Hierarchical value map of religious tourists visiting the Vatican City/Rome

ABSTRACT

Constructing a hierarchical value map, a psychological structure is explored to understand how religious tourists perceive the sites they visit in terms of site attributes, the benefits religious tourists seek, and their own personal values. The sample comprised foreign tourists who visited Catholic religious sites with religious tourism as their primary purpose. Using means-end chain theory, a hierarchical value map of selected religious tourists was created. A typology comprising three prominent sets of values was discovered: religious and pious values, spiritual values, and values associated with tourism and responsibility. The most salient attribute–consequence–value (A–C–V) linkage was as follows: ‘the opportunity to explore the traditions and history of religious sites’ (A)—‘had a genuinely religious experience’ (C)—‘learned about the history of my religion’ (C)—‘enhancement of faith and spirituality’ (V).

摘要

本研究通过构建价值层次图谱, 依据旅游者参访地点的属性、寻求的收益以及他们个人价值观, 探索宗教游客感知宗教场所的心理结构。该样本由访问天主教宗教场所的外国游客组成, 并且以宗教旅游为主要目的。本研究以手段目的链理论为基础, 建立了所选宗教游客的价值层次地图。本研究发现一种包含三种重要价值的分类方法:宗教的虔诚价值, 精神价值和与旅游和责任有关的价值。最显著的属性-结果-价值链如下:“探索宗教场所传统和历史的机会”-“获得真正的宗教体验”-“了解自己的宗教历史” -“信仰和精神得意提升”。

KEYWORDS:

• Religious tourism
• values
• attributes
• benefits
• means-end chain theory
• Vatican City
• Rome

关键词:

• 宗教旅游
• 价值
• 属性
• 收益
• 经济
• 手段目的链理论
• 梵蒂冈城
• 罗马

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to thank the staff at the Catacombs of St. Callixtus for their supports during the data collection. All authors are also grateful to all respondents who shared their experiences in Rome/Vatican City for this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bona Kim

Bona Kim, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Business and Tourism and Hospitality Management, at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada. Her research interests include pilgrimage and religious tourism, tourism experience, tourist well-being, hotel and tourism marketing.

Seongseop (Sam) Kim

Seongseop (Sam) Kim, PhD, is a professor in the School of Hotel & Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR. His research interests include tourism impacts, tourist behavior, and convention/event tourism.