Introduction
In the middle of the 20th century, the UAE’s budget was hooked on fishing and the gem business that was slowly falling behind (Algethami, 2013). The country’s land changed vividly only after the 1950s when oil was found in the Abu Dhabi emirate. As it has been specified in The National, in a couple of years, it became the original emirate to distribute oil, and this factor has effectively altered the region’s economic and cultural state. In the 1970s, the emirates liberated themselves from Britain and formed a group of six states that are now acknowledged as the United Arab Emirates (Picton, 2010).
The main concept of the study is a thorough analysis of the phenomenal rise of the tourism business in the UAE. Occupancy rates and the number of hotels and hotel rooms are going to be methodically studied in order to understand the “tourist patterns” (Vij & Vij, 2012). By a “tourist pattern,” the author means the image of an average traveler who visits the UAE in general and each of the three most popular emirates: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. This image will be based on the number of the individualities of the tourists because all the data concerning the visitors that come to the UAE will be processed carefully.
This research proposal will take into consideration and review the growing number of tourists visiting the United Arab Emirates, occupancy rates, total number of hotels and hotel rooms, and the factors that have made the UAE one of the most demanded tourist destinations in the whole world (Ahmad & Daghfous, 2010).
The Rationale
The reason why the study should be done can be explained by the importance of the tourism business to the United Arab Emirates. It should be one of the primary goals of the state to understand the needs of the multicultural sample of people who are coming to the UAE (Krane, 2010). Extra clarification of this is the exponentially growing number of people who are coming to the country in an attempt to quench their thirst for adventure (Inhorn, 2012).
The relevance of the research effort is caused by the government policies on the travel business in the UAE as it is currently taking firm steps into the direction of strict quality control and tries to guarantee its visitors only top-notch service. Taking this into account, one can project the future of the tourist business in the emirates and draw conclusions about the current situation in the country. The author of this study is confident that the research provides a profound examination of the current trends in the travel business in the UAE and explains the motives for tourism growth and development.
Research Problem
The area of concern in the future of the tourism business in the UAE is the drastically changing number of tourists coming to the country every year. The problem is that the emirates have to understand in advance the needs of their visitors (Krane, 2010). That is why every other year’s tourists’ data should be collected and examined prudently.
Research Questions
- What is the possible future of the tourism business in the UAE?
- Is the tourism business in the UAE going in the right direction?
- What can be done in order to draw even more attention to the area and improve the visitors’ general impression?
Research Objectives
The objectives of this research project are the following:
- To study the tendency in the growth of tourist numbers in the last four years.
- To estimate the possible numbers of tourists who are going to visit the UAE next year.
- To evaluate the way the United Arab Emirates process the tourist data and adapt to their visitors.
Research Design
The geographic area of the study is the three most popular emirates – Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah (Jeffreys, 2014a, 2014b). This particular area has been chosen because, despite the fact that all the emirates are usually considered as one unit, all of them operate diverse methodologies of attracting their clients (Hamarneh, 2012).
As a part of this research design, the author considers the population of tourists who come to the UAE every other year. For this research design, the author will use nonprobability sampling. The author also chooses a random sampling technique because it can be used with large populations and avoids prejudice.
In order to obtain the data properly and utmost precision, an open questionnaire will be developed. It will use questions with multiple responses (e.g., “What did you like the most about your travel?” “Did you enjoy staying in the hotel?” “What do you think could be improved?” etc.), having them cover all the possibilities. The tourists will be asked to fill in the surveys when they leave the hotel at the end of their vacation in the emirates.
The data will be factual, based on the logical and clear reports of methodical findings, concerning the tourists who visit the UAE. The author of the research will analyze and interpret the research results in order to draw a reasonable conclusion.
After all the data is processed, and the general preliminary assumptions are formulated, the analysis will be performed. The results of the analysis will be presented in a form of a chart in which all the major aspects of the research, such as the travelers’ tendencies and the portrait of an average visitor of the UAE, will be reflected.
The timeline of the study will include the preparations for the research, the use of a sampling method described in the research design, analysis of the results, discussion, conclusions, and suggestions. Preparing for the research, the author of the study will scrutinize the phenomenon of the tourism business objectives and accomplishments in the UAE and in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah in particular (Stephenson & Ali-Knight, 2010).
When the necessary data is obtained, the author will analyze it in order to evaluate the significance of the attained results. After studying the results, the author of the research will be able to reach a verdict regarding the image of an average tourist visiting the UAE and traveling trend development. Combining all the information, the author will be able to draw a conclusion that is going to be logical and based on the results of the research.
Conclusion
The research project described in this paper is going to be a helpful instrument in identifying the pattern for the majority of the tourists that come to the United Arab Emirates from all over the world. Carefully interpreting this kind of information will provide indispensable assistance to those who run businesses in the travel sector of the emirates. This means that the tourism business in the UAE is going to pay even more attention to the needs of its customers.
There is always room for improvement, and having the luxury of being a relatively young but rich country, the UAE is going to win big if it embraces the strategy of thoroughly studying the interests of their potential tourists and adapting to their requirements while keeping safe the national and cultural identity of the country.
References
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