H2) The Exploration of Tourists’ Motivation of Religious Sites Visitation in Destinations Less Popular in Religious Tourism

Religious attractions have been playing a critical role in tourist destinations. Most of the studies focused on exploring the motivation of tourists visiting sacred destinations where the religion is originated. Yet, little is known on the motivations of tourists visiting religious sites in destinations that are less popular for religious tourism (Tse & Ho, 2019). Besides, relationship between motivation and place attachment is crucial to the development of destination, tourist management and the design of marketing strategy (Ogunjinmi et al., 2019). Motivation is the driving force that arouses and influences travel behaviour (Prayag & Lee, 2019), which also affects tourists’ evaluation of a destination (Correia et al., 2013), while Place attachment was used by recreation researchers and managers to explain different behaviour of leisure preferences and activity participation. However, the relationship in religious tourism has yet to be investigated. Adopting quantitative research methods, 303 questionnaires were distributed at the top two religious sites in Hong Kong, Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple and the Big Buddha. This study attempts to address the current gap regarding knowledge in motivations of tourists to religious sites in less popular religious destinations through the effects of place attachment. The study results may offer insights and suggestions to tourism boards in marketing their religious sites as new attractions to boost tourists’ visitation and provide recommendations for religious sites managers in enhancing tourists’ experience.