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The Positive Role of the Tourism Industry for Dubai City in the United Arab
Emirates

Article  in  Contemporary Economics · December 2020

DOI: 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.430

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The Positive Role of the Tourism Industry

for Dubai City in the United Arab Emirates
Harith Yas1, Abbas Mardani2, Yas Kh.Albayati3, Shamma Essa Lootah4, and Dalia Streimikiene5

ABSTRACT Several types of research have been conducted regarding the tourism industry in Dubai. However, they
have not managed to indicate the roles that the tourism industry plays in Dubai. The purpose of the
current study is to examine the roles of tourism in Dubai and the growth of tourism, as well as to un-
cover relevant information that supports the development of the tourism industry in Dubai. The current
paper discusses the infrastructure, strategies, and culture, which enhance the growth of the tourism
industry in Dubai. The development of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in Dubai and in the world,
is indicative of the touristic aspirations of the city. The study also factors in the top tourist destinations,
the top ten countries visiting Dubai, as well as the busiest airports in the world (data from travel com-
panies). In the literature review, the authors discuss some of the developments brought by the tourism
industry in Dubai, including cultural and infrastructure development, such as roads and airports. The
paper indicates the natural features available in Dubai that makes the Dubai tourism industry flourish.
The findings indicate that cultural and religious diversity , hospitality and infrastructure enhance the
growth of Dubai’s tourism industry. Other notable mentions, such as the Expo 2020 Dubai and the Sheik
Muhammed Vision 2020 awards are also discussed. The current study highlights the developments the
tourism industry has brought to Dubai and the strategies to improve the sector. The paper can also be
implemented to further the research on the tourism industry in other countries.
KEY WORDS: Dubai, tourism, urban development, culture, management, urban planning.
JEL Classification: L83, N15, O44.
1
Azman Hashim International Business School, University Technology Malaysia
2
Department of Marketing, University of South Florida, United States
3
College of Humanities and Science, University Of Science and Technology, United Arab Emirates
4
Department of Management, University Of Dubai, United Arab Emirates
5
Lithuanian Institute of Agrarian Economics, Lithuania

1. Introduction a tribe named Bani Yas which was ruled by Sheikh

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federalized Tahnun bin Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi. The villagers’
elective monarchy consisting of seven emirates. The occupation was fishing. Dubai is situated on the
UAE was created in 1971 when those seven states Persian Gulf, to the northeast of the United Arab
joined the federation – Dubai was one of them. Emirates. This, along with being located roughly at
Like Dubai, all the states are named after their capi- the sea level, makes it more attractive as a tourist
tal cities. Besides Dubai, the federation consists of destination . With the beginning of the last decade,
Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain, Abu the government of Dubai has planned to maximize
Dhabi, Fujairah, and Sharjah. In the 18th century, and maintain the circulation of foreign investment
Dubai was a village of fewer than 1000 members of through tourism in Dubai into the United Arab
Emirates (Ben-Romdhane et al., 2020). In this re-
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: gard, his Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Dalia Streimikiene, Lithuanian Institute of Agrarian Economics, Al Maktoum announced the Dubai tourism strategy
A. Vivulskio g. 4A-13, Vilnius, LT-03220, E-mail: [email protected] of 2020, focusing on 20 million foreigners per year

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602 Vol.14 Issue 4 2020 601-616 Harith Yas, Abbas Mardani, Yas Kh.Albayati, Shamma Essa Lootah, Dalia Streimikiene

