University of Southampton Research Repository ePrints Soton Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder/s. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given, e.g. Thesis: Author (Year of Submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University Faculty or School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/ UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF SOCIAL AND HUMAN SCIENCES Geography and Environment The Role of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in Archaeological Tourism Assessment and development in Najran, Saudi Arabia by Ali Alawer Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2018 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FAULTY OF SOCIAL, HUMAN AND MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES Geography and Environment Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy THE ROLE OF GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS) IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL TOURISM ASSESSEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN NAJRAN, SAUDI ARABIA Ali Alawer To date, GIS has been rarely used as a planning tool to support archaeological tourism, despite the widespread archaeological application of GIS more generally. Archaeological tourism can be defined as travel to experience places, activities and artefacts that authentically present stories and peoples of the past. This study examines the role of GIS in archaeological heritage tourism and planning using, as a case study, Najran region in Saudi Arabia. As well as being an important historic trading hub, Najran includes significant archaeological sites, therefore it has the potential to be an alternative for tourists who might be looking at Yemen as a tourist destination especially when Saudi Arabia starts issuing tourist visas. As an initial step, governmental archaeological records were combined with information from a literature review and fieldwork to develop a geospatial archaeological heritage database for Najran. Simultaneously, data on tourism accommodation and facilities were collated through a mixture of field surveys, Internet sources such as OpenStreetMap, and local tourism-promotion materials. Sieve analysis of the resulting spatial databases suggest that there are six archaeological tourist sites with high potential based on archaeology, accessibility and site characteristics. With the city of Najran dominating the provision of tourism accommodation and facilities, the most appropriate role for GIS is likely to be in combining knowledge of the spatial distribution of archaeological sites with tourism and amenities. The next step was to conduct a consumer survey to evaluate selected archaeological tourist sites, where the results indicate that those sites located outdoors are more likely to be visited in the future. The final step was to characterise the landscapes around the potential archaeological tourist sites in the Najran region, e.g. mountains, vegetation, wadis etc. This thesis provides a GIS-based management tool for the development of tourism in Najran Province in line with the rapidly developing national tourism policy. Table of Contents Table of Contents .............................................................................................................................. iii List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... vii List of figures .................................................................................................................................... ix Declaration Of Authorship ............................................................................................................... xiv Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1 ...........................................................................................................................................1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Rationale of the study ........................................................................................................................ 5 1.3 Problem statement ............................................................................................................................ 5 1.4 Aims and Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.5 Research application .......................................................................................................................... 6 1.6 Thesis outline ..................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2 ...........................................................................................................................................8 Background, Archaeology, Heritage of the Najran Region ....................................................................8 2.1 Geography and Location .................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Climate evolution of Najran region ................................................................................................. 12 2.3 The name of Najran .......................................................................................................................... 12 2.4 The population in Najran ................................................................................................................. 12 2.5 A Major Caravan Centre ................................................................................................................... 14 2.6 Najran and the Yemeni Kingdoms ................................................................................................... 16 2.7 Date of Saudi-Yemeni border demarcation .................................................................................... 17 2.8 Archaeology in Saudi Arabia ............................................................................................................ 18 2.9 The History of Archaeological Research .......................................................................................... 19 2.10 The Archaeology of the Najran Region and Surrounding Areas ................................................... 20 2.11 Rock Art .......................................................................................................................................... 30 2.12 The archaeological sites in Najran region ..................................................................................... 32 2.13 Importance of Najran archaeological sites .................................................................................... 80 2.14 Najran Museum .............................................................................................................................. 82 2.15 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 84 Chapter 3 ......................................................................................................................................... 85 Archaeological Tourism and GIS ....................................................................................................... 85 iii 3.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 85 3.2 Definitions of archaeological tourism, heritage tourism, cultural tourism, and ecotourism ........ 86 3.3 Regional trends in archaeological tourism ...................................................................................... 88 3.4 Saudi archaeological tourism ........................................................................................................... 93 3.4.1 Saudi tourist guide books ......................................................................................................... 94 3.4.2 Saudi tourist market segmentation .......................................................................................... 96 3.4.3 Saudi tourist visas .................................................................................................................. 100 3.4.4 Factors influencing cultural heritage tourism in Saudi Arabia .................................................. 103 3.3.5 Domestic tourism in Najran ................................................................................................... 109 3.4.6 Status of the local population , and their attitudes towards tourism ....................................... 112 3.5 Tourism planning for archaeological heritage