Exploring the motivation-based typology of religious tourists: A study of Welcome Royal Lord Festival

Abstract

Religious tourism plays an important part in the history of tourism development. People visit religious sites with different motivations. Previous studies have examined different experiences of tourists from pilgrims to secular tourists and this pilgrim-tourist debate is built upon a specifically eurocentric construction of the pilgrim. Limited studies have examined the religious tourist typology in polytheistic society. To address this issue, this study explored the rites of the Welcome Royal Lord Festival in the town of Donggang, Taiwan as the research context. The findings support the proposition that different types of visitors, who are predominantly pilgrims and secular tourists exist. Significantly, the study revealed four distinct tourist groups in a polytheistic context; namely, “Sacred Pilgrims,” “Believers,” “Experience Companion” and “Secular Polytheists.” In addition, these four types of tourists have differences in terms of satisfaction, participation behaviors, perception of cultural authenticity, and sacred place attachment. Conflicts between tourism development and religious sustainability may occur among different types of tourists. The findings may have a significant value for event management as it offers a reference for seeking to sustain religious culture and develop tourism attraction in a destination. • Different visitors, mostly pilgrims and secular tourists exist in the Welcome Royal Lord Festival. • Four types of participants were identified: Sacred Pilgrims, Believers, Experience Companion, and Secular Polytheists. • These vary in satisfaction, participation behaviors, perception of cultural authenticity, and sacred place attachment. • Religious tourists may have different degrees of satisfaction because of the extent of different tourism motives. • Conflicts between tourism development and religious sustainability may occur among different types of tourists.