Religious Tourism Demand and Country Prosperity: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia
This study examines the impact of destination prosperity level on religious tourism flows to Saudi Arabia. The model was empirically tested for a panel of 21 countries from 2000 to 2019. Dynamic panel gravity models were estimated using the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) difference approach. Th...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Technological University Dublin
2023-06-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol11/iss2/5 |
| _version_ | 1797263261037494272 |
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| author | Eman Alanzi Nada Kulendran Thu-Huong Nguyen |
| author_facet | Eman Alanzi Nada Kulendran Thu-Huong Nguyen |
| author_sort | Eman Alanzi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study examines the impact of destination prosperity level on religious tourism flows to Saudi Arabia. The model was empirically tested for a panel of 21 countries from 2000 to 2019. Dynamic panel gravity models were estimated using the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) difference approach. The study found that the human rights index and prosperity index, word of mouth, Saudi Arabian income, origin country income and investment in tourism at the destination all had a positive and significant impact on religious tourism demand. In contrast, the cost of travel and cost of living at the destination, political risk, visa restrictions, and the relative temperature had an inverse and significant impact. The estimated coefficients suggest that Saudi Arabia should invest in high-quality services to make religious visits a more pleasant and memorable experience. The paper’s originality is in using new non-economic factors such as prosperity and human rights as well as economic factors in estimating tourism demand for religious purposes. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T15:37:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6bb4da198ee54ee9a22211b41e2e14cb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2009-7379 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-25T00:10:11Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Technological University Dublin |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage |
| spelling | doaj.art-6bb4da198ee54ee9a22211b41e2e14cb2024-03-13T15:16:38ZengTechnological University DublinInternational Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage2009-73792023-06-0111210.21427/X9C7-K225Religious Tourism Demand and Country Prosperity: An Empirical Study of Saudi ArabiaEman Alanzi0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9038-4890Nada Kulendran1Thu-Huong Nguyen2Department of Business Administration, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and College of Business, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia.Victoria University MelbourneVictoria University, Melbourne, AustraliaThis study examines the impact of destination prosperity level on religious tourism flows to Saudi Arabia. The model was empirically tested for a panel of 21 countries from 2000 to 2019. Dynamic panel gravity models were estimated using the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) difference approach. The study found that the human rights index and prosperity index, word of mouth, Saudi Arabian income, origin country income and investment in tourism at the destination all had a positive and significant impact on religious tourism demand. In contrast, the cost of travel and cost of living at the destination, political risk, visa restrictions, and the relative temperature had an inverse and significant impact. The estimated coefficients suggest that Saudi Arabia should invest in high-quality services to make religious visits a more pleasant and memorable experience. The paper’s originality is in using new non-economic factors such as prosperity and human rights as well as economic factors in estimating tourism demand for religious purposes.https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol11/iss2/5economic and destination prosperity factorshuman rightspanel data |
| spellingShingle | Eman Alanzi Nada Kulendran Thu-Huong Nguyen Religious Tourism Demand and Country Prosperity: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage economic and destination prosperity factors human rights panel data |
| title | Religious Tourism Demand and Country Prosperity: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia |
| title_full | Religious Tourism Demand and Country Prosperity: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia |
| title_fullStr | Religious Tourism Demand and Country Prosperity: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Religious Tourism Demand and Country Prosperity: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia |
| title_short | Religious Tourism Demand and Country Prosperity: An Empirical Study of Saudi Arabia |
| title_sort | religious tourism demand and country prosperity an empirical study of saudi arabia |
| topic | economic and destination prosperity factors human rights panel data |
| url | https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol11/iss2/5 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT emanalanzi religioustourismdemandandcountryprosperityanempiricalstudyofsaudiarabia AT nadakulendran religioustourismdemandandcountryprosperityanempiricalstudyofsaudiarabia AT thuhuongnguyen religioustourismdemandandcountryprosperityanempiricalstudyofsaudiarabia |