Sustainable Tourism Development in Jeddah: Protecting Cultural Heritage While Promoting Travel Destination

For a long time, tourism in Saudi Arabia has been predominantly religious and business-related. In 2019, the kingdom opened its door to tourism for the first time. It produced a significant change in the tourism industry. This research explores the balance between heritage conservation and tourism development, focusing on social, environmental, and economic aspects. The methodology is based on qualitative analysis through 15 in-depth interviews and on-field observations, with Historic Jeddah as a case study. The results confirm that tourism has profoundly changed the city of Jeddah, facilitating new opportunities and presenting new challenges. So, the new aspects that emerge, such as heritage value, economic growth, overtourism, and the travel experience, impose a new management strategy for upcoming opportunities and also challenges. These aspects highlight the management and the authenticity of the place but also provide evidence of the high costs and scarcity of services. Sustainability seems to be the framework that can guarantee an equilibrium in the development process, reducing the impact on the cultural heritage. The originality of this research is to provide a view on this tension between heritage conservation and tourism development from the perspective of an emerging travel destination.