UGI2011
Santiago, Chili
Distribution and Characteristics of Touristic
Attractions and their Role in Saudi Arabia’s
Tourism Industry Development
Dr.Badr Adel AL-Faqeer
King Saud University
Riyadh,Saudi Arabia
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ABSTRACT
Due to the growing importance of tourism sector in enhancing the gross domestic product(GDP) for
many world countries and the consequent resources development and provision of employment
opportunities, Saudi Arabia in order to implement provisions of development plans, took the
initiative by establishing the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA) IN 2000 which
was assigned with the mission of transforming tourism from just unorganized social and
entertainment events to an industry that has integrated organization and elements at the national
level which would make tourism holding great expectations reflected in the ideal investment of
available tourism resources under the umbrella of values protection and environment preservation
especially that the statistical indicators are showing a flourishing touristic activity , so in 2008 the
inbound tourism trips were about 15 million ( 42% were for religious motivations) and the amount
of expenditure on these trips was about USD 10 billions while domestic tourism trips (citizens and
expats)about 29million,with expenditure of about USD 10.1 billions whereas the outbound tourism
trips were 4 million in which tourists spent about USD3.5 billions .these statistics of inbound and
outbound tourism are very weak in regard of the heavy physical and human attractions resources
owned by Saudi Arabia. To describe and analyze this touristic richness , systems method is adopted
which outlays the perspective generality of tourism as a system consisting of three basic proactive
components , that are place, market and travel and the geographical method that achieves the
approach specialty to tourism through personification of tourism character of place or the
phenomenon, identifying the touristic activity type , its weight and its interactions with others via
both the physical and human aspects depending on geographical facts , service of each of the two
mentioned methods will be achieved by various quantitative, mapping and drawing devices.
And based on that this paper attempts to employ and direct the tourism physical and humans
elements to promote tourism process by identifying of its signposts and encasing them inside
advanced touristic framework through two major divisions.
The first division represents the system of touristic physical resources which are rich with various
wealth , temptations and attractions that may play a vital role besides touristic aspect . location is the
cornerstone of effective touristic marketing whether the general location that is central to old world
within the international main cores of land, marine and air transport and its regional location
especially of Gulf Cooperation Council states ,that are one of the origins of outbound tourists and
neighboring countries which are reputable for tourism activities that can be cooperated with them in
a joint tourism product such as Egypt and Jordan.
Although the kingdom climate is generally a tropical, hot and dry, yet its extension from north to
south and vastness of area and variety of its landscape that give its different regions some detailed
qualities that enhance promoting different patterns of touristic activities all over the year.
Whereas the longstanding and complicated geological history of the kingdom’s land contributed to
amazing richness of aspects of surface that provide artistic sceneries , fresh air, flora and fauna
wildlife in high mountains, dormant volcanoes, extended plateaus ,the long deep valleys the vast
sand seas ,desert, volcanic and marine caves, long shores and dispersed isles.
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Vast, diversified and unique human touristic resources are available in Saudi Arabia and can be
classified into two kinds :
first, the cultural tourist resources which eloquently reflect interaction between people and their
environment throughout the successive course of civilizations and they include : attractions,
archeological sites that go back to stone ages, pre-Islamic era, Islamic era and contemporary time as
well as that they include people’s lifestyles, their living and their festivals exemplified in traditional
architecture that records the living memory , civilization depth, people’s skills and cultural
diversity ,crafts and classical handicrafts that express identify, authenticity, civilization symbols and
the intelligent interaction with local raw materials and all types of historical, natural and popular
museums and cultural art festivals and popular meals( cuisine)that can produce international meals
with local materials and flavor.
second, group of facilities, tourist services which are available in both quantity and quality. so if
physical and cultural attractions tempt tourists to decide visiting a destination , preparation of basic
infrastructure of roads and transportation , communication, electricity, water and drainage that
provide quick and secure accessibility of tourists arrival making their stay enjoyable and
comfortable whereas tourist facilities and services such as hotels, furnished apartments, restaurants ,
coffee shops . shopping malls, travel and tourism agencies and tourist guidance which are allotted
to provide distinct hospitality services that grant tourists feeling of security and welcome and
services credibility that achieve pleasure for tourists and completing their experience and yield
economic gains.
