Fourth International Conference on Tourism and Leisure Studies

Abstract

The UNESCO World Heritage Site (WHS) designation is a global inscription that has the potential to attract visitors. While some sites are more popular than others, it is being increasingly evident that countries with emerging economies are focused on promoting its cultural heritage assets – namely WHS. In Saudi Arabia, the tourism industry is set to host 10.9 million arrivals by 2020, and plans to use its five designated WHS for promotional purposes. Given the volume of visitors and in combination with potential new influx, this creates impacts (environmental and social) for the respective sites which currently lacks the needed human and financial resources for effective management. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the issues and challenges of planning and management of WHS in Saudi Arabia. A conceptual research approach is used to identify research objectives via review of scholarly articles, World Heritage Center reports, and International Council of Monuments and Sites reports. Findings identify common challenges to preserve properties that include urban development, environmental pressures (e.g., climate change, desertification), natural disasters and risk preparedness (e.g., floods, fires, etc.), and visitor/tourism pressures. The implications call for sustainable management of the five WHS in the country. Moreover, recommendations to preserve properties sustainably while ensuring socio-economic benefits to surrounding communities are also noted.