by 2020 (Stephens, 2019). The strategy was a suc- The Burj is the tallest free-standing structure on our
cess, and extending it with new targets and goals was planet (Lukovich, 2019). It is 828 meters tall, having
planned. Assuming Dubai as one of the most priori- over 160 stories – it is one of the most popular at-
tized tourist destinations, it is expected to attract 21 tractions in Dubai (Glancy, 2020). Adventure activi-
to 23 million tourists per year, up to 23 to 25 mil- ties in Dubai are connected with the geography of
lion by 2025. Currently, Dubai entices tourists with the region. One can visit the desert safaris through
shopping opportunities. However, it has many other the golden Arabian dunes, engage in reef and wreck
valuable, modern and ancient, attractions as well diving, skydiving over the beautiful Palm Jumeirah,
(Duah, 2019). Dubai is well-known for its diverse as well as wakeboarding. The paper will research the
culture and the fundamental milestones symbolizing roles tourism has played in Dubai and the growth of
the Emirates’ resurgence on the global arena. How- tourism and its future together with relevant tour-
ever, the tourism industry is fundamental to Dubai. ism information to aid in the growth of Dubai. The
According to a report, 8.36 million foreigners visited research will focus on descriptive analysis. The data
Dubai in the first 6 months of 2019 (Saxunova & Le used in the research is secondary data. The litera-
Roux). Many of them were from India, the Kingdom ture review was conducted to find any other related
of Saudi Arabia, and the United Kingdom. There- information and assess the extent to which the topic
fore, the UAE's government works at its best to de- has been explored. Most of the statistical data will be
velop the seven emirates in Dubai to help capture attained based on Dubai tourism in the year 2019.
the attention of tourists. All types of tourists, both
younger and older, may find suitable attractions in 2. Literature Review
Dubai, including shopping, entertainment or simple Zaidan and Kovacs (2017) researched the impact of
relaxation. Dubai can offer tourists whatever they tourism on culture and the local society. Over many
wish for (Kim & Kang, 2020). The city that attracts years, tourism has been considered an enemy of cul-
tourists equally in every month of a year, as the cli- tural identity and authenticity of people, as it involved
mate is very moderate for the visitors and the habita- significant modernization. Moreover, tourism con-
tions (Siegel, 2019). tributes to changes in local languages. Older forms
Similarly, Dubai has also shown significant de- and archaisms can often be difficult to understand for
velopment in infrastructure that aids the tourism the younger generation (Zuo et al., 2020). Further-
industry, such as tourist facilities. These are improv- more, the increased value of tourism in a particular
ing in the level of services they offer in transporta- area, brings inflation due to which the majority of the
tion and the hotel sectors. Particularly, in Dubai, the people begin to suffer because tourists pay more. It
roles of culture, religion diversity, hospitality and is tourism contributes to changes in local values and
infrastructure are the most important in tourism culture changing local values and culture (Hoang et
industry growth. By following a statistical report of al., 2020). However, the view of tourists has had sig-
the government of Dubai, in 2019 there are 544 ho- nificant changes and is currently seen as supporting
tels along with 100744 rooms and 25376 apartments people’s culture. In the modern world of today, people
(Kaleychev & Tsonev, 2019). Sightseeing attractions of a specific place, city, or country try to find ways to
in Dubai also include its famous building Burj Al increase means that can grow their tourism industry
Arab which is considered one of the most luxurious (Łapko et al., 2020). A notable amount of budget is
hotels in the world (Michael et al., 2020). Another allocated by governments to infrastructural develop-
destination, highly popular among the tourists, is the ment in the areas related to natural beauty and to the
shopping malls. Besides these two aforementioned institutions which maintain these areas. Tourism is re-
attractions, there are many other highlights that ferred to as the temporary movement of people from
equally capture attention of the tourists. Moreover, their usual place of habitation to other areas as well as
Dubai is also known as the city with many faces, other activities encountered with them to satisfy their
as it is the home of the tallest tower worldwide, the needs (Zaidan, 2016).
Burj Khalifa, and is full of adventure opportunities. Many people fulfil their needs by exploring other

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS DOI: 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.430

The Positive Role of the Tourism Industry for Dubai City in the United Arab Emirates 603

