Abstract
Typically, residents play a role in developing strategies and innovations in tourism. However, few studies have sought to understand the role of Islamic religiosity on the perceived socio-cultural impacts of sustainable tourism development in Pakistan. Previous studies focusing on socio-cultural impacts as perceived by local communities have applied various techniques to explain the relationships between selected variables. Circumstantially, the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique has gained little attention for measuring the religiosity factors affecting the perceived socio-cultural impacts of sustainable tourism. This investigation aims to address such limitations in this area of scientific knowledge by applying Smart PLS-SEM, developing an empirical approach, and implementing Smart-PLS software V-3.2.8. The proposed tourism model predicts the effects of the religiosity level on the perceived socio-cultural impacts of sustainable tourism development. In this study, we examine the relationships among religious commitments, religious practice, and religious belief and the socio-cultural effects of sustainable tourism. Our research identifies influential factors through an extensive literature review on communities’ religiosity and the socio-cultural impacts of developing sustainable tourism. We examine and analyze data based on 508 residents’ responses. The findings reveal an R² value of 0.841, suggesting three exogenous latent constructs, which collectively elucidate 84.10% of the variance in the perceived socio-cultural impact of sustainable tourism. The findings reveal that religious respondents with a higher religiosity level have a positive attitude towards developing sustainable tourism. These findings are helpful to understand the dynamics of communities’ perceptions, behaviors, quality of life, cultural aspects, and religiosity factors affecting sustainable tourism in Pakistan. This study is novel in the context of Pakistani cultural and social norms, and this study’s implications may provide further direction for researching and developing sustainable tourism in the northern regions of Pakistan.
Highlights
In recent years, tourism has gained increasing popularity, and currently it is one of the most important industries in several developing countries [1,2,3,4]
The results revealed that R2 = 0.841, showing three exogenous latent constructs that jointly explained 84.10% of the variance related to the socio-cultural impacts on sustainable tourism development
This study was designed to examine the effect of Islamic religiosity of local Pakistani residents on socio-cultural impacts on sustainable tourism development in the northern regions of Pakistan, and it offers an insight into the local communities’ support for sustainable tourism development
Summary
Tourism has gained increasing popularity, and currently it is one of the most important industries in several developing countries [1,2,3,4]. Many scholars have investigated and published relevant literature on the subject of sustainable tourism developments and host residents’ behaviors and supportive attitudes in developing tourism in the modern era [2,5,6]. Several authors have investigated this subject, and a considerable number of studies have examined, modeled, and measured the effect of sustainable tourism development on the host residents’ perceived impacts, perceptions, attitude, and behavior in supporting further sustainable tourism development [3,7,8]. Butler (2006) described the indispensable role that residents and their perceptions play in understanding the development mechanism and process of sustainable tourism [9,10]. Though sustainable tourism development appears to be profitable, its environmental impact and the socio-cultural perceptions of local inhabitants may refocus judgments on other issues [12]. Tourism development is considered to be a rural development mechanism concerning culture, communities’ attitude, and socioeconomic contributions, generating rural income and employment opportunities, contributing to residents’ services and amenities, and supporting the conservation of cultural resources [17]
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