Strategic Tourism Management Report

Running head: STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary
The purpose of this report is to establish the evaluation processes of the strategic decisions along
with effectively communicating the strategic analysis of a tourism organization which operates in
the region of the Saudi Arabia. 6A model of Buhalis will be used to appraise the internal
capabilities of Saudi Arabia. Use following elements from the 6A (attractions+ activities,
accessibility, amenities + accommodation will only be used to assess the international
capabilities, with the strengths and weaknesses that is possessed by this organization. A PESTLE
analysis as an external audit will also be performed through which different factors related to
politics, socio-cultural, and legal aspects will be taken into account related to the region of Saudi
Arabia will be discussed in this paper. Five Forces of Porter will also be applied in this paper,
which will involve two of these forces, which are threat of substitute products bargaining power
of customers. Complete industry analysis will be done on breaking the region of Saudi Arabia
into sub sectors like trips, luxury, seasonal, business and family, along with a complete market
analysis looking at the market trends and current and new market opportunities and threats from
the viewpoint of tourism in the market of Saudi Arabia. Apart from this, the present positioning
that is held by The Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) will be
evaluated as a competitive tourism destination. The analysis will focus on both the internal as
well as external environment of Saudi Arabia and will include elements of the present
competitive position, available resources, core competencies and the external market-place.

2STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Current Position of Saudi Arabia.....................................................................................................5
Strategic Internal Audit....................................................................................................................6
6A model of Buhalis....................................................................................................................6
Attractions+ Activities.............................................................................................................6
Accessibility............................................................................................................................6
Amenities + Accommodation..................................................................................................7
SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................7
Strengths..................................................................................................................................7
Weaknesses..............................................................................................................................8
Strategic External Audit..................................................................................................................8
Porter’s Five Forces.....................................................................................................................8
Bargaining Power of Customers..............................................................................................8
Threat of Substitute Products...................................................................................................9
Short Trips...................................................................................................................................9
Luxury..........................................................................................................................................9
Seasonal.....................................................................................................................................10
Business.....................................................................................................................................10
Family........................................................................................................................................10

3STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Current Market Trends..............................................................................................................10
SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................10
Opportunities.........................................................................................................................10
Threats...................................................................................................................................11
PESTLE Analysis......................................................................................................................11
Political..................................................................................................................................11
Socio-Cultural........................................................................................................................11
Legal......................................................................................................................................12
Current Strategic Position..............................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

4STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The main objective of this report is to establish the evaluation processes of the strategic
decisions along with effectively communicating the strategic analysis of a tourism organization
which operates in the region of the Saudi Arabia. In other words, it can be said that this report
will undertake a strategic audit which will involve the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats through a SWOT analysis as an internal audit process. Buhalis’ 6A model will be
used to appraise the internal capabilities of Saudi Arabia. Use following elements from the 6A
model of Buhalis, where attractions+ activities, accessibility, amenities + accommodation will
only be used to assess the international capabilities, with the strengths and weaknesses that is
possessed by this organization. A PESTLE analysis as an external audit will also be performed
through which different factors related to politics, socio-cultural, and legal aspects will be taken
into account related to the region of Saudi Arabia will be discussed in this paper. Five Forces of
Porter will also be applied in this paper, which will involve two of these forces, which are
bargaining power of customers and threat of substitute products.
Complete industry analysis will be done on breaking the region of Saudi Arabia into sub
sectors like trips, luxury, seasonal, business and family, along with a complete market analysis
looking at the market trends and current and new market opportunities and threats from the
viewpoint of tourism in Saudi Arabia. Apart from this, the present positioning that is held by The
Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage (SCTH) will be evaluated as a
competitive tourism destination. The analysis will focus on both the internal and external
environment of Saudi Arabia and will include elements of the present competitive position,
available resources, core competencies and the external market-place. This report at the end will
help to assess the importance of tourism in Saudi Arabia and what are all the factors that affects

5STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
the tourism in this particular region, and what are the ways to improve the sector of tourism in
this Middle-East nation to attract more number of travellers in near future. All these factors will
be discussed in this paper (Yusuf 2014).
Current Position of Saudi Arabia
The strength along with the support of the monarchy in the attempt for the last ten years
has made the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia an attractive tourist destination. Though the region faces
infrastructural, political and cultural challenges, the Kingdom of Saudi is building a strong
tourism base with the strengths possessed by them and utilising the opportunities that are present
in this destination which has plenty to offer to the global travellers. Though it can be stated that
most of the travellers are mostly involved in visiting religious pilgrimages, there is also a
significant growth in leisure tourism industry of this Gulf nation. Travel and tourism has added
9% to the overall economy of this Kingdom in the year 2018, which is worth $65.2 billion
according to the World Travel and Tourism Council or WTCC (Data.worldbank.org 2020).
Saudi Arabia’s plans to open up the country and its economy to global tourism are in full swing.
In addition to an ambitious agenda of new infrastructure developments, the kingdom has
loosened visa restrictions and launched a major international marketing campaign to attract
overseas leisure visitors. However, substantial challenges in the short to medium term suggest
that the targets for foreign visitors will not be met; a stronger focus on developing domestic
tourism may yield greater success and create more viable business opportunities. The target of
this nation is to target 100 million tourists in the year 2030, and to provide 1.6 million jobs to
both the nationals and non-nationals and to reach 10% as the percentage provided in GDP from
the tourism industry of this Gulf Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Jaber and Marzuki 2019).

6STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Strategic Internal Audit
6A model of Buhalis
Advancement in the area of technology has increased the satisfaction level from the
services offered by the places where the tourists want to visit. This also increased the
competition between the service providers who offers various kind of services like
accommodation, food and other services that are required in the tourism sector. Usage of
Internet of Things, cloud services and Internet service system has helped the global tourism
sector to attract more people towards a place through making online and offline promotional
channels the scenic beauties possessed by that particular place. These model will help to evaluate
three out of the six A’s that are possessed by this model, which are described as follows:
Attractions+ Activities
The geographic presence of this region acts as a major attraction to this nation. The
attractions acts as the opportunities of attracting people from around the world. Different
activities like cruise sailing, water activities and camel riding through the desert are the activities
that possess the power to attract the people to view the iconic places.
Accessibility
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has granted visas to the people of 49 nations, which has
helped to increase the footprint in those countries (Data.worldbank.org 2020). These has helped
to access the region by the people of these 49 countries, which has increased the footprint of
tourism in the region of Saudi Arabia. Though there are certain rules and regulations regarding
the dress code of women who visit and stays in this region, still the numbers of tourists are
increasing nowadays in the region of Saudi Arabia.

7STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Amenities + Accommodation
The amenities and the accommodation that the people are offering to the tourists who
visit this place. As it has been already discussed that the number of tourists are increasing in the
region of this Gulf nation, the amenities along with the accommodation facilities are also getting
increase in numbers. It can be noted in this context that expectation level of the tourists are
increasing due to the advancement of technology, and in order to meet this expectation level, the
facilities that are provided by the management of business organizations who are offering
different kinds of amenities and accommodations in the market of Saudi Arabia.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
It has been already discussed that the region of Saudi Arabia is the second most visited
tourist destination among all other nations across the Middle-East. The geographic presence of
this region acts as a major strength of this region to attract people from across the world. Wide
portfolio of places also acts as a major boost for the organizations which operates in the region of
this Gulf nation. Places like National Museum of Saudi Arabia, Royal Saudi Air Force Museum,
Masmak Fort and Tabuk Castle along with the presence of five World Heritage Sites regarded by
UNESCO possess the power to attract various tourists from across the world. They are Al-Ahsa
Oasis, Mada’in Saleh, At-Turaif District, Historic Jeddah and Rock Art in the Hail Region are
these five places. Leisure tourism has also become popular in modern days. Apart from all these,
Mecca acts as one of the most crowd pulling factor, as millions of pilgrims visit this religious
place every year. Financial power also acts as a major strength of this region to attract people
from all over the world, and it has been already discussed that all the tourism sector of this
region has been boosted up in recent years, which has helped to increase the Gross Domestic
Product of this country (Som and Al-Shqiarat 2013).

8STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Weaknesses
Poor waste management practices that are followed in this country is one of the major
weakness that hampers the growth of tourism in this sector. Inability in integrating sustainability
in the business operations that are performed in the tourism sector of this nation, and it can be
stated in this context that sustainable approaches or practices play an integral role in tourism
sector and the following of this approaches helps to decide whether the nation possess the power
to attract tourists from every nook and corner of the region or not. Poor inventory management
practices is also another major weakness of this nation, though the people associated with the
tourism sector are trying to overcome this barrier and promote leisure tourism globally to
increase the number of footfalls in this Gulf nation. Another major weakness is the inability or
inefficiency of the management of tourism companies performing in Saudi Arabia to identify the
exact requirements of the tourists, as this leads to ineffective strategic decision-making process
for them, which results to increase in the dissatisfaction level of the people and negative word-
of-mouth publicity. Poor customer service provided by the people who are associated with this
sector like inefficient handling of customer complaints adversely affects the tourism sector of
Saudi Arabia (Alqahtani and Saba 2014).
Strategic External Audit
Porter’s Five Forces
Bargaining Power of Customers
The bargaining power of customers, or tourists in this case, possess high bargaining
power, as in this age of advanced internet services, people can search in different platforms about
the availability of the best service within the capacity of the travelers. The same is applicable for
the region of Saudi Arabia. Number of options are increasing on regular basis in this Gulf nation,

9STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
from where the people who want to visit this country can search and select the best option
according to their criteria.
Threat of Substitute Products
There is always a threat of substitute products or services from the viewpoint of the
tourism sector. If the tourists are not satisfied with the services that are provided by the
companies that operates in the destinations of Saudi Arabia, then they will visit to other nations
where they will they almost same kind of facilities, though the destinations will vary, as National
Museum of Saudi Arabia, Royal Saudi Air Force Museum, Masmak Fort and Tabuk Castle will
only be present in Saudi Arabia and for this the tourists have to visit this Gulf nation only.
Short Trips
Short trips are very famous in this region, as it has been seen that most of the tourists are
visiting this place for maximum 6 to 7 days on an average (Sites 2020). The offerings made by
the travel agencies along with the management of different business firms who are engaged with
this industry are also designed accordingly and keeping the needs and wants of the people who
want short trip vacations in Saudi Arabia.
Luxury
A particular segment of people who are very rich in nature want to relax from their
stressed and busy life. They select places like Saudi Arabia where they never travels from one
place to another, rather spends in one place or might visit the nearby areas, as their main motto is
to spend a quality time as well as lavish life through the accommodations offered to them, as
they do not think about their money (Altareri 2016).

10STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Seasonal
The best time is between October to March to visit Saudi Arabia, though it can also be
stated that the best time to visit is either before the month of November or after the month of
February. Thus, this can be regarded as the season where most of the tourists visit this Gulf
nation.
Business
Due to the increase of footfalls in this region of Saudi Arabia, there is also increase in the
earning in the tourism industry of Saudi Arabia. All the business entities that are involved in
tourism industry of this region has started to earn more money due to this, though they also have
to offer and maintain the services that are availed by the visitors or tourists.
Family
Trips are also getting booked for family members, and there are people, mostly from the
Asian market place like India who love to visit different tourist attractions with their family
members, Separate packages are also there for these families, who might visit region for a longer
period of time (Damanhouri 2017).
Current Market Trends
SWOT Analysis
Opportunities
It has been already discussed that the region of Saudi Arabia is the second most visited
tourist destination among all other nations across the Middle-East. The geographic presence of
this region acts as a major strength of this region to attract people from across the world. Wide
portfolio of places also acts as a major boost for the organizations which operates in the region of
this Gulf nation. Places like National Museum of Saudi Arabia, Royal Saudi Air Force Museum,

11STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Masmak Fort and Tabuk Castle along with the presence of five World Heritage Sites regarded by
UNESCO possess the power to attract the people from across the world.
Threats
The major threat that is possessed by this place is dependency on foreign labor.
Insufficient number of people to provide the services required in tourism industry hampers the
flow of the quality of the services. Employee turnover rate is also high in this region also
adversely affects the tourism industry of Saudi Arabia a lot, due to which the number of tourists
are not increasing in this region (Aleidan 2017).
PESTLE Analysis
Political
Political issues do not hamper the tourism sector, as there are no election and presence of
parties, as the nations is ruled by Monarchy. Though there are rules and regulations regarding the
places of visits, still tourism sector is not adversely affected by the political factors that are
present in Saudi Arabia. Rather, the factors help to increase the footfall in this region and help to
improve the overall economic condition of this Gulf nation.
Socio-Cultural
There are certain things that cannot be permitted in this region, like wearing offensive
clothes by women or drinking alcohol. All these need to be maintained by the tourists as well in
this region. Strict actions can be taken if rules and regulations related to these is not maintained
properly.

12STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Legal
Legal factors are followed from the viewpoint of the Monarchy, and all the people who
are associated with this tourism sector along with the tourists who visit this nation need to abide
the legal factors strictly in order to avoid any kind of legal actions (Alawwad et al 2016).
Current Strategic Position
Tourism, especially leisure tourism was not treated as a proper activity for the Muslims
till date. It can be stated that all the nations from the Middle-East mostly possess Muslim
population. Tourism is not so famous in these regions, but alterations has taken place as
modernization is spread within the Muslim societies, and Saudi Arabia is one such example. It
can be said in this particular region is regarded as the second biggest destination for tourists
among all other nations that prevail from the Middle-East (Alam et al 2016). It has been seen
that more than 16 million tourists visit this nation every year and it has become one of the most
popular tourist destination among the travellers from across the world. Rapid urbanization along
with increased per capita income has changed the attitude of the people living in this region
towards tourism. Tourism has begun to leave mark on the cultural landscape. It can be said in the
context of this discussion that Middle-East is regarded as the most undeveloped region in terms
of tourist destinations across the world. Saudi Arabia possess the potentiality for tourism but it
has remained untapped. The nation has made efforts to market itself as one of the best tourist
destination (Mufeed and Gulzar 2014).

13STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
References
Alam, A.F.T.A.B., IDRIS, E.A.A., MALIK, O.M. and GAADAR, K., 2016. The relationship
between tourism, foreign direct investment and economic growth: evidence from Saudi
Arabia. European Academic Research IV, pp.4091-4106.
Alawwad, Z., Alkowaileet, W., Alsubaiee, S., Alfaris, A., Alansari, M.M. and Ragab, A.M.,
2016, November. Analyzing call detail records to support tourism statistics in Saudi Arabia: An
exploratory study. In Global Forum on Tourism Statistics.
Aleidan, M.M., 2017. Hotel Industry Regulations and Cross-Border Franchising: The Case of
Saudi Arabia.
Alqahtani, F.A. and Saba, T., 2014. Social customer relation management for tourism in Saudi
Arabia: A Case study. Life Science Journal, 11(2), pp.143-160.
Altareri, K., 2016. Development of multicultural MICE tourism in the Middle East: the case of
Saudi Arabia (Doctoral dissertation, Victoria University).
Damanhouri, A., 2017. Study of the Social and Cultural Aspects of Saudi Tourists and Evaluate
the Services Provided to Tourist of Saudi–An Applied Study for the Tourism Sector in the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. International Business Research, 10(1), pp.153-162.
Data.worldbank.org. 2020. World Bank Open Data | Data. [online] Available at:
<https://data.worldbank.org/> [Accessed 5 April 2020].
Jaber, H.M. and Marzuki, A., 2019. Improving awareness of tourism education among students'
in intermediate and secondary schools in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Experts' social studies
curricula point of view. International Transaction Journal of Engineering, Management, &
Applied Sciences & Technologies, 10(3), pp.351-359.

14STRATEGIC TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Mufeed, S.A. and Gulzar, R., 2014. Tourism in Saudi Arabia. Global review in tourism,
hospitalityand leisure management, 1(3).
Sites, D., 2020. Welcome To Saudi Arabia. [online] Visitsaudi.com. Available at:
<https://www.visitsaudi.com/en> [Accessed 5 April 2020].
Som, A.P.M. and Al-Shqiarat, M., 2013. Effects of tourism seasonality to a highland destination:
evidence from Al Bahah Province, Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Innovations in
Business, 2(6), p.630.
Yusuf, N., 2014. Tourism development in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Business and Retail
Management Research, 8(2).