What Matters Most to International Leisure Tourists in Saudi Arabia? An Importance–Performance and Segmentation Analysis of Service, Cultural and Technological Attributes

This study provides a diagnostic map of what matters most to international leisure tourists in Saudi Arabia. Technology attributes carry the most weight; contactless technologies and AI applications are the priority areas for improvement; and reliability and inclusiveness are the most important service and cultural foundations. Visitor evaluations barely differ by demographic or trip characteristics. Instead, they split into a satisfied majority and a globally dissatisfied minority, concentrated among cultural and heritage visitors. For a destination seeking loyalty and recommendation under Vision 2030, closing the smart-technology performance gap and recovering the dissatisfied segment are the two most promising routes to higher satisfaction.

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