1.0 Introduction

Event management is the professional practice devoted to the planning, designing, management and production of festivals, planned events and activities such as recreation, scientific, political and state, sport and arts events, entertainment, corporate affairs (conventions, meetings, exhibitions and fairs) and activities for those in the private domain (weddings and parties, rites of passage). Events are different based on their program and purpose (Getz 2008). Planned events are unique due to the interaction between people, management system and setting. To unique things about events is that one has to be there to enjoy the experience. The flourishing tourism in UAE has led to the introduction of events tourism. These are events dedicated to tourists who travel purposely for specific events and those who attend different events while away from home. Event tourism is viewed from the elements of supply and demand (Higgins-Desbiolles 2018). The demand side approach looks at who travels for events and who attends events while traveling. The supply-side approach looks at promoting events to meet specific goals.

The flourishing tourism in UAE has greatly affected the development in the event industry. However, not much has been by researchers to identify ways in which tourism has led to the development of the event management industry. There is need to identify the different ways through which tourism contributes to the development of event management such as increased employment, creativity and innovation. With the increased tourism, event managers are working hard to attract more tourists to events. With the flourishing tourism in UAE, events management companies are employing more people to meet the demand side as well as coming up with innovative and creative ways of promoting events to achieve specific goals. Such knowledge can be employed in the development of other sectors of the economy.

1.1 Aim

The major aim of this study is to establish ways in which the flourishing tourism in UAE has contributed to the development of event management.

1.2 Objectives

The major objectives of the study are

• To demonstrate how the flourishing tourism has helped in the creation of employment in the event management industry.
• To show how an increase in tourism is leading to creativity and development in event management.
• To show how tourism leads to the introduction of new destinations as this creates a huge opportunity for the growth of event management

2.0 Literature Review

In recent times, the Middle East has become one of the fastest growing tourist destinations. Since the start of the 21^st century, the region has experienced a 10% growth in international tourists which is high than most of the regions in the world (Sharpley 2008). The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which is a federation made up of seven independent emirates has received the highest growth in tourists arrivals. Historically, the UAE has been dependent on the extraction and exploitation of natural resources such as hydrocarbons for economic development (Ross 2001). However, with fluctuating oil prices, the region decided to decrease their high dependency on fluctuating oil prices and diversified. This put the idea of tourism as the core of economic development in the region. The city of Dubai, in particular, has experienced rapid growth as a tourist’s destination. Forty years ago, the city-state was among the least developed countries in the world, but today, it is widely acknowledged as among the highest international destinations for tourists (Abedand Hellyer 2001)

In the early 1980s, Dubai relied heavily on oil production, which accounted for more than two-thirds of the GDP. Tourism was mainly limited to business travels, and in 1985, the country received only 422,000 tourists. With the declining oil prices, there was a positive attempt to diversify the economy and focus more on tourism. Since the 1990s, the tourism sector has developed greatly (WTO 2000). The arrivals grew at a high rate from 620,000 in the 1990s to 2.5 million by the end of the century and by 2005, the numbers were as high as 6.1 million. This subsequently increased other elements such as accommodation and dependence of the economy on tourism (Lis 2009).

The flourishing growth in tourism has given rise to event tourism. This is the methodical preparation, development, and marketing of special events and festivals as tourist attractions. The spread of events has led to the creation of an event industry with key players such as suppliers, practitioners and professional associations. Special events are organised for tourists who travel purposely for such events and for those who attend events while travelling. With the increased number of tourists in UAE, event management companies have become creative and innovative in capturing the attention of tourists through events (Henderson 2006). From the public, special, a hallmark to mega-events, the idea of event organising has grown in the UAE. Events organised for the sake of satisfying the needs of the tourists and attracting more tourist accrue benefits to the economy and the society. As argued by Omoregie (2012), planned events lead to the creation of jobs and economic development for the community.

Tourism is a major driver of events and is significant in the growth of events. It is agreeable that different major events commonly give a boost to the event industry and value of tourism. Any category of the planned event has an underlying aspect of tourism, but big events are dominant in the growth of event tourism. The growth of event tourism in UAE has contributed to the development of events management organisations and companies with the aim of cultivating tourism (Sutton 2016). However, once tourism flourishes as the case of UAE, sustainability becomes an issue. To ensure that the high rates of tourists are sustained, events are organised as a tourist’s attraction. Thus, different organisations and bodies organise events in a timely manner to attract tourists.

Sharpley (2008), the lack of products and facilities for leisure tourism led to the investment in attractions, accommodation and specific events. Most of the tourist’s attractions sites in UAE are constructed attractions such as malls, hotels, skyscrapers and others (Khan et al. 2017). Thus, for the sustainability of the flourishing tourism, event organisers ensure that different events are organised to keep the tourists entertained. As more tourists visit the region, more events are organised to meet the high demand. This contributes to the increased employment in the event organising industry as well economic development for the region. The tourism in Dubai thrives solely on constructed destinations as opposed to natural attractions.

In the spirit of competition, most of the investors have chosen to construct tourist’s attractions in UAE. Through innovative designs and structures, several high-end hotels and malls have been constructed in the region purposely for tourists’ attraction. The flourishing tourism in the region has thus has led to the introduction of many destinations. The increased destinations mean increased events for events to be managed. The competitive nature of the tourist’s destinations makes events organisations a requirement for most of the destinations (Wise and Harris 2017). In addition, it easier to attract return employees with events rather than with malls. One has to experience the event to benefit from it, which means events are a major attraction for return tourists (Anwar and Sohail 2004).

