4 – 7 April 2009, Amman, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Tourism is a well established phenomenon across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region and despite political instabilities it demonstrates remarkable resilience. As well as being a major economic force and a key driver for development, tourism is also an important mechanism for social exchange and identity building at both the individual and regional/national levels. Over recent years the rate of tourism development has increased substantively. Multi-national investments in hotels, resort complexes and infrastructure, together with major heritage conservation projects are catalysing significant social changes (such as shifting patterns of labour migration and the testing of ‘traditional’ values and practices), environmental changes (at the aesthetic level and in terms of physical change), and political changes (re-orientation of alliances and new globalised relationships).
