To fulfill the aim of this thesis, this researcher set specific goals to meet each of the following three objectives. To accomplish the purposes purported by this thesis, this researcher specifically "set aside" particular times, with predetermined questions to keep study objectives a primary focus.

One aspect of this thesis' focus is reflected by the maps presented earlier during this chapter, starting with distant, indistinct view of Qatar. Each figure, albeit, reveals a bit more of the region. The closer the inspection, the more one "sees." The same proves trued of the process of developing this thesis. Initially, the view of this study's focus appeared a bit distant.

With each segment of time invested, however, and closer inspections of researched material, the "view" became more distinct.

Objective One:

To thoroughly research and investigate Qatar per se, and identify challenges that confront Qatar in its quest to become a primary tourist destination.

Does Qatar currently posses potential to compete for the tourist "trade"? To complete research answering this and other question for this thesis, this researcher selected, sorted, and sifted through a minimum of 40 sources to secure information relevant to tourist development strategy and policy in Qatar. As this researcher explored current challenges confronting Qatar, more and more concerns relating to one primary "threat," terrorism began to unveiled.

Objective Two:

Explore tourism in Dubai and Kuwait and compare with tourism in Qatar.

For this objective, this researcher compared similarities Qatar possess to ones in Dubia and Kuwait, as well as, noted differences between Qatar and Dubai and Kuwait.

Objective Three:

Explore Qatar's current tourist development strategy, and examine two books:

Tourism Public Policy and the Strategic Management of Failure by William Kerr, Pergamon and the Competitive Destination - a Sustainable Tourism Perspective by J.R.Brent Ritchie and Geoffrey I. Croucah.

Objective Four:

Identify WTO and the NTO and the functions they perform in the UAE; also explain how foreign inversion is being facilitated in Qatar.

Objective Five:

Utilize the Following Epigrams, Which Introduce Each Chapter of Thesis, to Lead into Analysis of Information Retrieved During Research Process.

Chapter I.:

Notable Obstacles to Seducing Foreigners [tourists to Qatar]... [include] the 100-degree-plus heat in summer the conservative Islamic climate

Alcohol is banned almost everywhere.... terrorism has reared its head..." (Sherwood, 2006)

Chapter II.:

Tourism is commonsensical, utilitarian, safe, and social, that gregarious passion,' the traveler Patrick Leigh Fermor calls it, which destroys the object of its love.'

Not self-directed but externally enticed, as a tourist you go not where your own curiosity beckons but where the industry decrees you shall go."

Paul Fussell (Columbia, 1996)

Chapter III.:

The strategy is to position Qatar in niche markets such as medical, sports, stop-over and education tourism.

Qatar is really not interested in the mass-market side of the business and it will be its world-class hotels and resorts that will help attract high-end newcomers in the long run." (Nash, 2007)

Chapter IV.:

Tourism performances, sights and sites communicate more than 'truth' about a 'real' culture." (Lacy, 2002)

Chapter V:

One act of terrorism and all the tourism goes away." (Qatar Airways, 2007).

In contrast to real and pseudo notions purported about Qatar at the start of this study, one promoter of tourism in Qatar writes: "The sand dunes of the south have the rare distinction of being one of the few places on Earth where the desert meets the sea. By day, the area is a paradise of colour (sic), shade and form. At night, the lights and flares of the distant oil-processing town of Mesaieed, viewed from a dune summit, are unforgettable." ("Visiting Qatar: Everything You," 2004)

Unforgettable...."

This researcher suggests that the word, "unforgettable," could also aptly describe the myriad of components circulating in and around concepts relating to tourism in Qatar. The next chapter of this thesis reminds this researcher and others, open to nuggets of truths mined from both negative and positive data/information, that when one examines "advertisements" and takes a closer look at something or someplace to "see" for him/herself, a widow into a new world of knowledge opens.

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

Tourism is commonsensical, utilitarian, safe, and social, that gregarious passion,' the traveler Patrick Leigh Fermor calls it, which destroys the object of its love.'

