Scrutinizing the Determinants of Travel Intentions for Heritage Tourism: An Empirical Study

This study investigates the variables affecting travelers' decision to visit heritage destinations. Heritage tourism can draw visitors because of its historical, cultural, and aesthetic significance. More studies are still required to further understand the elements influencing travelers' decisions to engage in historical tourism. The object of this research is tourists who intend to visit heritage tourism in Indonesia. This study used a quantitative approach by distributing questionnaires online to 100 respondents consisting of domestic and foreign tourists. They were then processed using SmartPLS. The study results show that five variables affect tourists' intentions to visit heritage tourism: Heritage Value (HV), Travel Intention (TI), Visitor Engagement (VE), Quality of Experience (QE), and Social Media Preference (SMP). All these variables positively influence tourist intentions to visit cultural heritage sites. This study concludes that the government and related parties significantly promote heritage sites by prioritizing historical, cultural, and aesthetic values. In addition, associated parties must also pay attention to other factors, such as service quality and travel costs which can affect tourists' intentions to visit heritage sites. In this case, social media can also be an effective means of promoting heritage sites to tourists.