Cultural Tourism In Bahrain: Youth And Tour Guides

The Definition of Cultural Tourism

Question:

Discuss about the Empirical on Tourism and Economic Growth.

There is no uniform definition of tourism. It is more than just travel with pleasure. There are many subsets present in tourism and cultural or historical tourism is one of them. Cultural tourism concentrates on the cultural aspect of a country and defines the lifestyle of the country from the perspective of its arts, culture, architecture and other objectives (Mowforth and Munt 2015). The ultimate motto of cultural tourism is to present the cultural secret to others with an intention to make them aware and connect them with the tradition. The main criteria needed for the development of tourism is openness.

The Kingdom of Bahrain is able to firm their steps in the cultural tourism because of its openness. Bahrain is an Eastern Arabia region and popularly known for the cosmopolitanism and cultural ethics. Unity in diversity is the main attraction of Bahraini culture (Horner and Swarbrooke 2016). It is a historical place and it is important to promote the heritage to the current generation. This objective can be solved only with the involvement of the youths in the tourism industry. The youths should enrich their mind with the cultural heritage of Bahrain and therefore, proper education should be given to them. There are certain processes to involve the youth in the tourism industry. Cultural preservation can be absorbed by the youth by conducting public discussion and necessary action is needed for the active participation of the youth in the social and educational programme. Proper study and necessary awareness should be given to them and projects can be helpful to them (Hall and Page 2014). Capsule courses should be designed for the youths so that they can deliver the right cultural information to the tourists regarding the cultural heritage of the country. They should know how to respect the tangible and intangible heritage. The role of the environmental education is important to grow the cultural diversity among the youth and they will know how to save the heritages from the evil side of environment degradation (Kreishan 2015).

Bahrain is considered as the oasis of social liberalism. An ethnical diversity can be found among the people of Bahrain and unity in diversity is its major side. In Bahrain, different kinds of ethnic groups can be seen who have carried out the tradition of medieval culture (Elsahn, Aziz and Yacout 2016). The main two groups of Bahrain are the Shias and Sunnis. Bahrain has an old musical tradition of different “Gharana” and the poetic verses of Bahrain culture have been creating great impression in the mind of the tourists. The artistic skill of Bahraini citizen and the historical monuments are eye catching in nature. Every monument and architecture has its own stories and the youths should get them updated regarding those cultural stories.  

Cultural Tourism in the Kingdom of Bahrain

The creative thinking is always on demand in any types of business. Proper identification of the skills of the young tour guide is important in this case. They should be inspired so that they can contribute their mind to enrich the cultural tradition and enhance the cross-sectoral cooperation (Karolak 2014). The creativity power of the youth can be developed perfect recognition and proper learning. Well-equipped workplace and friendly atmosphere should be given to the youths so that they can interact effectively. The role of the non-formal education is necessary in this case, that will support the creation of the youth and teach them how to deal with the informal environment. The approach should be systematic and policy level should be construed in a uniform manner. Considering the effect of the non-formal teaching, the method is recognised as catalytic (Avraham 2015).

The role of the tour guide is very authentic as they provide service and assistance to the tourist to understand the peripheral culture and tradition of any country. Certain qualities and skills are necessary for becoming a perfect tour guide that could not be teach. Education will only provide a theoretical notion to the youth. The leadership is inherent in nature and therefore, proper skill is mandatory to become a good tour guide. Every tour guide is required to be friendly in nature and should have excellent knowledge on the current situation and the cultural diversity of destined country. The main job of a tour guide is to assist the tourists and connect them with the unknown culture and tradition. Therefore, they should have good communication skill and a strong personality (Bagaeen 2016). A leading tour guide has the ability to tell stories to impress the tourists. A good sense of humour is necessary for the tour guide and they should be punctual in nature. A good tour guide must consume the ability to help the tourists and should be updated regarding the local happenings.

Kingdom of Bahrain is a sovereign and independent Islamic region of the Persian Gulf. It has constitutional monarchy and independence can be seen in case of the judiciary. The tourism is one of the key attractions of Bahrain. It backs the economy of the country and therefore the government owes certain duties and responsibilities to the tour guide. The legislations of Bahrain have taken certain steps to secure the interest of the youth tour guide. The tour guides are required to obtain licence for their profession and they have to comply with the rules stated regarding the same.

Involvement of Youth in the Cultural Tourism Industry

According to Decree number 15 (1986) and resolution number 3 (2005), the licence holder must be of Bahraini nationality and should crack the University examination. Personality is one the most important criteria regarding a good tour guide. Therefore, the tour guide is required to be of clear personality and should not have any bad criminal record. The licence holder should be competent in nature that means they should achieve legal age. The most important objective of tourism is to assist the tourist regarding the place and therefore the tour guide should have a good knowledge regarding the history and cultural tradition of Bahrain and he should have to pass the written and verbal test. The Tourism and Exhibition Authority, Bahrain are conducting the test. The Labour law of Bahrain governs the waging system of any occupational entity. Therefore, tourism is also come under the purview of Labour law (Giousmpasoglou and Marinakou 2014). If any guiding youth has sustained injury while working can be compensated by the government. They have every right to take necessary steps to defend their interest. Article 15 of the Labour law has discussed with the occupational apprenticeship and provided necessary opportunities to the tour guides. The tour guides are getting certain benefits regarding the health issue as per Article (1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2015.

