Religious Festival Marketing: Distinguishing between Devout Believers and Tourists

Abstract

Customer classification is an integral part of marketing planning activities. Researchers have struggled to classify “pilgrims” and “tourists” because these groups overlap to a large extent in terms of their identities while participating in religious activities/sightseeing. To achieve sustainable tourism development for the region with rich religious and cultural characteristics, the present article outlines a process for analyzing the motivation of participants attending religious festival of Mazu in Taiwan and then classifies religious festival participants according to their motivations. Using cluster sampling, a total of 280 responses were obtained and analyzed. The results revealed four different motivation categories: Fun traveler, devout believer, cultural enthusiast, and religious pragmatist. The study concludes that while festivalgoers are influenced by secularization to some extent, the original doctrine of the religion epitomized in the festivals fundamentally retains the essence and spirit of its religious rituals. The findings may have a significant value for the development of religious tourism marketing as it offers a foundation for future research seeking to develop regional cultural and religious sightseeing attractions sustainably.

Determinants of visitors' festival satisfaction and subjective well-being: tracing the roles of place attachment and satisfaction

“…These motivations may further be subdivided into physical, psychological and spiritual (Park et al, 2008). Some Asian studies have classified the motivations of annual temple festival attendees as devout believers, religious pragmatists, culture enthusiasts and leisure holidaymakers (Wang et al, 2020). Shreds of evidence cited by Matheson et al (2014, p. 17) highlight multiple motivations and variations in motivations based on the heterogeneity of visitors and event types.…”

“…It is a key component while designing and strategizing festivals as it positively contributes to visitors' perceptions of the festival and their desire to attend the festival in the future (Ďaďo et al , 2020; Matheson et al ., 2014). In the context of religious festivals, some studies have discussed the relationship between festival motivation, place attachment, emotional solidarity, religious affiliation, festival experience and visitor satisfaction (Patwardhan et al ., 2020a, b; Piramanayagam and Seal, 2021; Wang et al ., 2020). In these studies, the element of satisfaction is the most common thread that connects visitors to festivals.…”

Proposed framework for potential religious tourism destination in Cagayan Valley Region

“…The categorization of customers is an important aspect of religious tourism strategy. Researchers have difficult to distinguish between "pilgrims" and "tourists" since their identities overlap to a considerable extent while participating in religious activities/sightseeing (Wang et al, 2020). Table 2 shows the assessment on the tourist' intention, motivation and experience show that the respondents are strongly motivated with over-all composite mean of 4.71; followed by high satisfied experience (4.70) and with very positive intention to revisit the religious sites in Cagayan Valley Region (4.56).…”

“…As a result, they are rich in history and cultural legacy, which encourages Proposed framework for potential religious tourism destination in Cagayan Valley Region cultural aficionados to participate. Cultural enthusiasts, on the other hand, do not always begin on a religious level (Wang et al, 2020). In terms of cultural and historic motives, the tourists were motivated to visit the region since the place showcased many famous historical ruins, archeological sites, and reserved Cagayan ethnic groups.…”

Contested Authenticity Anthropological Perspectives of Pilgrimage Tourism on Mount Athos

“…A part of this wider process of "re-enchantment" with religion (Comaroff and Comaroff 2000, pp. 291-343) was the rise of religious tourism, emerging within a reinvented and personalized market of faith (as in Kim et al 2020 andWang et al 2020). Religious tourism as a pilgrimage experience is a contemporary phenomenon that defies a specific definition due to the intermarriage between tourist and religious experiences (see Tilson 2005, pp.…”