Tourism Sustainability in the GCC Countries

This book explores the evolving landscape of sustainable and regenerative tourism in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain—in the post-COVID-19 era. Tourism is a vital and highly inclusive sector across the region, generating value not only within hospitality, transport, retail, and cultural industries, but also indirectly across sectors such as telecommunications and financial services. However, the COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted tourism, with travel restrictions and lockdowns leading to a sharp decline in tourist arrivals and revenues.

As the sector rebounds, with tourist numbers surpassing pre-pandemic levels in recent years, new challenges have emerged, including over-tourism and its impact on local ecosystems and communities. These developments have intensified debates around the need for more sustainable and regenerative approaches to tourism, emphasising models that are less extractive and more responsive to environmental and social contexts.

Against this backdrop, the book provides a timely platform for examining current and future strategies for sustainable tourism development in the GCC. It brings together diverse perspectives to address how the region can balance growth with ecological preservation and community well-being.

Structured around three interconnected themes, policies, technologies, and practices, the volume offers a comprehensive framework for understanding tourism transformation. Policies provide strategic direction and regulatory context; technologies act as enablers of innovation and implementation; and practices reflect the lived experiences where these elements converge. By examining the dynamic interplay among these dimensions, the book delivers a holistic and forward-looking analysis of sustainable and regenerative tourism in the Gulf region.