What I have mentioned above shows that Saudi Arabia ownership of tourism elements that grant it
privacy and preparation for great touristic developments due to richness of its resources as land and
culture are full of attractions elements that will establish unique traditional and modern tourist
products as to quality, significance and attraction, so to access necessary investment for the potential
tourist inventory in Saudi Arabia, we should function in three domains: the social domain in order to
achieve tourists satisfaction, the environmental domain so as to preserve and protect cultural and
environmental resources under the umbrella of sustainable tourism and finally the economic field
aiming at to maximization of enough financial profitability.
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First; Natural Resources: the environment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is rich in various
physical attractions that can play significant roles in tourism polarization through multiple elements
such as location, physical views, mountains, landscape, dormant volcanoes, escarpments, sandy
dunes,valleys, caves, coasts, islands, wildlife and waters.
1 –Location: Saudi Arabia is situated in the furthest Southwest Asia. This location is one of the
efficient tourism marketing pillars. The kingdom has strategic position within a region characterized
by its middle location among the ancient world continents, Asia, Africa and Europe(figure1), this
resulted in that the kingdom received an important location within the major cores of land, air and
marine networks of international transportation which enhance tourists accessibility from different
world countries as well as that the regional location can play a vital role in activating tourism
movement due to the kingdom vast area that is about two millions square kilometer and sharing
borders with eight Arab countries, most of them are source of inbound tourists such as countries of
Gulf Cooperation council countries.
2 –Tourism Climate: despite the fact that the climate characteristics of the kingdom generally place
her under the control of the dry tropical weather, yet the long extension from north to south, vast
area, landscape variety granted the country different regions advantageous features that enhance
development of different tourism activities throughout the year and by applying the tourism
satisfaction index that is based on the two elements of temperature and humidity to the major climate
regions which are the continental climate region, mountain climate region and coastline climate
region(figure2), it is obvious that most of the kingdom areas are of satisfactory climate conducive to
tourism activities especially during day time of February to November and night of April to October.
3 –Topography: physical views variety:
3/1 The Western Highlands; they are the backbone of the country landscape, extending 1800klm,
rich of many tourism potentials such as the availability of high mountain tops of a height as much as
3300m elevation above sea level covered with forests, they are ideal places to construct tourist
villages(figure3). These mountains have river gorges, slopes, shelves of abyssal depth (figure4), they
are one of the great natural views, a wealth to photography amateurs and pleasure will be
consummated by aerial vehicles and mountaineering as well as that they are rich of natural sculptures
resulting from winds engraving sandy rocks, these are one of the greatest areas of rock sculpture in
the world which formed monuments of utmost accuracy and marvelous in their natural views such
as animals, birds and multiple abstract forms(figures 5&6)
3/2 –Volcanic Monuments: the kingdom contains one of the largest alkali basalt in the world as it
covers an area of 180,000klm2 i.e. about one-tenth of the country whole area extending
longitudinally from the South to the West close to the Red Sea. The potential tourism value lies in
the fields of volcanic flow and their topographical features such as large craters(figure7), high white
mounts(figure8), domes and caves and all these phenomena constitute appealing source of
environmental tourism attraction and special tourism of special interests..
