Experiencing Buddhism in Chinese hotels : toward the construction of a religious lodging experience

Abstract

With the increasing number of religious people and the increasing mobility of human beings, traveling to religious attractions or for religious needs has become common. Although some discussions on religious tourism have been initiated, no discussions exist regarding the lodging needs of religiously motivated travelers. Derived from the concept of service quality, predictive customer expectation is considered effective in past literature but is deemed out-of-date because of the changing customer profile in the marketplace. This study aims to develop a measurement scale for the normative expectations of religiously motivated travelers. By integrating interviews, panel experts, and survey, this study derives a reliable and valid measure for normative expectations toward Buddhism-themed hotels.