The Rehabilitation of the Historic Barzan Traditional Market and Its Impact on Cultural Tourism in Hail City

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The title of the article is promising. The article is a bit chaotic and needs to be organized.

1. The abstract should define the purpose of the research

2. In section 3.3. and 3.4. of the article, please indicate how many surveys were conducted

Please also state the date of the surveys when they were conducted

3. The 4th point of the article should be in the 3rd chapter Research "Design and Methodology"

4. Lines 472-474 should be in the research methodology

5. Line 535 - how many shopkeepers are located on the main promenade. This should also be described in the research methodology (characteristics of the research area ).

6. Line 541 - how many were all shopkeepers

Author Response

Dear reviewer

Thank you for taking the time to review our manuscript. We appreciate the insightful comments and critiques that helped us improve the paper.

All of your comments and requested revisions are addressed in the attached file. In addition, we have made adjustments to the reference list to conform to journal guidelines.

Thank you again for your help in making

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Literature review

In the Cultural and Heritage Tourism section in the context of Sustainability, it is necessary to point out the link not only with the material cultural heritage, but also with the intangible, within the tourist experiences the intangible component is contributed that impacts later in the processes. of regeneration, since knowledge will be essential for the conservation and restoration of spaces.

In the section Promotion of cultural tourism in the city center: an opportunity for urban regeneration, the gentrification process that tourism can develop in certain urban spaces should be considered as one of the impacts.

Methodology

In relation to the interviews and surveys, it would be good to point out the map of actors that participated in each process to identify the different perspectives that were used and how each of them was approached.

Results

In the Barzan Market between the past and the present section, it would be good to point out the immaterial part of the construction, that is, the construction techniques, in order to highlight that heritage is a systemic construction of elements.

Findings and conclusions

It is recommended to include data on the impact on the social fabric of the space, as well as the possible modifications of the existing intangible cultural heritage in the social dynamics of the market.

In the conclusions it would be good to include more clearly the implications of this study for the exploitation and social use that cultural heritage can have through tourism.

General comment: it is a work that I really liked in how it addresses the relationship between tourism and cultural heritage, it is a great contribution in understanding the social use that heritage can have, but at the same time it highlights how the absence of multidisciplinary teams can lead to the decontextualization of certain elements of cultural heritage, minimizing the value only to urban spaces and making the intangible part invisible.

Author Response

Dear reviewer

Thank you for taking the time to review our manuscript. We appreciate the insightful comments and critiques that helped us improve the paper.

All of your comments and requested revisions are addressed in the attached file. In addition, we have made adjustments to the reference list to conform to journal guidelines.

Thank you again for your help in making

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Abstract

The abstract has successfully outlined the background of the research and the ultimate findings. However, the purpose of the paper has not been stated in the abstract. The proposed solution of creating multiple urban spaces that can be used by the entire Hail community has also been included in the abstract. The section also provides a list of keywords that have been used in the paper.

Introduction

The background to urban tourism by explaining the reason behind the growing interest of travelers in urban tourism. Different literary sources have been researched for producing background to the study in this introduction section. This section explains clearly the purpose of the research which is to gain a fair understanding of the Barzan market rehabilitation project and the function of the center in preserving the urban identity of Hail. The introduction also mentions the subjects that the paper will cover. Therefore, the introduction successfully provides a scope of the paper.

Literature Review

The literature review is divided into three sections namely, cultural and heritage tourism, heritage-led regeneration, and cultural tourism catalyzing urban renewal in the city centers. This division of the literature review section has provided a better understanding of the underpinning literature behind the concerned research topic of the paper. A top-down approach has been followed in developing the body of the literature because the literary discussion has started from a general discussion about cultural and heritage sustainability-oriented tourism and then reached into a specific topic that is promoting cultural tourism in the city center. Different scholarly sources are consulted to develop the literature review, which gives the richness of literary information presented in the paper.

Methodology

The chosen research design and approach have been clearly mentioned in the research methodology section. It has given clarity to the research methodology section and given readers a fairer understanding of how the research has been carried out. The used ethnographic and spatial techniques are also presented in the section through diagrams.

Results of the study

There is no clear section mentioned in the paper that defines the stud results. However, the fifth section of the paper gives the declaration about the study result which is the rehabilitation of the Barzan traditional market. Thus the study results infer that the city is required to redevelop its main tourist attraction to retain and grow the attractiveness of the place as a tourist destination. The lack of headings has made it unclear to understand which ones declare the results of the study. However, the reconstruction of the Barzan marketplace has been shown with the help of multiple pictures. The social interaction in the market has been presented through bar graphs. 

