Classification of tourism potential in Al-Qaseem, Saudi Arabia using GIS

The demand for tourism in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has increased and received real attention since 2000. This thesis examined the tourism potential in Al-Qaseem in KSA. It sought to achieve two aims relating to the identification of the cultural and natural tourist attractions and their distribution and the examination of how spatial relationships impact on tourist potentials in the region.;Tourist site attractions in Al-Qaseem were identified through a questionnaire survey of two samples: a main sample (teachers group) and non-probability sample (other groups) to lend validity to findings of the main sample. Main results indicated that natural tourist resources were more preferred for both males and females. It was also found that there were 83 sites with tourist attractions in Al-Qaseem (61 cultural and 22 natural attractions). The level of attraction of these sites identified showed that there were 29 very attractive sites were (and most of them are natural sites); 51 of medium attraction with 3 of slight attraction. The gender variable, of the demographic variables considered, most influenced the preferences of participants.;Geographical information systems (GIS) were used to analyse the spatial relationship between tourist sites, services, population distribution and the road network to enable the identification of tourist areas and tours. Results showed there are 39 areas that have tourist potentials varies in terms of tourist attractions (natural, cultural and historical), and availability of services which can be accessed within specific times. Results indicated that popular natural and historical areas have relatively poor accessibility and services. As a result, the recommendation for this thesis is that development priority could be given to these tourist areas. Examination of the road network with the distribution of tourist sites in Al-Qaseem showed the region has potential to develop many tourist tours for visiting cultural and natural tourist sites.