1st Edition
Cultural and Heritage Tourism in the Middle East and North Africa Complexities, Management and Practices
This is the first book to provide a comprehensive account of cultural and heritage tourism in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the many complexities that heritage sites and tourist attractions face.
The MENA region has long been regarded as the cradle of Western and Arab civilisation and is the home of many of the world’s major religions. Because of this, the region is rich in heritage sites that serve as major tourist attractions and as icons of national, cultural and religious identity. However, as this book examines, heritage in the region is simultaneously highly contested and has even become a target for terrorism creating a situation that brought major challenges for heritage management and sustainable tourism development. Many of the region’s innumerable cultural sites are threatened, in some cases by overuse, in others by neglect and, in many, simply by the pressures of economic development.
This book is therefore of interest not only to heritage managers and policy makers but those academics who seek to address the delicate balance between tourism development, communities and the tourists who visit such sites in a turbulent but highly significant region of the world.
1. Cultural heritage tourism in the MENA: introduction and background
Siamak Seyfi & C. Michael Hall
2. Tourism and the multi-faith Heritage of the Middle East and North Africa: A Resource Perspective
Dallen J. Timothy
3. Contesting religious heritage in the Middle East
Daniel H. Olsen & Chad F. Emmett
4. Making a sense of place for Safranbolu World Heritage Site: An analysis of Safranbolu: Reflections of Time
Enis Tataroglu
5. Cultural heritage and tourism in Tunisia: evolution, challenges and perspectives
Najem Dhaher, Siamak Seyfi & C. Michael Hall
6. Touring ‘our’ past: World Heritage tourism and post-colonialism in Morocco
Bailey Ashton Adie
7. National Park or Urban Green Space: The Case of [Tel] Ashkelon
Yael Ram
8. Cultural Heritage in Palestine: Challenges and Opportunities
Rami K. Isaac
9. Visitors’ expectation and experience in a World Heritage site: Evidence from ancient Gobekli Tepe, Sanliurfa, Turkey
Ali Rıza Manci
10. Themepark Arabism: Disneyfying the UAE’s Heritage for Western Tourist Consumption Salma Thani & Tom Heenan
11. Integrated Cultural Heritage Planning in Egypt: A catalyst for tourism after the Arab Spring? Eman M. Helmy
12. UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites: The interplay between international and local branding for the Gonbad-e Qābus Brick Tower, Iran
Bardia Shabani, Hazel Tucker & Amin Nazifi
13. Factors influencing residents’ perceptions toward heritage tourism: A gender perspective
S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh, Babak Taheri, Martin Gannon & Hamid Ataeishad
14. Climate Change Threats to Cultural and Heritage Tourism in Iran
Jennifer M. Fitchett and Gholamreza Roshan
15. Conclusion: The futures of cultural heritage tourism in the MENA countries
C. Michael Hall & Siamak Seyfi
Biography
C. Michael Hall is a Professor in the Department of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Docent in Geography, University of Oulu, Finland; a Visiting Professor in Tourism at Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden; and a Guest Professor in the Department of Service Management and Service Studies, Lund University, Helsingborg, Sweden. He has written widely on tourism, regional development, heritage, food and global environmental change.
Siamak Seyfi is an Assistant Professor at the Geography Research Unit of the University of Oulu, Finland. Using an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach, his research interests focus on tourism politics and geopolitics with a primary focus on the MENA region, cultural heritage, resilience, sustainability as well as qualitative sociological/ethnographic research methods in tourism.
'Cultural and Heritage Tourism in the Middle East and North Africa is a timely contribution that provides a detailed picture of political, cultural and economic dimensions of tourism development in the region. This edited book addresses an important gap in the literature, with a multiscalar narrative from a wide range of heritage and cultural sites. The result is a cohesive collection of relevant insights on practices and issues with cultural and heritage tourism and globalization in these turbulent times.'
Alberto Amore, Solent Univeristy, UK
'The MENA Region is one of the most important and fragile areas of the planet, it is home to a plethora of important cultural, culinary and heritage sites and yet is also one of the most neglected in the tourism literature. The beauty and authenticity of the MENA region has been shadowed by political conflicts there and now the expertise provided by the authors of this book brings some justice and much-needed focus on the region and its beauty. A collection of well-qualified authors cover a wide range of important topics applied to tourism in a way that demonstrates the diversity and significance of the region, not only to the tourism industry but to humanity. This is a must read for anyone interested in tourism management.'
Dr Yeganeh Morakabati, Bournemouth University, UK
'This is a significant edited book that makes an important contribution to our knowledge of cultural and heritage tourism in the region and which will be of great interest for students, academics and practitioners...'
Dr. Omar Moufakkir, Gulf University for Science and Technology, Kuwait
