Yemen: tourism and a tribal-Marxist dichotomy

Tourism in the Middle East is experiencing expansion due to the Middle East peace process and the economic advantages of tourism. However, in the region there are also significant political and cultural constraints to the development of tourism. Yemen has historically been divided into North and South Yemen until the reunification in 1990. Tourism still bears the imprint of this division in terms of its organization, provision of resources and developments. Planning for tourism in Yemen is attempting to reconcile these past divisions and also to manage the growth of tourism in environmentally and culturally sensitive and vulnerable areas. This paper provides an analysis of tourism in Yemen in the mid 1990s, based on fieldwork visits by the authors.