221771

Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST) in Arab Countries: Readiness Assessment

Article

Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

Subjects

-

Tags

Tourism and hospitality statistics

Abstract

Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon that depends on and affects the economy, the environment, host communities, destinations, and visitors themselves. Because of its vast range of impacts and stakeholders involved, tourism needs a comprehensive approach to development, management, and monitoring to achieve the sector's sustainability. However, one of the most significant roadblocks to achieving tourism sustainability is the complexity of measuring the level of sustainability and its progress. This paper aims to understand the current situation of measuring tourism sustainability among Arab countries assessing their readiness to implement the UNWTO Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (UNWTO-MST). Data are collected from 14 countries, including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tunisia, and United Arab Emirates. The findings reveal a high level of awareness about the importance of sustainable tourism among tourism stakeholders as a tool for development in Arab countries. However, a few countries have developed Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA), and no country has compiled System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) tables so far. Indeed, the lack of these two statistical formworks represents a severe obstacle in measuring tourism sustainability through UNWTO-MST. Also, the assessment of datasets required for developing UNWTO-MST indicates a considerable gap in data availability, especially for social and environmental measures. The research suggests that Arab countries should follow a modular approach for the development of UNWTO-MST. According to the study's conclusions, a roadmap for implementing the UNWTO-MST MST in Arab countries is proposed.

DOI

10.21608/mjthr.2022.121429.1028

Keywords

sustainable tourism, Arab tourism, Tourism Satellite Accounts, environmental impacts of tourism

Authors

First Name

Ahmad

Last Name

Ragab

MiddleName

Muhammad

Affiliation

Faculty of Tourism and Hotels-Minia University- El Minia City-Egypt

Email

ahmad.ragab@mu.edu.eg

City

Minia

Orcid

0000-0002-1980-1057

Volume

13

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

29712

Issue Date

2022-01-01

Receive Date

2022-02-12

Publish Date

2022-01-01

Page Start

46

Page End

76

Print ISSN

2357-0652

Online ISSN

2735-4741

Link

https://mjthr.journals.ekb.eg/article_221771.html

Detail API

https://mjthr.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=221771

Order

3

Type

Original Article

Type Code

1,533

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Minia Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research MJTHR

Publication Link

https://mjthr.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST) in Arab Countries: Readiness Assessment

Details

Type

Article

Created At

23 Jan 2023