Impact of Spirituality on Tourist Satisfaction: An Empirical Analysis of Religious Tourism

The aim of this research is to investigate structural links between different sources of spirituality and pilgrim satisfaction in the context of religious tourism, with main emphasis on the non-religious sources of spirituality. The analysis of data was carried out with 405 pilgrims visiting the annual Amarnath yatra in Kashmir valley of Jammu and Kashmir. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the model on pilgrim satisfaction. Validity and reliability of the constructs was verified by AVE, CFA and Cronbach Alpha. PLS Predict was used to predict the predictive relevance of pilgrim satisfaction with underlying constructs. The results of this study show that theistic spirituality has significant direct impact on pilgrim satisfaction. Predictive relevance was reported high in this study. Theistic, self and transcendent spirituality were found to be important indicators of satisfaction in religious tourism. Implications and Future Research: This model of study can be researched in future with a mediating effect of place attachment in other destinations. The role of others constructs in the post pandemic scenario can also be investigated. This is the first investigation in religious tourism to test the five dimensions of spirituality. This framework can be useful for academicians and policy makers of tourism departments, especially religious tourism. The investigation provides policymakers with viable solutions for increasing tourist satisfaction.