Modelling the Effect of Spiritual Tourism Motivators on Spiritual Tourism Consumption

Abstract

This paper aims to study the influence of spiritual tourism motivators on spiritual tourism consumption. A structured questionnaire was distributed to respondents in all regions of India who are either tourists working in the tourism industry or academic experts. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire were duly confirmed. Structural equation modelling (SEM) uses Smart PLS software to analyse the data. The findings suggest that a motivated tourist has an approximately ninety-one per cent chance of undertaking spiritual tourism. Thus, spiritual tourism consumption is a function of tourists' spiritual level, marketing of spiritual tourism, tourist role in planning, psychological state of tourist, stakeholder's behaviour, tourist demographics, and destination attractiveness. The stakeholders perceive that destination attractiveness is reflected in local community participation, affordability of destination, infrastructure, accessibility, and types of attractions present. The study proposes an extension of the scale to incorporate the impact of COVID-19 and explore possibilities for spiritual tourism development post-pandemic.