Religious Tourism and Economic Growth in Oil-Rich Countries: evidence from Saudi Arabia
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Alodadi, Ahmed [1] ; Benhin, James [1]
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[1] Plymouth University
Plymouth University
Reino Unido
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- Localización: Tourism analysis, ISSN 1083-5423, Vol. 20, Nº. 6, 2015, págs. 645-651
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
Key studies have identified the need to diversify the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia economy beyond its heavily oil-based status if it is to attain long-term sustainable growth. Tourism, in particular religious tourism, has been recognized as one key non-tradable sector that could promote this growth. This article applies a time-series approach to examine the impact of the tourism industry on the economic prosperity of the Kingdom between 1970 and 2011. The results show that tourism only plays a minor role in improving economic growth when the economy as a whole is taken into consideration. However, when isolating the non-oil sectors, the impact of tourism could be seen to have a greater influence on economic growth. Tourism is therefore potentially important for any future diversification of the economy from oil.