Not self-directed but externally enticed, as a tourist you go not where your own curiosity beckons but where the industry decrees you shall go."

Paul Fussell (Columbia, 1996)

Significance...

Along with searching for answers for the following three research questions, presented in the introduction for this thesis, this researcher also explores related a number of other tourist related concerns, as well as, compares components of Dubai and Kuwait. Information regarding the WTO and the NTO is also examined in this chapter. (NEED to ADD THIS) Recap of Research questions:
What challenges confront tourist destinations?

Does Qatar currently posses potential to compete for the tourist "trade"?

What currently available tourist development strategy and policy could best challenge Qatar, yet potentially contribute to its development into a positive, popular, prestigious tourist destination?

This review of researched literature proves vital to this study as it presents a myriad of information relating to the focus of the study, as this researcher seeks to answer the research questions and consequently contribute recommendations regarding Qatar's tourism quest. As noted during the introduction, this researcher delved into more than 40 sources, which included a number of scholarly journals, books, magazine articles, newspaper articles, and web sites. A number of the web sites consulted for information directly related to tourism, while others were sponsored by government entities. This researcher also utilized Questia, an online library, and Google Books for a sizeable number of resources.

2.2 Qatar

The World Fact Book," 2007)

Ruled by the al-Thani family since the mid-1800s, Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Qatari economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning off of petroleum revenues by the amir, who had ruled the country since 1972. His son, the current Amir HAMAD bin Khalifa al-Thani, overthrew him in a bloodless coup in 1995. In 2001, Qatar resolved its longstanding border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Oil and natural gas revenues enable Qatar to have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. ("The World Fact Book," 2007)

During its quest to position itself into a popular tourist destination (Dew, Shoult, and Wallace, 2002, p, 28), in the interim, Qatar has to contend with some notable obstacles to seducing foreigners. One: the 100-degree-plus summer heat could deter some visitors. Although non-Islamic women do not have to veil themselves, the modest dress requirement could detour some tourists in Qatar's conservative Islamic climate. For the tourists who drink alcohol, Sherwood (2006) reports, "they might have trouble getting a beer. Alcohol is banned almost everywhere except hotels." Sherwood (2006; "Advent of Terrorism," 2005) notes that the threat of terrorism may detour tourist travel to Qatar. He reports: "...though Doha is generally considered quite safe, terrorism has reared its head: a suicide attack on an English-language amateur theater company last year killed one person and wounded more than a dozen."

Five times a day, the Muslim call to prayer echoes through the mazelike passageways of Souk Waqif in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Projected from slender minarets that dot Doha, a low-lying white city along the Persian Gulf, the warbling, ages-old Arabic invocation reverberates through stalls selling everything from traditional khanjar daggers to baby strollers. When it arrives, merchants in long, white gutras and checkered headdresses kneel toward Mecca and pray.

Lately, however, the call to prayer has been competing with a much more modern sound, one that heralds a bold new direction for this languid city of 400,000: the sound of construction. Lots of it.

According to the Qatar Tourism Authority, more than 100 buildings and towers are going up in Doha, whose modest skyline is currently punctuated by about two dozen high-rises. Cranes fill the hot sky. Skeletal hotels, resorts and financial centers ring Doha Bay. And from every corner, a symphony of earth-moving equipment and power tools hums the theme of one of the world's richest countries (as measured by gross domestic product per capita) striving to become a world-class business and leisure center. (Sherwood, 2006)

Figure 10: Doha Skyline with Buildings and Towers Going Up With a Traditional Dhow Traveling Across Doha Bay. (Sherwood, 2006)

Qatar is rapidly changing," (Sherwood, 2006) Nick Bashkiroff, development director for Qatar's leading construction firm, United Development Company, states.

Qatar's plans for international recognition include construction of, but is not limited to the following tourists' attractions:

The Pearl, a $2.5 billion, 985-acre artificial island loaded…