Investigating motivational drivers, destination attributes, and experiential impact in spiritual tourism: A regression-based study from India
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Spiritual tourism has grown into a major segment of the global travel economy, with India representing one of its largest and most diverse markets, yet the empirical literature linking visitor motivation and destination-level attributes to experiential outcomes in this sector remains fragmented. This study develops and tests an integrated model in which Motivational Drivers and Destination Attributes are hypothesised to jointly and independently predict Experiential Impact among spiritual tourism visitors. Drawing on push-pull motivation theory, destination image theory, and the experience economy tradition, a thirty-item questionnaire was administered to 450 respondents who had visited a range of Indian spiritual destinations, including temples, pilgrimage sites, monasteries, gurdwaras, mosques, and churches. All three scales demonstrated excellent reliability (Cronbach's alpha between 0.930 and 0.936). Multiple linear regression confirmed that Motivational Drivers (? = 0.346, p <.001) and Destination Attributes (? = 0.283, p <.001) each significantly and positively predicted Experiential Impact, and that the two predictors jointly explained 26.8% of variance in the outcome, F(2, 447) = 81.833, p <.001. These findings extend prior Indian evidence, generally confined to single sites or examining motivation and destination attributes in isolation, into a general, multi-destination statistical test, and carry direct implications for tourism policy, destination management, and marketing practice.
Authors: Kunal Gaurav, Avinash Pawar, Suyog Sapkal
Language: English
Topic: Religious Tourism and Spaces
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W7204172228