The moderating role of religion on tourist spending

ABSTRACT

This study examines the relationships between tourist motivations and tourist spending across cultural, nature, and leisure experiences, and the role of religious affiliation in moderating the relationships. A survey conducted at Kuching International Airport, involving international tourists who travelled to Sarawak, Malaysia, found a significant positive relationship between tourists’ social motivation and their spending on seeking cultural, nature and leisure experiences. The study also found a significant negative relationship between nature and ego status motivations and tourist spending on similar experiences. The relationships are moderated by religious affiliation. This study taps into an unknown area of tourism research and provides evidence on how the factors could relate to different types of tourist spending.

KEYWORDS:

• Social motivation
• nature motivations
• ego-status motivations
• religious affiliations
• leisure experiences
• culture experiences
• nature-based experiences

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hassan Daronkola Kalantari

Dr. Hassan Daronkola Kalantari is lecturers in Marketing in the Department of Management and Marketing, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Their research interests are in consumer behaviour, sustainable tourism and tourism marketing.

Chamila Roshani Perera

Dr. Chamila Roshani Perera is lecturers in Marketing in the Department of Management and Marketing, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Their research interests are in consumer behaviour, sustainable tourism and tourism marketing.

Maryam Safinia

Maryam Safinia is a PhD student at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Her research interests include tourist behaviour, art marketing and community-based tourism.