and Practice. Her research interests lie primarily in the areas of tourism planning and development with emphasis on sustainable tourism, and tourist behaviour.

Dimitrios Stylidis is an Associate Professor of Tourism Development and Destination Promotion. He holds a Ph.D. in Tourism with a specialization in Tourism Development and Marketing from the University of Surrey, U.K. an MSc in Tourism Management from the University of Surrey, U.K. and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Macedonia, Greece. He has taught for several years in the Department of Economics at the University of Crete (2021-2025), where he received the department's Teaching Excellence Award for the academic year 2022-23. He also taught at Middlesex University London (2015-2021) where he served as the Director of the MSc International Hospitality and Events Management program, and at Ben-Gurion University (2012-2014). His research interests include tourism marketing, destination marketing and image, tourism policy, planning and development, and the role of residents in these processes. He has published numerous academic papers in international peer-reviewed journals, including: Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing. He serves as a member of the Editorial Board of international journals such as the International Journal of Tourism Research, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, CABI Tourism Case Studies, International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, and an academic reviewer for over 30 international journals and conferences. In 2023, he received the Best Reviewer Award from the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Rami K. Isaac has more than 20 years of experience in tourism studies. Born in Palestine, Rami Isaac did his undergraduate studies in The Netherlands, graduate studies in the UK and earned his PhD from the University of Groningen, in Spatial Sciences, in The Netherlands. He is currently an associate professor at the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality at Bethlehem University, Palestine and at Breda University of Applied Sciences. He was the former President of the Research Committee 50 on International Tourism, International Sociologist Association (ISA) (2014-2018) and currently he is the Vice-President of RC50 Tourism (2018-2027). His research interests in the area of tourism development and management, cultural heritage/dark tourism and political aspects of tourism. He has co-authored more than 90 academic papers, and book chapters on tourism and political (in)stability, occupation, tourism and war, violence and transformational tourism. He is also the co-editor of the books The Politics and Power of Tourism in Palestine (2016), Tourism and Hospitality in Conflict-ridden Destinations (2019), Tourism Interventions: Making or Breaking Places (2024); Tourism, Safety, Security and Resilience: A community Integrated Approach (2024) by Routledge and co-editor of the Changing Practices of Tourism Stakeholders in Covid-19-Affected Destinations (2023) by Channel View and forthcoming (2025) book written by Isaac, Çakmak and Butler entitled The Possible, Probable and Preferable Futures of Tourism Destinations, Routledge.