parts of the world. However, this causes pollution. of the city. Also, Dubai is located between East Asia
Others practice the so-called medical tourism in or- and Europe, it is favored for its high-quality infra-
der to receive proper treatment abroad. In result, they structure, attractive winter climate, and environmen-
are prioritized over the local patients, as the medical tal landscape. The United Arab Emirates is also an ally
tourists pay more. Others travel for business pur- of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia whose economy is
poses, which in some cases may harm the local in- partially based on religious tourism (Papastathopou-
dustries (Capar & Aslan, 2020). Therefore, people los et al., 2020). Moreover, the city has the advantage
moving from their place of habitation will often affect of easily available competitive, affordable, and inex-
areas that they have traveled to, both negatively and pensive laborers from South Asian countries such as
positively in cultural and economic aspects (Du et al., Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh (Nasreen et al., 2020).
2016). Literature describes both effects to a large ex- Dubai encourages tourists because of the low import
tent. Tourism has, therefore, increased the practice of duties. Traders are also inspired to do business in the
the host population using their culture and progress- city due to the absence of taxes on corporate and per-
ing their values and traditional lifestyles. The current sonal incomes (Zaidan, 2016). Due to this, several
study explores the positive role of the tourism indus- numbers of business tourists visit Dubai to find the
try in Dubai. best deals for their current business and corporations
Dubai has excellent characteristics that favored (Rao & Bernaz, 2020). Furthermore, these business-
population growth, which acted as a primary driving friendly policies of the city attract new investors from
force fueling the successful Emirates tourism develop- all over the world. All tourists always require a pleas-
ment strategy. In Dubai, a colorful array of different ant environment that can make them feel secure with
religions and cultures can easily be observed (Tabahi, their properties but also their lives. The safe means of
2020). Following the results of different studies, it getting things also encourage tourists to go to Dubai
is determined that 90% of the city’s population are as they will get all their needs. Status of crime rate in
expats. The biggest mall in the world is also present Dubai is very low, according to a study it is just 12.81
in Dubai which attracts people from all parts of the whereas 101.48 is the crime rate of London in 2019-
world, solely for the purpose of shopping. Moreover, 2020 (Teichmann et al., 2020). According to Sheikh
the city has the tallest building in the world which is Mohammed, the goal for Dubai is to double the num-
a major attraction, distinguishing Dubai from other ber of tourists by the year 2020.
cities (Musavengane et al., 2020). The city has poured Karmakar (2015) posits that infrastructure tourism
a lot of time as well as money into modernization is based upon four fundamental components; bever-
(Sokhanvar et al., 2018). Like other neighboring ar- age and food facilities, communication facilities, ac-
eas enjoying their oil-related wealth such as Abu commodation facilities, and accompanying facilities.
Dhabi, Dubai does not have wide resources of oil In Dubai, these four components saw a rapid develop-
wealth. However, its major source of wealth has been ment in the recent years. According to the results of
its seaport in the Persian Gulf (Low, 2020). Whereas a study, tourist accommodation in Dubai is relatively
in recent decades, Dubai has sought wealth in luxury pricey and ubiquitous (Alsuwaidi, 2020). The study
tourism, property development, and building monu- also describes that in the period 2015-2018 there is an
mental hotels such as Burj al-Arab, Jumeirah Beach increase in 5-star and 4-star hotels plus the number
Hotel, and Raffles Dubai. Besides, Dubai has pro- of rooms. This is a reflection of the Sheikh Moham-
gressed politically, by having good regional and inter- med’s Vision Expo 2020. Moreover, Dubai hoteliers
national relations and visionary leaders. Also, political stated a 7.6% increase in inventory against a 7.4%
policies that allow for a creation of a diverse culture rise in demand (Chapter, 2020). Most major cities all
were successfully applied (Zou et al., 2020). Laws and over the world offer direct flights to Dubai. Dubai has
rules of the city are settled in such a way that they are become the world’s busiest airport, over 120 airlines
easy to follow and equally favorable for locals and out- fly to Dubai and from Dubai International Airport to
siders (Usman, 2019). Hence, people enjoy their lives above 260 stations, which reflects the popularity of
with potential and contribute to the financial progress Dubai among tourists (Al Sarrah et al., 2020). Besides,

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604 Vol.14 Issue 4 2020 601-616 Harith Yas, Abbas Mardani, Yas Kh.Albayati, Shamma Essa Lootah, Dalia Streimikiene

there is an enormous network of roads connecting the ized metro rail chain is also in Dubai. It is highly
whole Arab Emirates with its bordering territories of accessible for the passengers not only economically,
Oman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This road but it also provides traveling ease to its passengers.
network in Dubai connects all the towns and cities . Moreover, this metro service is divided into two lines:
The famous multi-lane highway between Abu Dhabi green and red - both are operational. (Hafeez et al.,
and Dubai provides quick access for the population 2016). Dubai is implementing automation technology
of both cities (Qamhaieh & El Kaftangui, 2020). Ac- to design a new and a modern type of city: a place
cording to the results of a survey, after Tokyo and everyone would want to visit (Diamandis & Kotler,
Singapore, Dubai is the world’s 3rd city in the best 2020). Hence, concerned authorities become able to
taxi services (Ishfaq, 2020). Dubai is famous for its extend tourism of the city to another advanced level
Asian food scene. According to a report on bbcgood- in the future. With the help of technology, initially, it
food.com, the favorite foods in Dubai are Knafeh, is targeted to reduce traffic jams on roads, the trans-
Turkish cocktails, Arabic Coffee and Dates, Chebab, formation of healthcare centers to a broad level, in-
Khubz, Luqaimat, Camel, Samboosa, Margoogat, and crease in ascertain to inflate resources. Furthermore,
Machboos. The tourism sector relies heavily on the promoting innovation, digital startups, research and
infrastructure of a country, such as appropriate roads, development have also been prioritized (De Jong et
electricity availability, potable water, a proper sew- al., 2019). Dubai is heading towards becoming a tech-
age system, and airports. Dubai also has the world’s nology hub. Third, existing accommodation capabili-
most modern models for all these sectors with numi- ties should be improved by using modern methods
nous designs and architectures . Every year a notable and technologies. Fourth, to the city should enhance
amount of budget is allocated for required main- the communal infrastructure such as public facilities
tenance purposes in every sector of the city. More- being used by every person in the destination. Fifth
over, to compete with the world’s top cities, Dubai it should focus on destination safety and cleanliness as
also focuses on its modernization and modification. people always desire guaranteed security. Dubai offers
Therefore, through tireless work, Dubai can enhance security with no additional fees due to which crime
its infrastructure and thus attract more tourists. How- rate is also very low in the city. However, in suburban
ever, although the competition of tourists has dra- areas, late night pickpocketing and purse snatching is
matically increased in the past few years, Dubai has still problematic for tourists and contributes to their
progressed in the supply chain of infrastructure from financial losses and induces stress. No one would like
transport to environmental and social infrastructure. to be in a place where their safety is not assured, and
For environmental infrastructure, Dubai is dealing their lives are at risk (Kavunkil Haneef, 2017). Sixth, it
with issues such as limited water resources of the city, should develop essential structures. For example, not
waste generation, carbon footprints, overfishing, and all people are always in need of the latest infrastruc-
air pollution (Webb & Liu, 2020). While for social in- ture. However, the government of Dubai should per-
frastructure, the city is dramatically increasing its as- form research and realize which type of infrastructure
sists such as hospitals, universities, schools, housing, is needed the most, then the appropriate infrastruc-
prisons, and other facilities. According to Elgaali et ture should be developed. There is no doubt, Dubai
al. (2019) there exist several activities that should be has become one of the most popular places for travel
performed to guarantee sufficient tourist and related for the majority of the world’s tourists. However, there
infrastructure. First, the city should develop new ac- are some serious issues such as the implementation of
commodation capabilities within the country that will law limits tourists’ activities. Where the consequences
favor both classes of people. of laws bring safety to the general public, they also
Second, ease of access to the destination of travel, limit the freedom of the public. Set rules and laws in
and within the area, using different forms of trans- the city help to decrease crime rate however, tourists
portation is crucial. Dubai is famous for its efficient often don’t like to restricted as much (Turner, 1991).
mechanism of public transport (Mann et al., 2020). Hence, government, jurisdiction, and experts must
The world’s longest entirely automated and motor- keep an eye to resolve the issues. Finally, to the city

