Tourism Development through the Sense of UNESCO World Heritage: The Case of Hegra, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study explores the perception of a “sense of place” among tourists visiting Hegra, an archaeological site in northern Saudi Arabia, through reviews on TripAdvisor. The 267 reviews on TripAdvisor between 2020 and 2023 were analyzed using the VADER sentiment polarity analysis tool and object modeling using the NMF machine learning algorithm. The results highlight positive factors linked to the history and uniqueness of the place while showing some critical issues related to isolation, cost, privatization, and competitiveness. The originality of the research lies in the type of case study chosen, an archaeological site of a country that has recently opened its doors to tourism, and in the pragmatic nature of the investigation, oriented towards the search for possible solutions to be adopted in terms of heritage management based on the feedback received for the development of the tourist destination.

Climate Change and Cultural Heritage: A Global Mapping of the UNESCO Thematic Indicators in Conjunction with Advanced Technologies for Cultural Sustainability

“…Additionally, our study supports the notion highlighted by Petti that allows for the conclusion that mainstream cross-different databases of those indicators could help in the accomplishment of the Agenda 2030 of Heritage [86]. Moreover, our findings contribute to obtaining knowledge on cultural resource management that meets socio-economic sustainability, as discussed in different contexts in Europe [87] and the Middle East [88].…”

“…Figure 13 illustrates the highest occurrence of 'conservation' for the CCM in CH, CCA in CH, and culture and the CC created using the information found in Appendix A, Table A3. The occurrence of 'conservation' in different ATs has shown that 3D-STM has a high frequency among ATs, with similar occurrences for laser scanning (81) and photogrammetry (88). Also, NDT plays a leading role in highlighting the compatibility of these techniques with heritage conservation, as seen in Table A2 in Appendix A, as they allow for the investigation of conservation and structural and energy efficiency aspects without affecting the materiality and aesthetic appearance.…”