Over the past half-century, production from vast reserves of hydrocarbons has transformed the once destitute Persian Gulf monarchies into developed states with comfortable lifestyles. However, longstanding policies that stimulate energy demand in these states are diverting an ever-larger share of resource production into domestic markets, threatening the region’s chief export and biggest contributor to GDP. Five of these six sheikhdoms must soon choose between maintaining energy subsidies and sustaining exports. Rising domestic demand for natural gas, once considered nearly free, has already forced some states to shift to higher-cost resources, including imports. For now, governments have absorbed these costs and insulated consumers from higher prices. This practice only intensifies the pressure on exportable resources. As hydrocarbon production reaches a plateau, domestic consumption will gradually displace exports. Politically difficult reforms that moderate consumption can therefore extend the longevity of exports, and perhaps, the regimes themselves.
Starting at years 2010 and 2011, the Arab Spring uprisings altered the landscape of the Mediterranean region. Domestic and external shocks mixed together to worsen the socio-economic situation of many countries in the area. In this context, the tourism industry has shown an important degree of resilience. In Southern Mediterranean European countries remarkable growth of tourism revenues helped to balance the impact of the global financial crisis. In contrast, in the south shore of the Mediterranean, the North of Africa region, the growing instability have resulted in a dramatic drop in the number of international visitors, exacerbating the impact of the global crisis for countries highly dependent on tourism receipts. The first chapter of this research project presents a brief overview on the performance of the tourism industry in the Mediterranean region in recent years. Egypt and Spain are taken as reference case studies, helping to illustrate the way followed by the tourism and hospitality industry since the beginning of the transition process. In the second chapter we propose a marketing mix model in order to improve the conditions of workers and efficiency of the hospitality industry in the transition process, testing the model for the Egyptian case. In the third chapter we provide evidence on changes taking place in the profile of tourists arriving to Spain as our case of analysis, and investigate how these changes have been affecting the level of expenditure and economic sustainability for the tourism sector from a microeconomic perspective.