Regional Tourism Development: The Role of Sustainable Practices, Logistics Infrastructure, Uncertainty, Safety and Economic Environment of the Countries in Attracting Inbound Tourists

Although tourism is increasingly seen as a key component of sustainable regional development and economic diversification, its extraordinary expansion raises governance and environmental issues at the local level. The current study assesses the influencing factors of inbound tourism demand to Saudi Arabia, a strategic empirical study due to its rapid and ambitious transformation under Vision 2030. This national strategy is designed to cultivate diverse tourist destinations, including coastal eco-resorts, mountain nature escapes, and urban cultural hubs. The unique sustainability hurdles in each area make the Kingdom a prime location for analyzing the development of regional tourism. This research focuses on the vibrant interfaces among sustainable practices, logistical efficiency, perceptions of safety and uncertainty, and macroeconomic environments that shape the Kingdom’s competitiveness as a tourism region. The study draws several beneficial findings using balanced panel data of 16 origin countries during the period of 2009–2023 and is assessed using a dynamic panel Generalized Method of Moments model. The findings state extensive perseverance within tourism flows, such that past arrivals significantly enable simultaneous inflows. Inbound tourism is strongly and favourably influenced by destination-side factors, particularly logistical performance, human rights conditions, and Saudi Arabia’s socioeconomic prosperity. In a similar vein, the demand for outward travel is strongly reinforced by origin-country prosperity. But travel expenses attenuate, environmental pressures and political risk reduce arrivals, and relative prices and pandemic uncertainty play a negligible role. The findings highlight the need to upgrade the country’s logistics infrastructure, enhance rights protection and governance, integrate sustainable practices, and capitalise on prosperity to make Saudi Arabia a desirable travel destination by Vision 2030. A key contribution of this study is to demonstrate how infrastructure, environmental stewardship, and institutional quality shape a region’s tourism attractiveness. The study illustrates how sustainability must be incorporated into regional-specific strategies to balance economic goals with ecological and social imperatives, providing a framework for other countries interested in sustainable tourism.