Sustainable Tourism Development Based upon Visitors’ Brand Trust: A Case of “100 Religious Attractions”

Kuo-Yan Wang

doi:10.3390/su14041977

Abstract

This study examines tourist trust in a government-initiated tourism brand from the perspective of the economic sustainability of the tourism industry. Its antecedents comprise traveler visit motivation, visitor experience perception, and willingness to visit/revisit, and the study assesses the moderating role of believers/nonbelievers in developing a tourism brand. The data were obtained from 20 notable religious-themed attractions listed among the “100 Religious Attractions” in Taiwan. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to respondents who had visited, or were planning to visit, the listed attractions. Three hundred and eighty-five valid questionnaires were collected with the hypotheses developed and examined using the SEM method. This study analyzes the motivational and experiential differences between religious-oriented and ordinary visitors to the “100 Religious Attractions” and its brand effect concerning peripheral industry consumption behavior (e.g., food and beverage, religious items, and surrounding sightseeing sites). Last, this study discloses that the willingness to visit/revisit determinants, service value perception, and spiritual experience significantly affect tourism brand trust. These results offer a better understanding for both scholars and practitioners of religious-themed attractions regarding how tourists’ visit/revisit intentions and their willingness to consume affect the creation of tourism destination brand trust that is sustainable.

Highlights

Religious-themed tourism is growing in popularity, providing considerable value for in-depth discussion of tourism participants
These results offer a better understanding for both scholars and practitioners of religious-themed attractions regarding how tourists’ visit/revisit intentions and their willingness to consume affect the creation of tourism destination brand trust that is sustainable
This study presents the structural model and path coefficients in the combined layout, including several correlates of factors reported in previous research: acceptance of commercial activity, received satisfaction, and service value perception linked with visit motivation and willingness to visit or revisit; attraction/event awareness, public sector promotion, and spiritual experience in taking part of willingness to visit or revisit

Summary

Introduction

Religious-themed tourism is growing in popularity, providing considerable value for in-depth discussion of tourism participants. Given the increasing socioeconomic significance of this vibrant field of the world’s leisure industry, religious-themed travel contributes toward developing a sustainable tourism environment and affects the development of subsequent related policies. UNWTO provides a clear definition, as follows: “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, and the environment and host communities.”. In addition to being integrated with people and the natural environment, tourism contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030. Agenda for Sustainable Development, the purpose of which is to “eliminate poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all” by 2030. Religious and secular spheres of tourism are quickly emerging, as religious tourism assumes a more prominent market niche in international tourism [5,6,7]

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Conclusion