Religious Tolerance and Tourism: The UAE Case

This research aims to explore the UAE efforts to promote tourism focusing on the role of religious tolerance. It discusses the link between the UAE religious tolerance and tourism arguing that religious tolerance positively influences promoting inbound tourism. Using the theory of religious tolerance, the results show that: (1) the UAE uses its unique religious tolerance policy as a tool to promote tourism; (2) UAE’s religious tolerance initiatives and projects include strengthening local conditions that create a welcoming environment to attract foreign tourists; (3) the results also demonstrate, for the first time, the importance of religious tolerance in the context of the UAE’s efforts to boosts tourism. This carries important policy implications that religious tolerance can play a major tool used by Muslim nations to brand themselves as an attractive tourism destination.