It's the ultimate question in today's Middle East: Can development bring stability to the region? At the 2008 Condé Nast Traveler World Savers Congress, contributing editor Susan Hack hosted a panel discussion on the Middle East and tourism's impact. What follows is the entire transcript.

Moderator:
Susan Hack, Conde Nast Traveler
Speakers:
Malia Asfour, Head of Jordan Tourism Board for North America
Mounir Neamattalla, Finance Expert, Egypt
Lyndall DeMarco, Executive Director, International Tourism Partnership
Gerald Lawless, Executive Chairman, Jumeirah Group

To my far left is Lyndall deMarco, Executive Director of the International Tourism Partnership, which is an organization that works with the Prince of Wales, and she has been coordinating youth career initiatives in the Middle East and other countries and will be talking about her work in Jordan.

To my right I have Gerald Lawless, who is a longtime resident of Dubai, and who has been both a witness and a participant in that emirate's remarkable growth. He is the executive chairman of the Jumeirah Hotel Group, as well as a member of the board of Dubai Holding.

And finally, Mounir Neamattalla from Cairo is a microfinance expert, and he has pioneered a tourism and social initiative in Siwa Oasis and has taken a very unique and different path from many of the hotel developers in Egypt.

We're glad to have all of you here today. Thank you.

Her Majesty Queen Rania has eloquently described the diversity, creativity, and remarkable growth of tourism in the Middle East. Despite all of the headlines that we see in the region, tourism has been a force for job creation in the region. It has had growth for the last 10 years, often in double-digit figures. We are seeing remarkable hotel projects across the region in Dubai but also as far west as Morocco, and when we in this country look at the negative headlines it's in a sharp contrast to what you see in the region itself and the confidence that Arabs and Arab investors are showing in their own home countries.

When you look at Abu Dhabi, we've talked about the billions of dollars being invested there in green cities and hotels. Tomorrow in Dubai I think there's a new hotel opening on one of the palm-shaped islands. It's, I think, a billion-dollar investment, and already they've announced a $1.5 billion expansion. And that almost seems like small change when you hear about the $100 billion that a country like Qatar is investing in hotel development.

You have to admit, though, that the Middle East is a region with many problems. The 22 countries, the Arab-speaking countries, face many of the same core challenges and hurdles to development that include young populations that are hungry for jobs and education. There is a lack of equal opportunity for women. You have conflict and occupation in Iraq and the West Bank, which produces conflicts that can spill over and have consequences in other countries. And above all, you have a search for identity that often combines a longing for modernity with the desire not to compromise on tradition and religious values.