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.

About the Author

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.

Reviews

'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

'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

Book Information
ISBN 9780367547141
Author Siamak Seyfi
Format Paperback
Page Count 260
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g