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS DOI: 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.430

The Positive Role of the Tourism Industry for Dubai City in the United Arab Emirates 605

should improve the quality of its offer. Most tourists utility and relevance. The authors collected tourism
are always searching for better services. Also, better data for the year 2019 from different online sources. This
services offered incentivize tourists to return. data is also based on the shared experience and statics
It can be argued that tourism development im- on different forums and websites designed for tourists
proves the country as well as eager to learn and pro- to mention their opinions and recommendations about
vide high-quality services. Tourists come from differ- their visited places. Moreover, for better understand-
ent areas and hence have diverse cultural backgrounds ing, evaluation, and correction of the data, some of the
that require the hospitality members to learn and tourists who already have mentioned their contact infor-
acknowledge the diversity of people. The hospitality mation on the websites were connected. By connecting
department is highly developed to meet international the tourists, more fine data was obtained about Dubai’s
standards through good designs in accommodation tourism. Furthermore, a survey was conducted on dif-
and catering services for tourists. Dubai also benefits ferent social media. Before the survey, an online simple
engineers trying as much as possible to focus on de- web application consisting of seven different webpages,
signs that are more appealing in attracting tourists in each page has a specific set of questions with a title on
return, making the city even more beautiful. Besides, the header of the page, was designed comprising of ques-
Dubai has a unique landscape as well as culture and tions that were created from the author’s personal expe-
history, which increases the attractiveness of the tour- riences during the visit to Dubai. Then link of the web
ist (Salama, 2015).Other features that improve because application was shared in various groups of tourists on
of tourism are the communication and telecommuni- Facebook, WhatsApp, and Snap Chat for data collection
cation industry, as people will need to communicate and to maximize the authentication and purification of
efficiently and effectively. Similarly, the recreation and the author’s data. Hence, all the data from all the partici-
leisure facilities also increase as people from the di- pates were collected in a table connected at the back end
verse areas come to Dubai with their types of sports of the web application. However, partially filled, unseri-
and leisure activities such as art fairs and introduce ous and non-related responses were excluded from the
them to the citizens of the country; as a result, people data set. The next process was to sort and analyze the
adopt them. Lastly is the improvement in education tabular data hence end results of this research can easily
among individuals as people will always need to learn be determined. Thus, the data was separated in different
so that they can be able to understand one other. tables according to the nature of collected data and cat-
egories that were designed for better understanding and
3. Methodology to create a relationship between data to achieve targets
The research has adopted an ethnographic approach, and goals of this research. Therefore, this primary data
which is based on the author's experiences in the desti- was passed through some statistical formulas and rela-
nations where visited as well as the use of second-hand tions. For this purpose, the computer base calculation
data. The research design adopted is descriptive studies. was performed. Moreover, a famous statistical software
It captures the relationship between the role of tourism was also used in this process to achieve the outcomes of
in Dubai and its determinants. Barbour et al. (2016) this research paper. Because the nature of the research
argues that the use of descriptive studies is used to an- is ethnographic hence, analysis based on the author’s
swer the question “why” and “how” as well as the ques- personal experience and intuitions also contributed to
tions “what." According to the research, the items to be obtaining the results of the current study.
explored are based on what are the roles of tourism in According to Zaidan (2016) his highness Sheik Mo-
Dubai. Therefore, the study is descriptive and involves hammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum adopted the Tourism
the quantitative analysis of data. Secondary data was Vision 2020 plan. The goals set were ambitious and com-
used in the research to analyze the roles of the tourism prised of increasing the number of tourists to two hun-
industry in Dubai. Johnston (2017) describes secondary dred million tourists by the start of the coming decade,
data as information that was collected for other purposes and increase the amount of income into three times than
other than the current goal of the research, however, the the current revenue generated from tourism. The growth
data used in the current study should, therefore, be of of the tourism sector should require the total submission

