Religious tourism: self-determination, social influence and government initiatives

Abstract

True fulfillment of the journey to faith, culture and harmony lies in visiting sacred and religious destinations. Our research explores the factors that influence tourists' intentions to visit religious destinations. We applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to augment the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and self-determination theory (SDT) frameworks in the context of religious tourism in India. We analyzed the intentions of 670 tourists who visited the selected religious sites, exploring direct and indirect relationships within the proposed model using mediation and moderation analyses. Our findings reveal that tourists' attitudes toward religious tourism are positively influenced by self-determination, beliefs, and social influence, which strengthens their intentions to visit religious destinations. The linkage between tourists' attitudes toward religious tourism and their intentions to visit religious destinations is further strengthened by natural and cultural characteristics, but is diminished by opportunistic behavior. The research findings can help prospective tourists, local businesses, municipal corporations, policymakers, and tourism managers in understanding the dynamics of religious tourism. Prior studies have not adequately explored the dimensions of government initiatives, social influence, and opportunistic behavior in religious tourism, underscoring the need for a thorough investigation. This study incorporates these constructs by extending the ELM and SDT frameworks. Furthermore, it examines how natural and cultural characteristics, along with opportunistic behavior, moderate the relationship between tourists' attitudes toward religious tourism and their intentions to visit religious destinations.