Exploring the semiotic landscape of the Boulevard World tourist site in Riyadh: an integrative approach

Alsahli, A. (2026) Exploring the semiotic landscape of the Boulevard World tourist site in Riyadh: an integrative approach. PhD thesis, University of Reading. doi: 10.48683/1926.00129324

Abstract/Summary

Theme parks have emerged as a significant area of research in tourism discourse. The present study aims to explore how the Boulevard World in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- with its cultural pavilions showcasing replicas of famous landmarks from eleven countries – both reflects and helps to shape the imaginaries of Saudi people both with regard to ‘foreign’ cultures and with regard to their sense of their own cultural identity. These pavilions are carefully curated sites that serve not only as spaces of entertainment but also as venues that promote cultural exchange and engagement with global cultures. The data were gathered in the context of a two-year ethnographically informed study of Boulevard World. Site visits were undertaken over the course of one month, with daily attendance to capture photographs and live video recordings of the site. Observations were performed to explore tourists’ interactions with the built environment, shopping areas, and live performances, and one-on-one informal discussions were conducted to gather visitors’ perceptions of the spatial design of the site and the possibilities for leisure and ‘cultural’ contact that it offered. Drawing on Ravelli and McMurtrie’s (2017) spatial discourse analysis along with key research in tourism discourse, the study aims to investigate how the Boulevard World operates discursively through a range of strategic themes (e.g. the ‘domestication’ of foreign cultures, consumerism, and the narrative construction of ‘heritage’). The analysis focuses on three case studies: the pavilions of France, China and Egypt, showing how they all reflect these common themes, while at the same time highlighting unique ‘cultural’ configurations of the themes by prioritizing specific spatial design features. Domestication is spatially achieved through presenting elements of foreign cultures in ways that align with visitors’ stereotypical expectations about these cultures and encouraging them to integrate these elements into their own daily lives. Consumerism is achieved through designing spaces which physically channel visitors into various commercial interactions as they make their way through the pavilions, each interaction constructing different aspects of foreign cultures as commodities. The narrativization of heritage is achieved in the way the three pavilions provide selective aspects of the history and cultural heritage of these well-known destinations as carefully curated narratives, which construct national identities and cultural difference as benign features of a globalized world. I argue that through these cultural representations, commercial transactions, and historical narratives, the three pavilions promote a global articulation of Saudi identity that aligns with the broader aims of Saudi Vision 2030 to position the Kingdom as a modernising and economically diversified state engaged in global markets.

Item Type	Thesis (PhD)
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/129324
Identification Number/DOI	10.48683/1926.00129324
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > English Language and Applied Linguistics
Date on Title Page	November 2025
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