Title: Tourism development in Kuwait: examining the political-economic challenges in a unique rentier economy

Authors: Cody Morris Paris; Belisa Marochi; Simon Rubin

Addresses: Middlesex University Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates; University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa ' Middlesex University Dubai Dubai, United Arab Emirates ' Freelance Tourism Researcher, USA

Abstract: This article explores the challenges Kuwait faces to develop tourism due to the particularly unique political-economic system of popular rentierism. Kuwait's tourism industry is relatively underdeveloped in comparison to other Gulf Cooperation Council countries and has not received much attention by tourists, policy-makers, and scholars. This study provides both a macro-level analysis of the political economic obstacles to tourism development in Kuwait and the more micro-level challenges that have resulted, particularly in relation to proposed mega-development projects. While insights from this study are useful for understanding the role of tourism in the rentier economies, this study also further theorises tourism within the field of international relations and political economy and shows how tourism development is of particular importance for public diplomacy in the current global arena.

Keywords: popular rentierism; Arabian Gulf; tourism development; oil-economy; political economy; diplomacy; diversification; tourism policy; oil-crisis; GCC; Kuwait.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDIPE.2017.088843

International Journal of Diplomacy and Economy, 2017 Vol.3 No.4, pp.301 - 315

Received: 22 Aug 2016
Accepted: 19 Dec 2016
Published online: 20 Dec 2017 *

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