Conclusion

The conclusion has summarized the findings of the paper. The section also contains recommendations in bullet points. However, there is no separate section for recommendations in the paper. 

Comments for editors

Care should be taken in providing headings to present the results of the study. This will eradicate confusion and help readers acknowledge a fairer understanding of the study results.

I suggest on following the journal format 

Author Response

Dear reviewer

Thank you for taking the time to review our manuscript. We appreciate the insightful comments and critiques that helped us improve the paper.

All of your comments and requested revisions are addressed in the attached file. In addition, we have made adjustments to the reference list to conform to journal guidelines.

Thank you again for your help in making

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

The rehabilitation of the historic Barzan traditional market and its impact on cultural tourism in Hail city

The topic is interesting, but the study is quite descriptive and the reliability of the research, in terms of reproducibility and accuracy, is doubtful.

Background

“Tourism is a growing activity that helps to improve and market the city's image... Tourism boost the city's image... urban quarters are an important part of a city's image and identity... the destination, image, and place-making of urban centers are critical elements in promoting city centers.”

From the perspective of tourism, the destination image (DI) is a crucial concept that needs to be explained in this study (e.g., DI definition, DI formation agents, projected versus perceived DI). Please see “Destination image analytics through traveller-generated content” (Sust., 2019). It is also necessary to delve into the contribution of cultural heritage to destination images. Please see “The influence of elements of cultural heritage on the image of destinations, using four Polish cities as an example” (Land, 2021).

Other related studies such as "Heritage-led urban rehabilitation: Evaluation methods and an application in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia" (CCS, 2021), "Urbanization in Saudi Arabia and sustainability challenges of cities and heritage sites: heuristical insights" (JCHMSD, 2021), and “Tourism attraction sites: Boasting the booming tourism of Saudi Arabia” on the Hail region (IJAAS, 2021) need to be reviewed.

Materials and Methods

With the information available in the manuscript it is impossible to replicate the experiment. It is necessary to expand the information on data collection.

3.2. Semi-structured interviews

Please include a summary of the size and composition (visitors, stakeholders, etc.) of the sample of interviewees, as well as the purpose and script of the interviews.

3.3. Survey

Please include the size and demographic composition of the sample of respondents in the two online surveys. Also include both questionnaires in an annex. Please indicate that previous reliable studies support the constructs and items of both questionnaires.

Results and Discussion

“The study categorizes its findings into three main levels of discussion: the micro and meso urban levels, in order to discuss the Barzan marketplace, and the city center urban level possibilities.”

The three levels of discussion are not clear because this section is divided into two subsections: Micro Level (Barzan Market) and Meso Level (City Center).

7. Conclusion

The structure of this important section needs to be improved. It is necessary to highlight the implications of the study. Concluding remarks section should have a summary of the main study outcomes and the way to obtain them, and three subsections:

7.1. Theoretical contribution: Does the study contribute to the body of knowledge on city planning or destination marketing and management from a theoretical perspective?

7.2. Managerial implications: Can the study be useful for destination marketing or management organisations (DMOs), and other stakeholders related to cultural heritage and city planning?

7.3. Limitations and future research: In this subsection, you might consider other sources of data collection such as user-generated content shared on social media (UGC). Please see “Online tourism destination image: components, information sources, and incongruence (JTTM, 2020).

Author Contributions: Please include author contributions

Reference list

Please ensure you check all your citations for completeness, accuracy and consistency: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI) style. I use Mendeley.com or Zotero.org with the MDPI template.

Author Response

Dear reviewer

Thank you for taking the time to review our manuscript. We appreciate the insightful comments and critiques that helped us improve the paper.

All of your comments and requested revisions are addressed in the attached file. In addition, we have made adjustments to the reference list to conform to journal guidelines.

Thank you again for your help in making

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 4 Report

The rehabilitation of the historic Barzan traditional market and its impact on cultural tourism in Hail city

The manuscript has improved significantly and I therefore recommend its publication in Land, once minor changes have been addressed.

“and emanating from the previous destinations”

This sentence is not clear. According to [59, 60], it would be “and emanating from autonomous sources”

“Before coming to a conclusion,”

The preposition “Before” is not clear, because the implications of the research form an essential part of the concluding remarks section.

References

Multiple in-text citations need to be merged. For example:

FROM    [21], [22], [23], and [24]

TO          [21-24]

FROM    [28], [32], [33], and [34]

TO          [28, 32-34]

The reference list has style bugs, but I think MDPI's proofreading services will be able to fix it.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,
Thanks again for your second review.
Please find attached our reply with the updated version. 
Best Regard

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf