Residents' Attitude towards the Development of Ecotourism in Saudi Arabia: Evidence from Farasan Island

IntroductionTourism made up a significant source of jobs and creation of value, it is also recognized as highway to increase wealth and economic development. In fact, several countries are extending tourism activities without considering the environmental sustainability. Although, the issue of environment deterioration became the major purpose of several international institutions, for example: United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Due to the importance of the issue of ecology for international community, we saw the advent of a new tourism industry that preserves environment and contributes to accelerate growth and economic development, called ecotourism.The thorough analysis allowed to underline that tourism activities depend on socio-economic, traditional and cultural features of the residents. Thus, ecotourism should positively affect growth and economic development, without harming the ecosystem of the host region and convenient with the culture and traditions of local population. The thorough analysis of previous studies enabled to underline the pivotal role of acceptance of residents to develop tourism in their region. Acceptance includes foreign visitors and private investors that would contribute in the production of goods and services.Literature ReviewTourism industry: Opportunities and Harmful EffectsPrevious studies assumed that tourism contributed to raise growth and development by creating new jobs for youth and improving the quality of services to satisfy the visitors, for instance, the study of Balaguer & Cantavella-Jorda (2002)1, the authors underlined the positive association between tourism and economic growth in long run. Lean and Tang (2010)2 found also that tourism is a stable factor that contributed to stimulate growth in Malaysia. The beneficial effects of tourism depend on the expectations of local population that made up the major concern of several empirical researches.Although, tourism seems to be sharply associated to environment deterioration, the conclusion made up the principal issue of several papers. Referring to the survey of Michailidou et al (2015)3, the utilization of life cycle analysis authorized to draw the conclusion that tourism industry and climate change are firmly associated. The findings of their survey are in line with those of Gossling (2010)4 and Scot et al (2008)5. These authors concluded that tourism industry represents a principal cause of environment deterioration and climate change phenomenon.In other context, we underline the advent of several studies to assess the ecological effects of tourism industry in KSA by focusing on Jazan region, as the survey of Al-sheikh, A. B. Y. (2012)6. Referring to his study, the ecological deterioration is the direct result of the spread of tourists in KSA. The author puts emphasis on the negative repercussions of tourism on environment in the region of Jazan. These findings authorized us to recommend the implementation of ecotourism in KSA as highway to stimulate growth and to improve development without harming the ecosystem.Tourism and Climate change:The advent of ecotourism is the direct effect of several findings regarding the negative repercussions of tourism on environment. Several authors conducted surveys about the issue and concluded that tourism and climate change are correlated, as underlined in the study of Schott et al (2010)7. The authors utilized the method of life cycle analysis to conclude that usual tourists and visitors had harmful effects on nature of host countries. Also, some researchers argued that the change in climate would negatively affect touristic sector in developing countries. There are many authors sharing the same conclusion that we could cite as: Haden, L. (2007)8, or Hamilton, J. M. (2005)9.Ecotourism is a new pattern of touristic activities that preserves the environment and enhancing the quality of life of human10. …