It is important to develop the quality of the tourism industry to compete with the other business. Tourism connects the whole world with the particular cultural out frame of the country. The government has adopted considering the importance of the tour guide for the development of the business, certain techniques. It is important to encourage them so that they can give their full effort in this business and reward system is one of main tactics. Rewards can be different types such as the financial reward and non-financial rewards. The main objective of reward is to attract the employees and improve their performance with the compliance of the necessary rules of Tourism (Ebrahim et al. 2017). Reward ensures the standard quality of work. It also inspired the youth tour guide to deliver creative thinking regarding the development of the business.

The reward approach is known as the cafeteria approach and certain intrinsic and extrinsic rewards are given to the tour guides. The reward system should not be limited to the compensation or remuneration. Facilities regarding the working hour, various job opportunities can come under the purview of the rewards. The tourism industry is a growing industry and therefore, there is high level of competition present in this business. Teamwork is needed for the overall development of the business and therefore, the employees and the other staffs of the tourism business should be encouraged in this case (Marinakou and Giousmpasoglou 2014). Reward system motivates the working capacity of the employees and salary opportunities, benefits create competitiveness among the service providers, and that leads the business towards prosperity.

Qualities of a Good Tour Guide

Competition is necessary regarding the growth and development of the business. Certain rules and policies should be implemented regarding the systematic approach of competitiveness. A logical sequence can be done by fulfilling six components such as attraction, access, activity, services, qualified personnel and promotion. According to World Trade Organisation, sustainable competition in the tourism can be possible by way of appropriate policies regarding cultural values, environmental resources and economic results. It should be bored in mind that the policies should not oppose the environmental resources and should maintain the biodiversity policies. Reward system is one of the appropriate policies. The prime objective of the policies is to develop the standard of business and create competitiveness among the service providers. However, the policies should not go against the society and ethics (Timothy 2017).

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs are responsible for the tourism in Bahrain. The ministry has been established by the decree of 1971 and has imposed with the responsibility to implement policies regarding the tourism and other international businesses. The policies are implemented to describe the vision and mission of the foreign policies. The nature of work done by the ministry is diplomatic and arranges the summits and meetings related to the work. There is no particular institution present in Bahrain to deal with the tourism business and Foreign affairs are responsible for it in general.

The tourism business is one of the growing businesses in the modern time and creates certain impacts on the society. The impacts can be categorised as economic and cultural. Balance between the impacts is necessary for the sustainable development and the impacts should be evaluating properly (AlSaqer 2017). The proper framework regarding the evaluation is Triple Bottom Line (TBL). The evaluation process of tourism consists of effective sustainable management and the base of the sustainability is depending on the economic, cultural and environmental impact. Tourism is one of the main businesses of Bahrain and therefore it creates impact on the economic policies of the country. However, there are certain problems that can be taken place in the economic sectors. There is a possibility that the tourism industry becomes fragmented and diversification in the economy becomes impossible. This situation can be resolved by way of strategic planning only. There are certain cultural effects too. It has been stated that the cultural background of Bahrain is rich and it has been witnessed of multi-culture. Bahrain is considered as the most liberal gulf region and the cultural framework of the country is attracting the international tourist since long (Ramady 2014). A mixed cultural civilisation can be found in Bahrain and the openness of Bahrain allows the tourists to be connected with the tradition of Bahrain. In this way, tourism creates impacts on the culture. Environmental sustainability of tourism is very important. It has been observed that the negative impacts of tourism affect the process of sustainability. Proper evaluation regarding this topic is necessary. The increasing rate of air pollution, land degradation and shortage water resources are certain negative impacts. Effective policies should be adopted to deal with these matters for the sustainable development of tourism (Dey 2014).

It has been observed that the Rule of Law in Bahrain has attempted to protect the business and the employees and enacted several legislations. The principle of the laws are followed the sovereignties. The Occupational legislations are helpful to secure the interest of the tour guide and regulated various provisions of tourism. Reasonable policies must be implemented to encourage the youths to join the tourism business and maintain sustainability regarding the business.

Reference:

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Avraham, E., 2015. Destination image repair during crisis: Attracting tourism during the Arab Spring uprisings. Tourism Management, 47, pp.224-232.

Bagaeen, S., 2016. Bahrain’s Tourism Development: What constitutes success?.

Dey, S., 2014. The Future of ‘Bahrainization’of Workforce: Challenges and Solutions.

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Giousmpasoglou, C. and Marinakou, E., 2014. Higher education hospitality programmes in Bahrain: Challenges and Opportunities.

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Timothy, D.J., 2017. 2 Tourism and geopolitics in the GCC region. International Tourism Development and the Gulf Cooperation Council States: Challenges and Opportunities, p.45.