Self-expression and play: can religious tourism be hedonistic?

Abstract

Using data collected from 538 Iranian tourists undertaking the religious pilgrimage of Umrah (i.e., voluntary travel to the holy city of Mecca at any time throughout the year), this study investigates the concept of play and its relationship with self-expression and hedonism in an Islamic tourism context. By testing a theoretically derived structural model, the findings suggest that self-expression strongly influences tourists' sense of play. Here, play is realised when tourists feel that they can express themselves freely and augment their self-image while travelling, irrespective of the religious context. Nonetheless, the pilgrimage environment is characterised by religious congregation-with tourists engaging in communal experiences that reflect themselves and their faith. Therefore, the ideal experience, where tourists feel a sense of escapism from the pressures of everyday life, is a product of their ability to project, develop, and ratify their self-concept. Finally, the study suggests that pilgrimage managers and marketers should focus on the importance of play, enabling their destinations to heighten the intensity of the 'enjoyable' elements of religious travel (e.g., group camaraderie, escapism and positive emotional reactions) alongside their inherent religious benefits.

Visitors’ perceived trust in sincere, authentic, and memorable heritage experiences

“…Thus, the findings suggest that there is potential for cultural heritage sites to move away from the traditional 'object-based exchange' towards a dialogue-based, relational exchange. In doing so, site managers must ensure that objects are used to support engaging, inventive, and meaningful host-visitor and visitor-visitor interactions, echoing the relationship between object-based authenticity and MTE identified within this study (Lochrie et al, 2019). For example, developing an open, international, and responsive online presence may allow industry managers to benefit from the advocacy behaviour inherent within online brand communities (Hewer et al, 2017), further developing the potential for visitors to trust the provenance and integrity of their offering.…”

Assessing the Mediating Role of Residents’ Perceptions toward Tourism Development

“…Thus, each statement was translated from English by native Farsi-fluent researchers. Therefore, to ensure that the meaning of each questionnaire item was retained and that no misinterpretations emerged, back-translation was employed (Lochrie et al 2019). The research team interviewed five experts and conducted a pilot test with 35 residents, with the wording of some questionnaire items consequently modified based on feedback collected at this juncture.…”

Food consumption experiences: a framework for understanding food tourists’ behavioral intentions

“…Third, the aesthetics of culinary tourism experiences can shape FDI (Tsai and Wang, 2017). Accordingly, recognizing the perceived hedonic value inherent to consumption within well-designed service settings (e.g., restaurant interiors) aesthetic value stimulates sensory and emotional feelings and can lead to positive BIs (Lochrie et al, 2019). Finally, Teng and Chang (2013) propose that entertainment in restaurants can increase consumer perceptions of food quality, with this likely to influence tourists' during-and post-consumption emotional reactions, with this proving critical in building positive FDI when shared with others.…”