This study compares tourism models of five Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, UAE). It assesses to what degree each of these countries has managed to create a distinctive place identity and whether these identities are competitive enough to secure a flow of international tourists in the future. Creation of place identity takes place through the use of text combined with signs and images to add meaning to destinations, explain the destinations or the experience tourists can expect there. Using the method of content analysis and critical discourse analysis, this research brings new evidence to the study of semiotics in tourism in general. Furthermore, by pointing out tourism strategy gaps, this research provides recommendations on improvement of such strategies adopted by each of the GCC countries analyzed and for the region overall.