Title: Exploring the influence of service quality on the religious tourists' experience

Authors: Hitendra Trivedi; Meghna Verma

Addresses: Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, Karnataka, India ' Ramaiah Institute of Management, Bangalore – 560054, Karnataka, India

Abstract: The paper aims to explore and analyse whether service quality has a significant influence on the experience of religious tourists. This paper also accounts for influence of attitudinal variables towards visitor's experience and service quality to substantiate the relationship. Overall, the study argues that the influence of service quality can be leveraged to enhance the experience of religious tourists. Primary data was collected through face to face interview using structured questionnaire and with exploratory factor analysis and the dimensionality of observed variables was reduced to derive latent variables. The underlying relationship between the derived latent variables was understood through structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings of the study may help organisers to explicitly focus on key service areas for proficient hospitality management for the successful organisation of such events. Further, the outcomes derived from the model may aid organisers for better planning of an event and enhance the experience of participants.

Keywords: religious tourism; hospitality management; experience; structural equation modelling; SEM; service quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2019.104888

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2019 Vol.9 No.3, pp.181 - 200

Received: 06 Mar 2019
Accepted: 09 Jul 2019
Published online: 05 Feb 2020 *

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