Community Attachment to AlUla Heritage Site and Tourists’ Green Consumption: The Role of Support for Green Tourism Development

Abstract

This study explores the interrelationship between community attachment in AlUla Heritage City (located in Saudi Arabia) and tourists’ green consumption practices, testing support for green tourism development as a mediator. The old historical city of AlUla, a significant city experiencing ongoing preservation and tourism development, represents an adequate context for exploring the link between community attachment and green tourism practices. This study employs a quantitative approach, including surveys with 328 local residents of AlUla. A structural equation modeling partial least square (PLS-SEM) analysis is conducted to explore the indirect influence of community attachment on tourists’ green consumption through the mediating role of support for green tourism development. The findings indicated a positive path from community attachment in AlUla to tourists’ tendencies toward green consumption behavior. Moreover, the mediating effects of support for green tourism development suggested that a deep sense of community attachment improves tourists’ support for green practices in the tourism sector. This study adds to the extended body of the literature on place attachment and green tourism by emphasizing the significance of community place attachment in stimulating tourists’ green consumption practices. Several practical implications for policymakers seeking to promote green tourism practices in heritage cities like AlUla are explored from the study results.

Keywords

• community attachment
• place dependence
• place identity
• affective attachment
• sustainable tourism
• green consumption