Planning for Tourism: The Case of Dubai

In recent years, the Middle East region has enjoyed rapid growth as a tourist . At the forefront of this growth has been Dubai, a state that has successfully and diversified its economy into tourism in order to reduce its economic dependence on supplies of oil. Despite this success, however, little attention has been paid to tourism in general, and tourism planning processes in particular, in Dubai. In addressing gap in the literature, this paper explores tourism planning in Dubai in relation to the economy of oil-rich “rentier” states. Reviewing tourism policy and processes in Dubai, reveals that an apparent hybrid model of tourism planning has been adopted. However, control of tourism development reflects the authoritarian political structures in the , pointing to potential future challenges.