3/3 – Escarpments: the most outstanding topographical phenomenon in Najd sedimentary plateau is
Tuwiaq escarpment which is characterized by standard specifications making it one of the most
reputable escarpments in the world for its extension to a length of 1200klm and with breadth of
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20klm with a unified shape and the phenomenon of the fantastic natural escarpments has multiple
tourism development potential opportunities where their peculiar monuments form a natural
aesthetic view whether by their sharp slope or their golden and bronze colors before sunset
(figure9)
3 / 4 –Sandy Seas: we can describe sandy deserts in the kingdom as vast sand seas which cover
about one-third of the country area i.e. 660,000 klm2, most of them in the empty quarter which is the
largest continuous sandy desert in the world(figure10).there are multiple sources of attractions
where the landscape is embroidered with various types of sandy dunes which are of marvelous
beauty with their golden, cochineal and white colors that may reflect their continental and marine
origin, besides sandy mounts of great topographical features with high pyramidal, elliptic and
longitudinal tops of 300m in height with dune extension to more than 100klm. all these fantastic
views are priceless prey for photography amateurs in addition to that they are a source of more than
recreational activity such as four wheel drive auto race, motor cycles and sand skiing amateurs and
location for outdoor recreational camps where the moon- shining nights become a source of enjoying
the beauty of desert nights sky that has glittering stars and deep tranquility and fertile field to study
the development of the sandy environment as a result of successive drought periods in past
geological times.
3 / 5 – Valleys: the land surface is divided into hundreds of seasonal water courses in most of the
country and they are characterized by variety as to their various own tourism traits significance. The
valleys of external drainage have cataracts and are full of gigantic trees and fragrant
shrubs(figure11). These valleys are one of tourism areas during raining seasons and spring due to
their opulent waters and dense trees of different grasses and pastorals in these seasons, all these
constitute tourism attraction for those who would like to know the culture of the desert.
3 / 6 –Caves: The kingdom has three groups of caves forms: mount caves, volcanic caves and desert
caves. These caves can be tourism attraction to practice the experience and adventure of enjoying
decorated worlds of lime ascending and descending columns and interlock crystal structures and a
group of complex zigzagging formations(figur12), in addition to recreational dimension and
enjoyment of tranquility and amazing rocky scenes, the tourist amusement can be maximized by
provision of simple illustrations about the great scientific value of the caves as to knowledge of old
climate types and to the kind, construct and age of rocks as well as the remains of human fossils,
tools, drawings and plants seeds within the cave which are of valuable archeological and
documentary manifestation of all aspects of natural and human history in ancient times.
3 / 7 – Coasts and islands: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a rich and marvelous coast
environment consisting of coasts and islands.
3/7/1 – Extending coasts: the kingdom has three marine approaches of about 3400 klm on the Red
Sea and Arab Gulf, they are full of numerous monuments and marine phenomena that hold tourism
attraction such as coasts which are decorated by golden sandy dunes in the background in addition to
vertexes, corals, forelands and bays that constitute a natural capital encouraging constructions of
beaches and other different tourism facilities.
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3/7/2 Scattered Islands: Saudi Arabia waters have more than 1300 isles which can be mines of
tourism investment because of their natural characteristics as that they have attractive forms and
various topography(figure13) of various areas and of different geological, coral, sandy, continental
and volcanic origin. Besides their juxtaposition to coasts and their richness in aquaculture and
amphibious unique organisms.
4 –Wildlife, Fauna and Flora :
The Saudi government succeeded in establishing of national system of wildlife and marine
preservations of biological and geographical significance on an area of 81465klm2 in different
districts of the country. The objective of the government is to invest in national resources in a
sustainable way based on principles of preservation of biological diversification in a civilized way
that achieve value added and returns in tourism, recreation, education and culture through
establishment of national parks, open zoos(figure14) , botanical gardens and natural history
museums .
5 – Water Resources: despite the fact that Saudi Arabia does not have rivers and lakes, there are
groups of water in form of springs, lakes, dams and permanent water courses from waste water. So
the mineral spring can be invested as natural capital as tourism spa to provide therapy and leisure
and that lakes of dams can be transformed into tourism attraction destinations and waste water after
being treated naturally can be a new source of recurrent water to be pumped into the dry valleys’
courses that pass through cities to rehabilitate that valley and their forestation and to establish lakes
and cornices(figure15).
Secondly: Human Resources: Saudi Arabia has human resources that reflect man interaction with
his environment along different successive civilizations. The human elements attraction include two
main groups that are cultural resources such as archeological sites across different times and
population life patterns, way of living, folklore, heritage annual festivals and accommodation
resources, facilities and services which are components of infrastructure and superstructure that
represent the second part of tourism opportunities process.