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606 Vol.14 Issue 4 2020 601-616 Harith Yas, Abbas Mardani, Yas Kh.Albayati, Shamma Essa Lootah, Dalia Streimikiene

of both the public and the private sector to be able to ad- taurants. According to TripAdvisor company, Burj
vance on both the accommodation and facilities needed. Khalifa is regarded as the top destination for tour-
The data collected was required to see how information ists to travel followed by Dubai Mall and the Dubai
has been trending for the past years and be able to pre- Fountain. On the other hand, Lonely Planet has also
dict the future and make improvements for the better listed Burj Al Arab is the top destination to be vis-
tourism sector in Dubai. Tourism has brought signifi- ited using their site followed by Dubai Museum and
cant changes in Dubai, and the data collected includes IMG Worlds of Adventure while listing Burj Khalifa
the international overnight visitors to Dubai from 2019, at position four.
information which was obtained from the tourism statis- According to the graph, the UAE administration
tics database in Dubai statistics center, the rank of Dubai aims at new policies to improve the number of tour-
in the tourism sector with other international cities, and ists by the year 2020 are highly appealing, and the
Dubai hotel data. Additionally, primary data were col- progress indicates that at the end of the year they will
lected to examine the relationship between culture, re- achieve it. Leading visitors who visited Dubai from
ligion diversity, hospitality, infrastructure and tourism January to June 2019, India was the leading in visit-
industry growth. 400 questionnaires were distributed ing Dubai with visitors ranging to 997,000 individu-
among the employees of tourism companies and 240 als, while the second-largest country to visit Dubai is
valid responses were returned which were used for data Saudi Arabia with 756,000 visitors which is followed
analysis. by the United Kingdom with 586,000 views and then
China with 501,000 visitors (Kaleychev & Tsonev,
4. Analysis 2019). The next countries are Oman, Russia, the
Forty years ago, Dubai was recognized as dependent United States of America, Germany, Pakistan, and
on pearl fishing and trade and limited oil reserves. the Philippines, which have less than 500,000 visitors
However, in the year 2018, Dubai was viewed as a but more than 200,000 visitors.
revolutionary city-state that’s quickly intensifying During 2018, Dubai International Airport had
its worldwide outreach and taking a range of sig- gained 89.1 million visitors while the others record-
nificant development projects and attainments. The ing high numbers are Hartsfield-Jackson interna-
administration has attained enough confidence in tional airport in Atlanta, which was leading with 117
the tourism sector and marketing planning since million passengers with the second one being Capital
they received an award of Expo 2020 to be able to International airport in Beijing with 100 million pas-
double the benefits associated with tourist as well as sengers (Heyes & Nadkarni, 2019). Similarly, Dubai
increasing tourist into twenty-five million by 2020 international airport has gained more than 41.28
(Singh, 2015). According to the report produced by million passengers by June 2019. For the airport to
Dubai tourism, in the year 2018 Dubai had acquired record such a huge number of travelers indicates that
a total of 16.66 million international tourists, and the the country is getting an increased number of tour-
city had 717 total number of hotels and hotel apart- ists. the country is also expanding and has opened
ment buildings as well as 118, 039 rooms that were another airport which is required to reduce conges-
available for accommodation and 493 AED rates tions and ensure the efficient movement of travelers.
for rooms per day. Besides, by the end of June 2019,
Dubai had acquired approximately 8.36 million in- 4.1. Empirical Evidence through Partial Least
ternational visitors (Benton, 2019). Square-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM)
The table indicates the top destinations visited by Empirical evidence was obtained by using the PLS-
tourists using the two travel companies, the TripAd- SEM which is most suitable technique to analyze
visor and the Lonely planet. As stated above in the the primary data which is supported by the previous
table, the two-travel companies are used to aid the studies ( Hair, 2010; Hair et al., 2014; Hair et al., 2012;
travelers because they have user-generated content, Hameed et al., 2020). In this process, the relationship
online reservations for transportation, travel expe- between culture, religion diversity, hospitality, infra-
rience, price comparison tools, lodgings, and res- structure and tourism industry growth were exam-

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS DOI: 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.430

The Positive Role of the Tourism Industry for Dubai City in the United Arab Emirates 607

Table 1. Top Tourist Destinations in Dubai; Dubai tourism statistics 2019

Trip Advisor Lonely planet

Burj Khalifa Burj Al Arab

Dubai Mall Dubai Museum

The Dubai Fountain IMG Worlds of Adventure

Dubai Miracle Garden Burj Khalifa

Global Village Sheikh Mohammed Center For Cultural Understanding

Atlantis Aquaventure Waterpark Al Fahidi Historical District

Burj Ak Arabi Madinat Jumeirah

Ski Dubai Gold Souq

Figure 1. The leading 10 countries to visit Dubai; Dubai tourism statistics 2019.

