Balancing luxury and sustainability in Saudi tourism

This study investigates how tourists perceive the compatibility between luxury and sustainability in Saudi Arabia's emerging high-end tourism sector. Adopting a constructivist grounded theory approach, 39 semi-structured interviews with local and international travellers revealed five interrelated value categories: hedonic, uniqueness, trade-off, fairness, and religious value. While many participants embraced sustainability in luxury experiences, concerns about greenwashing and fair pricing were also raised. Religious value, particularly salient among Muslim tourists, reflects a culturally grounded extension of moral consumption. The findings extend value-based theorizing by introducing trade-off value as a distinct evaluative lens in the context of sustainable luxury. The study offers context-sensitive insights to inform experience design and marketing strategies that resonate with ethically and culturally diverse tourist segments.