1 –Cultural Resources :
1/1- Archeological Sites: Saudi Arabia forms the largest part of the Arabian peninsula which
experienced numerous civilizations, full of archeological sites that deeply rooted in stone ages
including ancient and middle Arab kingdoms, Islamic era and modern time.
1/1/1- Stone Ages: the Arabian peninsula participated in human early civilization that was created
during the three stone ages i.e. Paleolithic, middle and Neolithic(750000B.C. – 10000 B.C.). The
monuments of that periods are found in most areas of the kingdom and can be classified as:
1/1/1/1 Stone Artifacts Sites: thousands of artifacts were discovered in numerous sites. This indicate
the development of stone tools technology whether the heavy duty tools such as choppers, axes or
light tools such as perforator, knives and scrapers(figure16). The tools quantity and quality and style
of their manufacture throughout the stone ages indicate that the Arabian peninsula was densely
populated as well as the positive participation in the international civilization progress.
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1/1/1/2 Stone Buildings Sites: stone constructs are widespread in different areas and take variant
patterns on tops of mountains and plains . those buildings are characterized by their accurate designs
and geometric shapes(figure17), these shapes suggest that they belong to some human groupings that
are semi-sedentary holding unique culture and no doubt that stone architecture involve civilization
and archeological values evidencing that the man of stone age benefited from his environment
resources and the development of his constructional skills whether as to preparation of stone pieces
or the accurate geometrical and architectural scales of diversified stone buildings.
1/1/1/3 Rock Arts Sites: the rock arts of drawings and inscriptions are widespread and due to their
variety and abundance they are considered as one of the most significant features of prehistory where
man inscribed his history and details of his life, environment, civilization and economy on stones.
Some authors think that the age of those arts are between 6000 B.C and 1000B.C
During which developed performance styles and forms of drawn shapes(figure18) which reflects
hunting parties for groups of hunters, shepherds and tenants.
1/1/2 Ancient and middle Arabian kingdoms Ages: in that age(1000 b.c.-632 a.c.) the historical
cities played a significant role in the ancient history of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia because of its
strategic location on the international trade routes that joined the south of the Arab peninsula to its
north, a thing that transformed these cities to capital cities to various kingdoms such as
Dadan(kingdom of Dadan and Lihyan), Alhijr(Nabatean kingdom) and Al Fawo(kingdom of Kinda),
in addition to many cities which called city-kingdoms such as Domat Al Jandal(Adomato), Tayima,
Thaj and Najran.that kingdoms left three groups of archeological treasures: erected buildings like
cities foundation, tombs(figure19,20), temples, palaces, markets and strangleholds. The second group
include thousands of expensive and valuable such as archeological artifacts including obelisks, man
and animals stone and metal sculptures, metal and glass utensils and jewelries(figure21). The third
group consists of inscription and drawings(figure22).
1/1/3 Islamic era: Saudi Arabia experienced during the Islamic era(632-1744A.D.) civilization
prosperity during the prophet hood and khalifas era and the remaining Umayyid, Abbasid, Fatimid,
Ayyubid and Mamalek successive eras until Ottoman time. The most outstanding archeological sites
of these eras:
1/1/3/1 Mecca: it contains the most sacred Islamic monument i.e. Mecca holy mosque (figure23).
This holy mosque represents the heart of the Islamic world and the shrine of prophet Abraham and
Jabal Al Nour which includes Hira Cave where prophet Mohammad received revelation and a
system of monuments related to pilgrim and major events in the dawn of Islam.
1/1/3/2 Madina: the first capital of the Islamic state and the point from which the Islamic light
illuminated the whole world. It contains the prophet Mohammad tomb(figure 24) besides tens of
archeological sites and historical monuments that witnessed articulated events at the inception of
Islamic propagation. There are other historical cities such as Rabaza and Mabyat which include
historical houses, mosques and strangleholds in addition to various and varied found artifacts.
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1/1/3/3: Other Islamic Sites: these include strangles which represent an artifact of Islamic military
architecture, buildings of Al Hijaz railway which constitute a cultural, literary and architectural
heritage In early twenty century.
