Tourism, national identity, and the images on postage stamps

The case of Saudi Arabia

Bibliographic Data

ID12924474
AuthorsEnas Fares Yehia (0000-0003-2897-3499, Minia University, corresponding author), Hessa Jamaan M Alzahrani (Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University), D Reid (0000-0001-9629-4338, University of Washington), Mohamed Ahmed Ali (0000-0003-4438-8185, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University)
Year2022
Volume14
Issue1
Pages70-102
Publication date2022-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Tourism History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1755-182X • E-ISSN: 1755-1838
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1755182x.2022.2092221
OpenAlexW4291018991
LanguageEN
Citations received4

Since the early twentieth century, Saudi Arabia has developed from a collection of religiously-inspired tribal conquests into a modern nation-state. Religious tourism–the centuries-old Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca (the Hajj)–is a central pillar of its identity. Taking the postage stamps of Saudi Arabia as a case study, this article shows how the country’s austere Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam gradually evolved to embrace the use of pictorial images on postage stamps to define and promote national identity, religious tourism, and even of late, non-religious tourism. The Holy Kaaba and the mosques of Mecca and Medina, palm trees and camels, royal portraits, airplanes and oil rigs, wildlife, pre-Islamic antiquities, folklife, and women have all been among the categories of images enlisted to achieve these ends

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Destinations · Hajj · Heritage tourism · Icon · Identity (music · Incense · Islam · National identity · Pilgrimage · Political science · Portrait · Postage Stamps · Religious Tourism · State (computer science · Statue · Tourism · Tourism geography · Archaeology and Historical Studies · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History · Law · Middle East and Rwanda Conflicts

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