AI-Powered Personalization and Sports Tourists’ Behavioral Intentions in Saudi Arabia: The Mediating Roles of Engagement and Cultural Authenticity under Vision 2030

Abstract

The study assesses how AI-powered personalization affects tourists’ behavioral intentions, focusing on the potential roles of tourist engagement and cultural authenticity within the context of sports tourism in Saudi Arabia.

Using a positivist research philosophy and a quantitative cross-sectional design, structured questionnaires were distributed to domestic and international tourists attending sports events in Saudi Arabia where AI-enabled tourism applications were utilized, including recommendation engines, AI-powered event platforms, language translation tools, and navigation applications. The sample included participants from diverse cultural backgrounds, enabling the examination of perceptions toward AI-powered personalization and culturally oriented digital experiences. A total of 482 valid questionnaires were collected between January and March 2026. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to examine the proposed relationships among the study variables.

The results revealed that there is a partially significant relationship between AI-powered personalization and behavioral intention. Personalized cultural information, experience modification, language personalization, and social connectivity positively affect behavioral intention, whereas activity recommendation does not. Moreover, AI-powered personalization positively impacts cultural authenticity and tourist engagement, but the strength of impact differs among their aspects. Besides, local traditions' respect, cultural appropriateness of AI outputs, and tourist engagement have a significant impact on behavioral intention, whereas cultural representation has no significant impact on this variable. Mediation analysis proves the partial mediation of cultural authenticity and tourist engagement in the relationship between AI-powered personalization and behavioral intention. The findings confirm the positive impact of AI-powered personalization on behavioral intentions through both direct and indirect links, making the experience of sports tourism culturally authentic and engaging. The study contributes to the expanding field of AI in tourism and can be used for designing personalized services that will help to promote the sustainable development of sports tourism in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: smart tourism technologies, cultural experience management, tourist engagement, authenticity, sports event tourism.