1/1/4 Saudi eras: the seventeenth century experienced the emergence of the unified Saudi state in
her two phases: the first during(1744-1818 and the second (1822-1891) and the third phase which is
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1932. The most important monuments of the three Saudi states:
Al- Dir’iyyah city which was the first capital city of the Saudi royal dynasty and it had been enlisted
by the UNISCO as part of international cultural heritage because of its strong expression of its
traditional desert architecture. Riyadh city contains military and civil historical buildings such as Al
Masmak stronghold and the royal Muraba palace(figure25).
1 / 2 - Folklore :
1/2/1 –Architecture: Saudi Arabia has constructional and architectural heritage that records her live
memory and goes deep in her civilization, the local cultural uniqueness of the kingdom is reflected
in four traditional architectural styles of obvious regional identity(figure26):
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The middle and north(Najdian) style: is a pure reflection of desert clay architecture due to
dexterity of solution and design and functional principles that are absolutely harmonious
with the climate and social environment factors.
Western style(Al Hijazi): this is dominant in Al Hijaz area, one of the most affected
traditional styles by foreign factor whether by pre-Islamic civilization and support of
Muslims manufacturers and craftsmen in domains of architecture and decoration a matter that
characterized the Hiazi style as to construction and architectural treatments techniques.
Southern – Western styles: these are a group of styles in one area, they are rich styles various
architectural arts because of diversified physical environments ranging from mounts,
plateaus, deserts, coasts, isles and due to cultural factors where some architectural designs
reflect the mixture of local feature with civilization impacts of Yemen and east Africa and the
diversity of building materials and external designs through four main types of traditional
construction: stone architecture, clay architecture, botanical architecture and isles
architecture.
Eastern style: this is manifest in oasis areas where house were built of clay and stone and
burnt pebbles (plate ) and the coastline style where coral stones of the sea were used in
building.
1/2/2 –Handicraft and Traditional Products: these personify one of the national heritage aspects
because they strongly express originality and their civilization symbolism and their embodiment of
skills of local artisans , intellectual and manual in their handling regional, mountain, coastline and
desert environment raw materials and their economic importance in increasing craftsmen income
and provision of employment opportunities in rural areas and their ability to transform raw material
into finished products of economic, social and cultural returns. The handicrafts in Saudi Arabia can
be classified as follows: wooden products, netting and spinning products, metal products, skin
products, pottery products and stone products(figure27).
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1/2/3 Popular Meals and Cuisine: due to vast area and varied environments and cuisine culture the
kingdom is characterized by multiple traditional kitchens. The local meal consists of edibles,
confectionaries, beverages from different desert, mountain and coast areas. Because the Saudi meal
is rich we can communicate the traditional nutrition mode as a vital part of the heritage to the world
whether by improving techniques of its service in national markets or participating in international
nutrition festivals and by opening specialized branches in outside world to reflect our national
nutrition identity and to serve food as aspect of culture with a tourist nutritional feature.
1/2/4 Museums: they are a cultural heritage and a civilization aspect enabling visitors to know
civilizations of different regions throughout history in addition to that they enlighten the public as to
value of national archeological wealth and the significance of preserving them and their touristic and
recreational role and to provide conducive climate to scientific researches . museums in the kingdom
consist of three groups: national museums(figure28), regional and specialized museums. Despite all
those endeavors to widespread museums yet all what is exhibited in them is only 5% of what
discovered of artifacts concerning civilization that flourished in the kingdom, in addition to that the
country geology and geomorphology are able to supply numerous natural history museums.
4 –Festivals :
4 / 1 – Janadriyah Festival: one of the largest tourism cultural festival in the Arab world. Its aim is
to root folklore heritage and to employ it to perform artistic and literary works so as to reflect a
living portrait about the past and to ensure national identity. This festival attracted more than five
millions visitors, a permanent village was established (figure29) for its activities north of Riyadh
including buildings that represent traditional architecture for all the country areas in addition to
theatres for arts episodes whereas an integrated heritage farm was built to show agricultural manual
techniques besides popular markets and a series of restaurants servicing national popular meals.
