Predictors of Templestay Satisfaction: A Comparison Between Korean and International Participants

Temple Stay as Transformative Travel: An Experience of the Buddhist Temple Stay Program in Korea

“…The phenomenon of a temple stay is a nascent tourism segment that is beginning to gain attention of scholars and scientists internationally. In a review of literature, we found only seven publications sourced outside of Korea (Choe, Blazey & Mitas, 2015;Chun, Roh, Spralls, & Kim, 2017;Kaplan, 2010;Lee, Lawton, & Weaver, 2012;Moon, 2008;Raguram, Venkateswaran, Ramakrishna, & Weiss, 2002;Song, Lee, Park, Hwang, & Reisinger, 2015), one master's thesis (Wang, 2011), and a related study on leisure motivations among people visiting a Buddhist temple in the United States (Choe, Blazey & Mitas, 2015). The uniqueness of this tourism niche gives rise to a host of possibilities for scientific analysis.…”

“…The transformative traveler is motivated to "re-invent themselves and the world by taking action towards life-dreams (79%), personal growth (78%), exploring their life's purpose (75%), learn new skills, connect with local people, and volunteer (2016, p. 11). In juxtaposition, a recent study found that temple stay visitors from in-country gain satisfaction by being in nature, experiencing self-growth, and relaxation, while the international guests gained fulfillment through aspects of the stay that involve nature and relaxation (Chun, et al, 2017). Although satisfaction is a worthwhile goal for mass tourism, we suggest that analysis of temple stay experiences concentrate on psychological and spiritual experiences in order to capture the monastery's most valuable product: a container for personal growth, selfrealization, and transformative experiences.…”

“…First branded as a "theme-based tourist attraction" (OECD, 2009, p. 115) in 2002 to help visitors (in country and internationals) to better understand Buddhism and ignite pride in Korean cultural heritage and history, this tourism product has attracted labels such as: alternative tourism (Kim & Yoon, 2008, p. 130), "edutainment-type culture tourism" (You & Chun, 2011, p. 140), "ecology oriented…and rural tourism" (Jin, 2010, p. 353), "inclusive heritage centers" (Kaplan, 2010, p. 140), nature-based ecotourism (Lee, Lawton, & Weaver, 2012), religious tourism (Chun, Roh, Spralls, & Kim, 2017). Defined as "a new and prominent Korean tourist attraction in which visitors are invited to many of the major Buddhist monasteries throughout the country to stay for a couple of days and experience the traditional monastic lifestyle" (Kaplan, 2010, p.127), it is still too early in its development to discern how this niche will emerge among known tourism typologies.…”

The Role of Nationality and Hotel Class on Guests’ Satisfaction. A Fuzzy-TOPSIS Approach Applied in Saint Petersburg

“…In this sense, the differences between English and French-Canadian travellers have also been demonstrated (Sussmann and Rashcovsky 1997). Differences in the overall satisfaction of Korean and International tourists visiting South Korean Buddhist temples have also been identified (Chun et al 2018). For international tourists, nature and relaxation are significant antecedents of satisfaction, while for Korean tourists, self-growth was an additional key significant driver.…”

“…The majority of the studies that analyse the guests' cultural differences are mainly based on primary data and statistical methods such as factor analysis (Chen and Tsai 2019;Kozak 2001;Pizam and Reichel 1996;Pizam and Sussmann 1995;Selma Ozdipciner et al 2012), t-tests (Chen and Tsai 2019;Pizam and Sussmann 1995;Schuckert et al 2015), analysis of variance (ANOVA) (Chen and Tsai 2019;Emir 2013;Pizam and Sussmann 1995;Selma Ozdipciner et al 2012), and structural equation model (SEMs) (Bihamta et al 2017;Chun et al 2018;Reisinger and Turner 2003;Turner et al 2002). Additionally, as we will analyse below, hotel guests' satisfaction has also been studied through hybrid multicriteria decision-making mathematical methods in which Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) have been applied jointly with fuzzy logic or machine learning (Martín et al 2018;Nilashi et al 2019).…”