Intercultural Communication Competence and Service Quality in Saudi Heritage Tourism: The Role of English-Mediated Interpretation

Abstract

Heritage tourism depends on interpretation. Visitors do not encounter archaeological sites, historic districts, museums, landscapes, crafts, and oral traditions as self-explanatory objects; they understand them through narratives, questions, signs, guides, and conversations with local hosts. In Saudi Arabia, English increasingly mediates these encounters for international visitors. This article examines how English proficiency and intercultural communication competence jointly shape perceptions of service quality in heritage tourism. It argues that linguistic fluency alone is insufficient. High-quality interpretation requires historical and cultural knowledge, intelligibility, audience awareness, pragmatic sensitivity, dialogic skill, and ethical judgement about what may be simplified, translated, contested, or left uncertain. The article proposes a framework in which English-mediated interpretation affects service quality through four mechanisms: interpretive clarity, dialogic engagement, cultural respect, and perceived authenticity. Intercultural competence moderates each pathway by helping guides and site staff recognise visitor assumptions without reducing Saudi heritage to familiar stereotypes. The framework distinguishes object-related authenticity from the authenticity of the visitor's experience and cautions that polished English can still produce shallow, commercialised, or inaccurate narratives. Eight research propositions and a mixed-method design are developed for future testing across museums, archaeological sites, historic districts, and guided cultural experiences. Practical implications are offered for guide education, site interpretation, assessment, multilingual resources, and community participation. The central conclusion is that English contributes to heritage-service quality when it enables visitors to understand more deeply while preserving the complexity, dignity, and local ownership of the heritage being interpreted.