Responsible Tourism in Bahrain

Abstract

The tourism industry has become one of the most considerable economic sectors in the world. Gulf countries, especially Bahrain, included tourism as one of the most important exports that will help to diversify the country's Gross National Product (GNP), dependence on oil exporting only. However, little research has been done to highlight the driving factors of tourism and its impact on economic and cultural development, or focused on ways to outweigh these negatives through a cautionary management of tourism and increasing tourist willingness to pay. This paper is a behavior oriented study that investigates and explains the perceptions and preferences of responsible tourists toward selected tourism sites in Bahrain. It is structured in threefold: first, it reviews the historical development of tourism in Bahrain; second, it presents the research approach and the selection of the analyzed sites; third, it presents the findings concerning tourists' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, tourism participation rates, and perceptions toward responsible tourism. Data were collected by means of questionnaire interviews. 844 questionnaires were analyzed. Findings demonstrated the importance of the tourists' concerns in the planning process of tourism sites.