Satellite Media and the Tourism Promotion System in the Arab World: Towards an Analytical Model for Measuring the Effectiveness of Television Content in Developing Tourism Awareness

Abstract

Arab countries possess enormous tourism potentials, yet they remain absent from global tourism competitiveness rankings due to deficiencies in specialized tourism media. This study aims to develop an innovative Arab analytical model for measuring the effectiveness of satellite television content in developing tourism awareness, transcending traditional models limited to the promotional dimension. The study adopted a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, combining content analysis of 135 program episodes, a questionnaire administered to 450 viewers from four Arab regions, in-depth interviews with 15 experts, and focus groups. The results revealed a structural duality in Arab tourism media; the aesthetic dimension recorded the highest mean (4.12), while the cognitive dimension ranked lowest (3.24). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) confirmed the validity of the proposed four-dimensional model, explaining 58% of the variance in visit intention with statistically significant path coefficients (p < 0.001). The Expectation-Reality Gap Index (ERGI) revealed sharp disparities among channels, ranging from high credibility (0.17) to critical inflationary gaps (0.77). The study concluded that building sustainable tourism awareness requires an integrated model balancing aesthetic, cognitive, value-based, and behavioral dimensions while committing to credibility in portraying reality.