Cultural Tourism Experience and Tourist Satisfaction at a Heritage Site: An Extended ACSI Model

Abstract

Based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model, this study incorporates the experiential characteristics of cultural tourism and constructs a theoretical framework encompassing tourist cultural expectations, cultural perceived authenticity, cultural perceived value, tourist satisfaction, tourist loyalty, and tourist complaints. It investigates the relationship between cultural tourism experiences at the Jingjiang Prince’s Mansion in Guilin and tourist satisfaction. A total of 262 questionnaires were collected through on-site surveys, and structural equation modeling analysis was conducted using AMOS and SmartPLS. The results indicate that tourist cultural expectations positively influence both cultural perceived authenticity and cultural perceived value, and that cultural perceived authenticity further enhances cultural perceived value. All three antecedents, namely cultural expectations, perceived authenticity, and perceived value, are found to be positively associated with tourist satisfaction. Satisfaction, in turn, significantly strengthens tourist loyalty and reduces complaint behavior, although the hypothesized negative effect of complaints on loyalty is not supported. This study extends the understanding of tourist satisfaction in cultural heritage tourism. It also provides practical implications for promoting sustainable tourism destination development in cultural heritage contexts.