Tourism Competitiveness in Qatar: Tourists’ Perspectives

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to develop an evidence-based integrated model of destination competitiveness and apply it to the case of Qatar, given that the country has faced a recent blockade and growing competition from destinations in neighboring countries, such as Oman and Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey. From the perspective of visitors’ experiences, a questionnaire based on the Dwyer-Kim integrated model of destination competitiveness is deployed to identify the determinants of tourism performance in Qatar. These determinants were then ranked based on their degree of contribution to tourism performance. The results show that the highest-ranked determinants related to core resources, especially heritage-based artistic and architectural features, such as historic sites and traditional arts and culture. In contrast, natural resources-such as national parks, wildlife, and nature-based activities-were among the lowest-ranked determinants. The findings offer some strategies through which Qatar can improve its level of tourism competitiveness.