The Impact of Tourism Development on The Quality of Urban Life A Case Study of Al Ula, Saudi Arabia | ||
| مجلة کلية الآداب بالوادي الجديد | ||
| Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 15 June 2025 | ||
| Document Type: بØوث علمية Ù…Øکمة | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/mkwn.2025.374704.1511 | ||
| Author | ||
| عبد العزيز الرشيدي* | ||
| Assistant Professor at Social Department ‎ Taibah University, Medina, KSA | ||
| Abstract | ||
| This study investigates the impacts of tourism development on the quality of urban life (QoUL) ‎for the residents of Al Ula, Saudi Arabia – an area of focus in the Vision 2030 framework. A ‎quantitative research approach was adopted in a survey of 250 residents. The results show that ‎there was an overall improvement in the QoUL as tourism has brought employment ‎opportunities, increased earnings and development of facilities. However, these increases in ‎QoL measures are not uniformly dispersed across the population which raises the issues of ‎increasing cost of living, income disparity and marginalization. Tourism boosts the preserving ‎of cultures and instils sense of belonging but the challenges of cultural heritage ‎commercialization, overpopulation of tourists and pollution are real. The findings also highlight ‎of disparities within the community where there are greater benefits to the younger, not so ‎educated and active in the tourism industry, whereas women, older generation and the non-‎active in tourism tend to be more worried about the outcome of tourism. Also, lack of active ‎input from the residents and the management decisions that are not transparent also impair the ‎overall satisfaction of the residents. The study emphasizes that in order to eliminate the adverse ‎effects of economic growth and culture as well as environment degradation in Al Ula, there is ‎need for implementation of appropriate policies in relation to the tourism sector.‎ | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Tourism Development; Quality; Urban Life | ||
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