The Effects of Tourism Ritualization, Ritual Performance on Tourist Satisfaction

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the ritualization of tourism, ritual performance, and tourist satisfaction. A total of five hundred and seventy-two tourists at cultural heritage places were invited to participate in this study. Results from this study demonstrated that the relationships between the ritualization of tourism destination and tourist behavior, ritual performance, and satisfaction to the tourist in the proposed model are relatively acceptable. Supporting the relationships is an important contribution in the sense that tourism ritualization might have various direct and indirect effects on tourist satisfaction through ritual performance at cultural heritage places. Findings from this study have indicated that the ritualization of tourism behavior may play a more important role in understanding the satisfaction of the cultural heritage tourist than ritualization of the tourism destination. As tourist behavior may be ritualized, tourists can be satisfied at the destination. Future studies need to identify the impact of heritage tourism experiential programs and levels of participation on ritual performance at a cultural heritage place.

Keywords:

• cultural heritage place
• ritual performance
• tourism titualization
• tourist satisfaction