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608 Vol.14 Issue 4 2020 601-616 Harith Yas, Abbas Mardani, Yas Kh.Albayati, Shamma Essa Lootah, Dalia Streimikiene

ined. The effect of culture, religion diversity, hospi- (GDP); the amount contributed ranged to around
tality and infrastructure were examined on tourism 5.2% of the total GDP. The income generated by
industry growth. For this purpose, four hypotheses tourism is therefore expected to increase by 5.1%
were proposed based on the literature review in sec- each year from 2020 to the year 2027, thus attribut-
tion 2, which are as follows; ing to a total of 5.4% of the total GDP in the projected
Hypothesis 1. Culture has positive effect on tour- year (Heyes and Nadkarni, 2020). Besides, the total
ism industry growth. revenue collected from the travel and tourism sec-
Hypothesis 2. Religion diversity has positive effect tor in the UAE summed to AED 159.1 billion, which
on tourism industry growth. represented 12.1% of overall gross domestic product.
Hypothesis 3. Hospitality has positive effect on Nonetheless, the rise in tourism industry revenue
tourism industry growth. by the year 2027 is expected to be 12.4% of the total
Hypothesis 4. Infrastructure has positive effect on gross domestic product.
tourism industry growth. By the year 2017, the tourism and travel industry
Before to test the hypotheses, the reliability and had employed 317,500 individuals in the UAE. Still,
validity was examined with the help of PLS mea- due to the projected improvement in the tourism sec-
surement model. PLS measurement model is shown tor, the employment rate is also expected to increase
in Figure 3 in which factor loadings are given. The by 2.4 percent per year hence employing 410,000 em-
minimum threshold level for factor loadings is 0.5 in ployees. Furthermore, the fiscal policies set by Dubai,
the current study. All the items have factor loadings as well as the no more than 5 percent of the expen-
above 0.5. Furthermore, Table 2 shows the composite diture are set on debts that create room for achieving
reliability (CR) which is also above 0.7 for culture, up to DH 2 billion. According to Said Abdul Rahman
religion diversity, hospitality and infrastructure. Ad- Saleh Al Saleh, who is the director-general, depart-
ditionally, average variance extracted (AVE) is also ment of finance said that this city can attain the op-
above 0.5 for culture, religion diversity, hospitality erating increment of DH 1.96 billion because of the
and infrastructure. Discriminant validity is also giv- implementation of the controlled finance strategies
en in Table 3 which is achieved by using AVE square which will subsidize the progress of infrastructure
root. development plans and supports the financial sus-
In the next step, the hypotheses were tested tainability policies of the Emirates. Dubai has worked
through PLS structural model (Thaker et al., 2020). extremely hard in developing its infrastructure to be
In this process, the effect of culture, religion diver- able to create attractiveness to tourists; they need to
sity, hospitality and infrastructure were examined on invest heavily in their roads, hotels, as well as other
tourism industry growth. Therefore, four hypotheses infrastructure, which will be required by tourists.
are tested in the study by considering the t-value and Similarly, the tourism and travel sector play a critical
beta value. T-value 1.96 were considered to accept role in economic development. Dubai World Cen-
the hypotheses. It is given in Table 4; all the hypoth- tral is anticipated to increase the number of visitors
eses have t-value above 1.96. Hence, all the four hy- in Dubai, and they have started by launching a new
potheses are supported. It shows that culture, religion airport for passengers’ traffic. According to Vij et al.
diversity, hospitality and infrastructure have positive (2019) Dubai had 4.7 million visitors in the year 2002
effect on tourism industry growth. Increase in cul- and has amplified to ten million visitors in the year
ture, religion diversity, hospitality and infrastructure, 2019, which is expected to increase to 20 million in
increase the tourism industry growth in Dubai. PLS 2020. The analyst believes the progress can happen,
structural model is given in Figure 3 and results are and through the strategy, the city has used it in open-
given in Table 4. ing new airlines, which enables the city to be open for
more opportunities as well as more visitors streaming
5. Discussion in.
During the year 2016, tourism directly contributed The city has greatly benefited from tourism in dif-
68.5 AED to the country’s gross domestic product ferent ways especially on the leisure infrastructure.

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS DOI: 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.430

The Positive Role of the Tourism Industry for Dubai City in the United Arab Emirates 609

Figure 2. World busiest airports; Dubai tourism statistics 2019.

Figure 3. Measurement model.