In a study of the Dubai Shopping Festival event that is organized in Dubai city every year, Vel, Suhail and Dokhan (2014) found that the event has increased the number of tourists arriving in Dubai. The planning of the event is done by several parties including data support centres, external research companies, government partners, marketing research agencies and PR agencies. All these parties benefit one or the from the event. The event is organised to attract the high number of tourists visiting Dubai every year. To make the event colourful and attracting, the organisers have to be creative and innovative. Again, many parties are employed in the process of planning and delivery. In the end, the benefits accrued from the events benefit the community in terms of economic development from revenue and increased employment (Zaidan 2016).

It is evident from research that the flourishing tourism in UAE has led to the development of event management in terms of increased employment, creativity and innovation and the introduction of new destinations, which creates huge opportunities for event management (Govers, Go and Kumar 2007). The number of event management companies situated in Dubai both local and international is proof that the event management industry has benefited greatly from the flourishing tourism. Tourism and vent management benefit each other in that events attract more tourists increasing the number of tourists. Again, the increased number of tourists attracts more events for sustainability. Thus, the flourishing tourism industry ensures that event management is sustainable in UAE. Events in UAE are organised purposely for tourists, which indicates that the lack of tourists would negatively affect event management. Both tourism and event management sustain each other and have an inverse relationship meaning that growth in one leads to a development in the other one.

3.0. Research methodology

3.1 Research philosophy

The research philosophy is the belief about the management of data in a study. The data management encompasses the collection, analyses and use of data (Crossan 2003). The different research philosophies are encompassed by two parameters, which are ontology and epistemology. The ontology describes the view of the researcher on the nature of reality as created in mind. It thus focuses on what is believed to be true by the mind; epistemology, on the other hand, is the theory of knowledge, which has a distinction between beliefs and opinions (Klakegg 2016). It thus focuses on what is kwon to be true or the reality on the ground (Flowers 2009). Today, researchers employ two major research philosophies including positivism and interpretivism. Those in support of positivism argue that reality remains constant and one can observe and describe it without meddling with the research phenomenon. On the other hand, Interpretivists agree that to understand the reality; there is a need for subjective intervention and interpretation of reality. Thus, the key to interpretive philosophy is the study of a phenomenon in its normal environment (Mackenzie and Knipe 2006).

This study will employ the interpretivist philosophy. The researcher is trying to understand how the flourishing tourism has helped event management to develop in terms of increased employment, creativity and innovation. The research has to bring in the personal interpretation of the research phenomenon without assuming anything (Saunders et al. 2015). To understand how tourism has led to the development of event management, the researcher has to conduct a subjective interpretation of the reality on the ground. The researcher cannot manipulate the reality on the ground but can interpret it in its natural environment.

3.2 Data collection

There are two major approaches to data collection including qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative approach is concerned with the exploration with the aim of understanding the underlying reasons, motivations and opinions (Amaratunga et al. 2002). This approach helps in the development of hypothesis and ideas, which can then be tested quantitatively. Qualitative data is collected in a numeric form such as videos, images, interview transcripts, field notes and audio recordings (Nardi 2018). It is also significant in the uncovering of trends in thoughts, actions, opinions and nosedives deeper into the research phenomenon. On the other hand, the quantitative approach quantifies a research phenomenon using numerical data, which can be analysed statistically. It quantifies the research variables and generalizes the results for the sample population. The results for the sample populations are said to be representative of the whole population. The quantitative approach employs measurable data to convey facts that help build theories in research. Data is collected through questionnaires, surveys, observations among others.

In this study, the researcher will use the qualitative data collection approach. The researcher aims at understanding the underlying ways in which the flourishing tourism has led to the development of event management. The development of event management cannot be quantified which makes qualitative more appropriate. The secondary data collection method will be employed where information will be sourced from secondary sources in government reports, books, journals and other academic sources.  The qualitative method is advantageous in that it provides a detailed and rich picture of the research phenomenon (Smith 2015). It creates openness, avoids pre-judgements, provides details and depth and simulates experiences. However, it is disadvantageous in that it studies few people, is very dependent on the researcher skills and it is difficult to generalize (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015).

3.3 Data analysis

The qualitative data will be analyzed through a process of identifying relationships, themes and patterns (Graue 2015). By using analytical skills as well as critical thinking, the researcher will identify patterns and relationships in data and information from secondary sources and synthesis such data to generate a new theory explaining how the flourishing tourism has affected event management. By analyzing content by using templates and thematic, the researcher will generate information to justify the conclusions made.

3.4 Ethics

Ethics in research provides the guidelines to ensure the researcher is responsible. There are several principles that will be observed by the researcher to ensure that the research meets ethical standards. One of the principles is confidentiality. Personal information collected from research participants has to be kept confidential and cannot be accessed by parties outside the research project (Aguinis and Henle 2002). Again, every participant will have the right to withdraw from the study at any time in that the participation is voluntary and not a requirement. Since secondary sources of data will be the major sources of data, all data and information extracted from others sources will be acknowledged appropriately (Resnik 2015). In the analysis of data, sensitive data will not be disclosed. The researcher will also remain neutral in the analysis of data and only report what was found and not what was perceived.

Structure of final work

The final work will have five chapters including the Introduction, literature review, methodology, data analysis and conclusion. The introduction chapter will offer a background of the study including the aim and objectives of the study. The literature review section will include the review of other studies done earlier on the topic and will generate theories. Chapter 3 will cover the research methodology employed in the undertaking of the. This will include the data collection and analysis methods employed as well as the research philosophy. Chapter 4 will cover the presentation of the data collected and the results from analysis of such data. Chapter 5 will end the study by providing the conclusion as well as recommendations for future studies. This chapter also highlights the major findings of the data analyzed in chapter 4.

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