The Orange Economy and its role in sustainable tourism development: The Blue Ocean Strategy as a mediating variable

The research aims to explore the role of the orange economy - an economy based on creative and cultural industries in enhancing sustainable tourism development, focusing on the Blue Ocean Strategy as a mediating variable. To achieve this, the Orange Economy variable was measured through four main dimensions: cultural value, capital, creativity and innovation, and intellectual property, and the Blue Ocean Strategy variable was measured through creating new market spaces, reducing useless competition, innovating the value offered, and maximizing the added value of the customer. The paper used a descriptive analytical approach to analyze the data collected from a sample size of 441 respondents, including travel and tourism agencies, hotels, destination management organizations, government officials, creative and cultural industries, and other stakeholders related to the tourism sector. An exploratory approach was used to understand the relationships between variables and identify the factors influencing the dynamics of the orange economy and sustainable tourism development. The data was analyzed using AMOS and Smart PLS to conduct path analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that the Orange Economy plays a pivotal role in promoting sustainable tourism development, as its dimensions contributed to creating added value for tourist destinations. The results also showed that the Blue Ocean Strategy is an effective mediating variable, as its dimensions (creating new market spaces, reducing competition, innovation, and maximizing added value) contributed to improving the economic, environmental and social sustainability of tourism, thus emphasizing the need to adopt strategies that strengthen the integration between the orange economy and sustainable tourism, with a focus on applying the Blue Ocean Strategy to create new market opportunities. It also emphasizes the importance of enhancing cooperation in supporting creative industries and enabling them to play a wider role in tourism development. The article recommends that tourism actors should adopt the orange economy and capitalize on the cultural potential and creative activities inherent in Egyptian tourist destinations, through Blue Ocean strategies as a business model, which achieves the uniqueness of the tourist destination, and then it is necessary to educate and train tourism workers on these concepts and strategies.