Archaeological and Historical Sites in Al Ahsa and their Tourism Marketing in Light of the Saudi Vision 2030

(Abd Al-Rahim Yusef Al-Shikh Mubarak, Ahmed Hassan Metowaly, Thowayeb Hassan Soliman, Hossam Said Shehata and Wagih Mohamed Salama)

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Abstract

Tourism marketing plays an important role in attracting tourists who interested in visiting historical and archaeological sites, which has been considered one of the most popular tourist activities all over the world. Al Ahsa has many historical and archaeological sites that make it one of the most attractive heritage destinations in the Middle East especially after being selected as the Capital of Arab Tourism in 2019. Upon that, the present study aimed at highlighting the value of historical and archaeological sites in Al Ahsa and marketing them to put it on the tourist destinations map in Saudi Arabia in the light of its Vision 2030. To achieve this aim, a questionnaire form was developed on Google forms. and emailed to a sample of local community citizens through social media sites to investigate their perceptions towards marketing activities of archaeological and historical sites in Al Ahsa and identify their satisfaction of tourism and hospitality services provided. A total of 440 forms collected, only 362 forms were valid to analysis. Also, personal interviews were conducted with official representatives of tourism sector to illustrate the marketing policies and to what extent they have been adopted and what are the barriers that face achieving marketing policies’ objectives. The results of the field study concluded that there is an urgent need for more marketing efforts to highlight the tourist identity of Al Ahsa and put it on the tourist map, and the need of archaeological and historical sites for more care and attention in addition to the poor quality of tourism services provided within those sites. Accordingly, a number of recommendations have been proposed as follows; developing an independent marketing plan based on a scientific study targeting specific market segments with identifying their needs and desires and caring of infrastructure that encourages tourism investment in the governorate. KEYWORDS Hofuf, marketing mix, national transformation, Saudi tourism
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