"Exploring the Potential for sustainable Curative Tourism Development in Hail, Saudi Arabia: Opportunities and Challenges"

Abstract

Curative tourism has recently become one of the promising development sectors in arid regions, yet its potential still remains under-investigated in the Hail region of Saudi Arabia, despite its unique combination of climatic and natural therapeutic resources. The prevailing literature misses an integral assessment that combines both climatic comfort indices and the spatial distribution of natural curative assets. This paper tends to assess the suitability of Hail for curative tourism by considering climatic comfort through the Tourism Climate Index, in addition to the analysis of the therapeutic value of local natural resources represented by mineral-rich soils, hot springs, and geomorphological features. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, combining quantitative climatic data (1990-2023) with qualitative insights from local stakeholders and secondary reports. Accordingly, results reflect that Hail enjoys high levels of climatic comfort during extensive periods of the year, mainly during winter and spring, suitable for various types of curative and health tourism activities. Results also highlighted a number of promising therapeutic assets that are still underutilized due to the limited infrastructure and weak strategic planning. Ultimately, the study concludes with policy-oriented recommendations to enhance curative tourism development in Hail through focusing on spatial planning, environmental management, and destination branding in alignment with Saudi Vision 2030.