Festival activities include lyric and dancing shows and folkloric episodes, cultural plays and camels
and horse races.
4 / 2 – Okaz Market: this is an historical market, revived and renewed after 1400 years of stop
north of Al Taif city on an area of 11 million square meters, was one of the reputable Arab markets.
It was a forum for thought, literature, politics and sports and a market for the best quality goods. The
market in its new touristic version consists of various cultural and economic activities where
intellectual issues are discussed, poetic competitions in addition to theatre shows. Okaz boulevard is
one of the outstanding market elements with length of one kilometer with exhibitions on both sides
of selling handicrafts, agricultural products, animal products and popular meals in addition to- at the
centre of the boulevard- mobile theatres and caravans passages for poets to read poems from backs of
camels(figure30).
2 –Accommodations, Facilities and Touristic Services: the group of accommodation , facilities
and tourism services are the components of infrastructure and superstructure the second wing of the
tourist show, so transport preparations enhance tourists access to tourism destination and the
accommodation and facilities make their residence satisfactory and enjoyable.
2 / 1- Infrastructure Preparations: include various means of transportation. The air transportation
is served by a large modern navy consisting of 125 planes covering 27 domestic airports(figure31)
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and 57 international airport. As to land transportation lines, they are of 54000klm length
characterized by high quality design with 12millions cars travelling through it in addition to buses
services. Railway transportation is still limited to transportation from eastern region to Riyadh.
Whereas the telecommunication system is of great significance whether in connecting the country
districts to each other and foreign world, it provides vital services to all sectors including tourism, so
in 2008 the operating land phones were 4123370 besides coins phones and cards phones and cabinets
lines with a total of 38706 and mobiles(19116137) whereas the internet provided 1004537 digital
lines. The basic accommodations such as power and drinkable water are cornerstones of
development and tourism projects where in 2008 the power used voltage was 181097545 megawatt
and water for drinking purposes and household uses was 3002646000 cubic meters and sea supplies
were 1102117000 cubic meters and at the same time contributed 28950440 megawatt. The national
water budget was enhanced by new recurrent water i.e. treatment and purification of drainage water
subject to environmental requirements and regulations so as to contribute in environment protection
and general health from hazards of pollution, and to benefit from treated water in forestation and
foresting high ways and establishing green belts around cities an irrigating playground and
reinjection of underground layers by water which will enhance expansion of tourism destinations and
preservation of pure water for household uses and other purposes of top priorities. The early stages
of the project were executed in Riyadh with a design capacity of 680000 cubic meter of treated water
of drainage, some of that water was pumped in Wadi Hanifa which course pass across the capital city
of Saudi Arabia. As far as cleansing is concerned a waste of annual 2million tons instead of being
treated by traditional means by burning and burial, both of these are not friendly to citizens,
environment and underground water, they were treated by smart treatments through safe removal of
trash and by recycling them as sources of raw materials for low costs industries. This led to
decreasing of environmental pollution and upgrading of cleaning with its direct positive impact on
citizen and tourist healthy and psychology in addition to adequate economic returns.
2 / 2 –Touristic Facilities and Services: First comes tourism housing sector which includes 264354
rooms and 100,000 furnished flats and all of them are subject to moderate international standards and
are evaluated according to stars system for hotels and system of scores to furnished flats in addition
to modern types of housing units types as to time sharing. Restaurants constitute significant part in
Saudi tourism industry where there are 27000 touristic restaurants ranging from restaurants of quick
meals to specialized ones in international meals and popular meals restaurants. Marketing plays an
important role in Saudi tourism experience where vast marketing mulls are widespread on millions
of square meters in large cities exhibiting medium and top commodities, necessities and ostensible
products in addition to numerous restaurants, cafes, travel and tourism agencies through the
availability of more than4500 establishments providing services and products related to travel and
tourism. Tourism guidance is a novel activity due to the small number of firms working therein
which do not exceed 100 firms, however it is expected that the sector may experience greater
development because of the tourism guidance utmost significance in communicating tourism
information that concern tourist and make him to like the place and adapting himself to it.
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