The role of religious tourism in sustainable development in Saudi Arabia: Evidence from quantile non-causality test

Abstract

This paper empirically examines the role of religious tourism in sustainable development to the projection of Saudi Arabia 2030. This study observes the causal relationship between hajj pilgrims and economic growth in the KSA by conducting a quantile Granger non-causality test. We show that the causal relationship between hajj pilgrims and economic growth strengthens when a quantile Granger non-causality test of Chuang et al. (2009) is considered. This finding implies that the hajj pilgrims could provide the incremental predictability for the sustainable development in KSA, and hence, results from linear Granger causality tests cannot be considered robust.