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610 Vol.14 Issue 4 2020 601-616 Harith Yas, Abbas Mardani, Yas Kh.Albayati, Shamma Essa Lootah, Dalia Streimikiene

Table 2. Reliability and Convergent Validity

Alpha rho_A CR AVE

Culture 0.933 0.934 0.952 0.832

Hospitality 0.938 0.938 0.956 0.843

Infrastructure 0.93 0.931 0.95 0.826

Religion Diversity 0.943 0.944 0.959 0.854

Tourism Industry Growth 0.91 0.916 0.933 0.735

Table 3. Discriminant Validity

Culture Hospitality Infrastructure Religion Diversity Tourism Industry Growth

Culture 0.912

Hospitality 0.906 0.918

Infrastructure 0.9 0.834 0.909

Religion 0.888 0.888 0.897 0.924

Diversity

Tourism 0.768 0.743 0.739 0.754 0.858

Industry
Growth

Tourism has resulted in the city developing world- Correspondingly, the development of Bluewater
class shopping malls; five-star hotels have been in Dubai also leads to increased revenue to Dubai
developed enabling Dubai infrastructure to make and made the place well recognized in the world.
a step ahead of other cities. Although tourism has The Bluewater was developed to feature the world’s
aided the city to grow and develop, the city also has largest Ferris wheel and is referred to as the Dubai
features that favor tourism such as the wonderful eye. Moreover, the tourists’ number increase did
beaches which act as an attraction to the visitors not just have a positive effect on Dubai but also
and waterparks. Similarly, when developing and other places in Emirates benefited from it. On the
creating another attraction site in Dubai the trend other hand, Dubai approved a three-year budget
for increasing visitors will continue. of Dh 196 billion last year with this year's budget

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS DOI: 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.430

The Positive Role of the Tourism Industry for Dubai City in the United Arab Emirates 611

Figure 4. Structural model.

Table 4. Results

Original Sample Standard T Statistics P Values

Sample (O) Mean (M) Deviation (|O/STDEV|)
(STDEV)

Culture -> Tourism Industry Growth 0.386 0.387 0.117 3.288 0.001

Hospitality -> Tourism Industry Growth 0.103 0.106 0.05 2.05 0.041

Infrastructure -> Tourism Industry Growth 0.043 0.039 0.02 2.14 0.036

Religion Diversity -> Tourism Industry Growth 0.281 0.281 0.117 2.396 0.017

being the highest ever at Dh 66.4 billion. The high Dubai has also worked hard in championing for
budget is set to support the Expo 2020 as well as rooms for every visitor, for example during the year
improve the economy of Dubai (Gomba et al., 2019 Dubai had more than 16.66 million visitors
2018). Besides, the spending of the country is ex- coming from different areas in the world. Despite,
pected to increase by 17 percent from last year to the city having features that are more attractive
this year according to the budget. For that reason, to the visitors, they also have more advanced and
the country is working to deliver economic incen- equipped accommodations to be able to handle the
tives with the aim of enticing investors and work increased number of visitors. The emirates have
towards improving the competitive position of the seven hundred and seventeen hotels consisting of
country. several rooms with different prices ranging, which

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612 Vol.14 Issue 4 2020 601-616 Harith Yas, Abbas Mardani, Yas Kh.Albayati, Shamma Essa Lootah, Dalia Streimikiene

