Measurement Model of Visitors’ Intention to Visit Cultural Heritage Site

Abstract

This research aims to study the intention of visitors to visit cultural heritage site Rameshwaram, South India in the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB), by including two new factors such as past experience and tour involvement. Approach –The primary data was done by a self-administrated survey form in Rameshwaram, a famous cultural heritage site in South India. Convenience sampling methods was used to collect quantitative data from the visitors. The sample size is 420. The data was analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the statistical package Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS). Findings – The research result shows that Perceived control, Subjective norms, Attitude are the effective predictor constructs for visitors’ intention to visit a cultural heritage site. Research Implications – These results are prospective to help tourism stakeholders and marketers to plan suitable competitive strategies based on the tourism attractions they prefer to develop before the implementation stage. Utility of the paper –This study promotes the application of SEM in analyzing observed data in the heritage tourism study in testing of relationships between key constructs.