Editorial


Lesley Pocock
Editor and Publisher
Email: lesleypocock@mediworld.com.au

Two of our feature articles this issue focus on the UAE.

Lawrence Tai provides an erudite overvew of investment in the UAE. The objectives of this paper are to identify the general practices of individual and professional investors regarding investment analysis in the United Arab Emirates and to investigate the existence of an association between the time horizon and the relative importance of the techniques that individual and professional investors use for investment analysis. The results indicate that individual investors and professional investors tend to agree on the level of importance of factors predicting stock prices in the short term, the level of importance of factors predicting stock prices in the long term, and the level of importance of factors in constructing stock portfolios. However, they tend to disagree on the degree of importance of factors in stock valuation, the level of importance of factors predicting stock prices, the degree of use of profit-based measures, the degree of use of market value-based measures, the degree of use of discounted cash flow measures, and the degree of use of technical indicators.Another paper looks at Tourism in Dubai.Dubai, along with Abu Dhabi and other Middle East countries are experiencing a tourism boom, despite the disruptions of the ‘Arab Spring’. In 2010, there were over 940 million international tourist arrivals in Dubai, with a growth of 6.6% as compared to 2009. International tourism receipts grew to US $19 billion in 2010, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 4.7%.

Dubai has emerged as an important tourist destination in the global tourism map. The region has become an epicenter of attraction for business people, tourists and shoppers.The revival of the sector could be attributed to various factors. The market has witnessed correction with the emergence of budget airlines and budget hotels in the region that has helped balance the tourist mix. The growth has been to a great extent driven mostly by tourists from the GCC, China and the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) sectors.

A paper from Iran offers an excellent approach to effective modern teaching methods, particularly Small Group Teaching (SGT), to elicit the best response from scholars, and will serve as a handy guide for all those involved in aspects of education.