would cater to both the luxury and the lower-class tained from tourism will happen. The more budget set
level of visitors. All the hotels have 118,039 rooms, for this year is used for the success of attaining the vi-
and the average price per room is rated at 493 AED. sion and therefore the development of more airlines to
The international visitors for the first half of the year encourage people to travel as well as the government
2019 were 8.36 million, which is a good number. offering business incentives to support more investors
On the other hand, Dubai is located at the center, and more people to venture into business. In addition,
and the location makes it more advantageous for the government is working on increasing the number
visitors. The geographic location of the city is con- of accommodation and ensuring the homes fits the
veniently at the central location that is equidistant global standard by fitting the rooms with the necessary
from both the east and the west, hence, making the requirements. Similarly, the administration should not
city enjoy the hub for travelers from Asia traveling to only focus on luxurious rooms only but also on rooms
Europe and North America. Additionally, Dubai has that will favor lower class people who will need to travel
more attractions, such as the tallest skyscraper and in the city.
the biggest shopping malls. According to Trip Advi- Tourism has also played significant roles in Dubai by
sor, the most popular tourist site in Dubai is the Burj boosting the economy, although the economy has not
Khalifa, the tallest building and most visited website. only benefited Dubai alone but also the whole of the
The Trip Advisor also claims that the tallest building Emirates. People have invested a lot in hotels, and other
is more popular than both the Dubai fountain and businesses to ensure that they satisfy traveler’s needs.
the Dubai Mall. However, according to the Lonely The government is again required to develop the roads
Planet travel portal, they have ranked Burj Al Arab and focus strictly on enhancing the care of travelers, the
as the famous and most visited hotel, similarly, listing more people come in the more services are required and
both IMG Worlds of Adventure and Dubai Museum the more resources required, therefore, the administra-
at the top of Burj Khalifa. tion should have arrangements of making everything
work well. When a person is treated well during their
6. Conclusion first visit, most probably they will come again as they
Having discussed the roles tourism has played in Dubai are more interested in the services available. Finally,
and the growth of tourism and its future together with Dubai has acquired the taste of tourism. Consequently,
relevant tourism information to aid in the growth of through putting more effort into their strategies and
Dubai, it is evident that the administration of Dubai has working on sustainable goals they will need to have
targeted investing its resources to the tourism industry trained employees who would perform their work in a
because of the industries long term sustainable growth more proficient means as well as other resources such as
capabilities. Nonetheless, tourism is also significant in water, power, and transport means. Besides, the govern-
diversifying the economy of the UAE and taking it apart ment should also spend on safeguarding and monitor-
from energy production. Thus, to ensure sustainability ing the performance of factors such as the culture and
in the country, there will be a need for a balance in the the natural resources which act as a tourist attraction.
marketplace between the tourism industry and the en- Finally, it is found that increase in culture, religion di-
terprises focusing on developing renewable electricity versity, hospitality and infrastructure, increase the de-
as well as water production. Dubai’s greatest strengths velopment of the tourism industry in Dubai.
are its natural resources, which attract increasingly
larger numbers of tourists. Notably, the government in- 6.1. The Implication of the Study
vested heavily in the Expo 2020 project which is later This paper suggests some creditable and modest ways
to use the total renewable energy hence saving on cost. with its findings and outcomes to enhance the tourism
The government has set ways of improving the infra- industry in Dubai. In this regard, the current research
structure, even more, to increase the number of visitors. paper has deeply analyzed the whole scenario in case
The rate of tourists visiting Dubai is greatly increas- of the positive role of the tourism industry in Dubai.
ing, and the number indicates that the vision 2020 of Dubai is considered as a dream destination for many
getting 20 million visitors and tripling the revenue at- tourists from all parts of the world because the city has a

CONTEMPORARY ECONOMICS DOI: 10.5709/ce.1897-9254.430

The Positive Role of the Tourism Industry for Dubai City in the United Arab Emirates 613

great attraction and a vital set of facilities for its visitors. 6. Limitations and Future Directions
This research paper has demonstrated that the tourism Tourism in Dubai has had a tremendous impact on the
industry performed a crucial role in the enhancement economy and social life of Dubai citizens. However,
of economy, infrastructure, employment, and image there are several limitations that exist during the de-
of Dubai as well as the country. As the United Arab velopment of tourism which include, a risk to Islamic
Emirates marks a bigger share in international tourism, culture, the use of water has highly increased in the city,
hence the government is direct at the goals to attract the population has also augmented in the city as well as
the maximum number of outlander tourists. Moreover, the development of urbanization and increase in pollu-
the projected theory in this research paper can help the tion. By increasing budget volume for the tourism in-
concerned authorities and the government to develop dustry will ultimately result in adding more values for
efficient plans for flourishing products and services re- foreign exchange hence, Dubai can effortlessly main-
lated to the tourism area and sectors. Like other stud- tain its foreign exchange values that will finally provide
ies, the current research paper also has theoretical and more freedom to enhance Dubai’s trade in other sectors.
practical implications. Moreover, if more tourists visit Dubai, it will increase
the interest rest of the visitors to visit the city. Hence, the
6.2. Theoretical Implication of the Study government also needs to increase the advertisement
Intention, destination loyalty, positive views about tour- budget in this way tourists outside the city are aware of
ism managers, presented destination image by tourists the current activities, advancements, offers, and poli-
to revisit the destination tells us more about the satisfac- cies. All these effects have resulted in deterioration and
tion level of the tourists. The author has investigated the therefore the government has to set new directions and
positive effects of the tourism industry in Dubai. The re- strategies of how they can maneuver on the challenges
sults of this research paper show that the tourism sector so as to reduce the effects while increasing the tourists.
of the city needs to determine the essential dimensions There are many things that need advancement and re-
which are related to business, service, and work quali- visit by concerned authorities of the city such as mak-
ties hence, marketers and managers can develop excep- ing laws and rules that best fit all the tourists. The city
tional plans and easy to make appropriate and optimal has adopted sustainable development goals where they
decisions. Furthermore, approach destination quality have to use sustainable strategies such as sustainable re-
was also tested by this research paper. Outcomes told cycling practices of water and energy. Moreover, there
that influential dimensions that troubled a tourist stay, is a need to bring additional researches comprising of
revisiting, and frequent returning intentions included international politics having effects on the tourism in-
the generosity, the leisure, and the hospitality activities, dustry of Dubai.
regarding accommodation and circumstances.
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