Department of Tourism and Culture – Abu Dhabi: transforming the desert into a city
Publication date: 18 January 2019
Abstract
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available upon request.
Learning outcomes
The purpose of this paper is to enable tourism management and strategic management students to evaluate and analyze tourism activities in the United Arab Emirates by TCA. Students will gain a comprehensive understanding of developing tourism in rural areas in the United Arab Emirates and to build up proper strategies. They will be able to perform the organization’s competitive standing using Porter’s Five competitive forces and analyze its business strategies as well. They will be able to analyze the current status of the organization using SWOT analysis and to design alternative strategies for the company using TOWS analysis.
Case overview/synopsis
The Department of Tourism and Culture – Abu Dhabi, also known as the TCA, is a governmental tourism authority in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi established 14 years ago as part of an economy-diversifying strategy for the non-oil era. The TCA is responsible of creating tourism activities to generate new tourists in Abu Dhabi, which will increase the revenue of the authority and as well increase the gross domestic product of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) economy. Tourism activities have been focused on Abu Dhabi City as is it considered the capital city of the UAE. However, other cities are also part of this strategy, e.g. Al Ain City, which is located in the eastern region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and Al Dhafra City, which is located in the western region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, both of which lack the required infrastructure, population, and tourism activity, due in part at least to the fact that the TCA’s strategy plans have been focused on Abu Dhabi City. Sultan Al Mutawa Al Dhaheri (Al Dhaheri), the TCA’s Executive Director of Tourism, has been responsible for developing tourism in Al Ain City and Al Dhafra, but due to the current situation of the two cities regarding the low revenue growth (and the consequent lack of investors willing to invest) and no critical mass (i.e. a sufficient number of hotel rooms available), Al Dhaheri is facing a dilemma regarding achieving TCA strategy in Al Ain City and Al Dhafra City.
Complexity academic level
This case study will be useful for undergraduate and postgraduate level students majoring in Tourism and Hospitality Management, Business Administration and Strategic Management.
Subject code
CSS 12: Tourism and Hospitality.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Sultan Al Dhaher, the Executive Director of the Department of Tourism and Culture Abu Dhabi (TCA), for sharing knowledge and expertise and allowing access to the organization’s information. The authors would like to acknowledge their contribution in the published case.
Disclaimer. This case is written solely for educational purposes and is not intended to represent successful or unsuccessful managerial decision-making. The authors may have disguised names; financial and other recognizable information to protect confidentiality.
Citation
Al Dhaheri, M.H. and Ahmad, S.Z. (2019), "Department of Tourism and Culture – Abu Dhabi: transforming the desert into a city", , Vol. 9 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/EEMCS-08-2018-0185
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited