ABSTRACT
This study aims to understand visitors’ attitudes towards different forms of commercialization at religious sites. With a mixed-method design, the study was carried out at two sacred sites of Hinduism and Buddhism, respectively, located in Nepal. 44 semi-structured interviews were conducted first, followed by a questionnaire survey. Four types of visitors were identified regarding their attitudes towards commercialization. The differences in attitudes can be explained by the social exchange theory with consideration of visit motivation, income and religious background. Findings of this study contribute to understanding of commercialization at religious sites from visitors’ perspective, and have practical implications on service design and management of religious sites.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).