Seyyed Mohammad Mirtaghian Rudsari; Ahmad Pourahmad; Keramatollah Ziari
Abstract
Introduction
Better management of competition in the cultural heritage tourism requires the understanding of the behavior and interaction with the tourist (Chen & Rahman, 2018). The importance of understanding loyalty of cultural heritage tourists as well as the factors affecting it is highlighted ...
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Introduction
Better management of competition in the cultural heritage tourism requires the understanding of the behavior and interaction with the tourist (Chen & Rahman, 2018). The importance of understanding loyalty of cultural heritage tourists as well as the factors affecting it is highlighted in the research literature focused on successful experiences in loyalty in cultural heritage tourism in the world (Chen & Rahman, 2018) as well as in specific destinations, such as Spain (Forgas-Coll et al., 2017), China (Yi et al., 2018), Macau (Wu & Li, 2017), India (Verma & Rajendran, 2017), and Ireland (Kempiak et al., 2017).
The tourist satisfied with his/her experience of Ramsar’s cultural heritage will likely travel again and make public advertisements about the city. Loyalty to the cultural heritage of Ramsar is considered an essential element for the sustainability of this destination and an important factor contributing to the competitive advantage and success in the tourism market. Furthermore, any attempt at enhancing tourist loyalty to the cultural heritage can significantly reduce the tourism pressure and overtourism in Ramsar beach and forests. In this respect, the present study tries to answer the key questions as what factors and to what extent affect loyalty of the tourists visiting the cultural heritage of Ramsar.
Materials and Methods
A descriptive and explanatory research, the present study is a quantitative attempt based on the path analysis method. The statistical population of the study includes the Iranian visitors who visited the cultural heritage attractions of Ramsar, which was estimated to be 780 individuals. The research employed convenience non-random sampling method. The data was collected through an electronic questionnaire administered from March 2019 to May 2019. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed by exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha, respectively. Moreover, the study used SPSS25 software to perform the classification as well as some data analysis, and the path analysis with Lisrel 8.5 Software to test the hypotheses.
Results and Discussion
The findings indicate that the variables of authenticity, image, and memorability of the cultural heritage attractions of Ramsar affect neither tourist satisfaction nor tourist trust. Moreover, the variables of authenticity, image, participation, and memorability do not affect tourist loyalty. The confirmed hypotheses suggest that the variables of perceived value, participation, and quality positively and directly affect satisfaction, trust, and loyalty of the tourists visiting the cultural heritage of Ramsar. In addition, the variable of satisfaction has effects on trust and loyalty, and the variable of trust was found to have affected tourist loyalty.
Conclusion
As the main conclusion, the effects of attitude towards cultural heritage and experience of consuming cultural heritage on tourist loyalty were found to be stronger than the effect of individual variables on loyalty of the tourists visiting the cultural heritage of Ramsar. The variables of attitude towards cultural heritage and experience of consuming cultural heritage have a synergic effect, which means that the two variables together can have a significant impact on tourist loyalty. In fact, loyalty of the tourists visiting the cultural heritage of Ramsar is affected by all the variables of attitude towards cultural heritage and experience of consuming cultural heritage. Accordingly, the following recommendations are offered: to use local staff and space to provide cultural heritage tourism services; to balance the time and financial cost of delivering cultural heritage tourism services; to combine cultural heritage tourism with games, narration, and synergistic music, and offer an authentic environment—as it makes it fun to visit or participate in the cultural heritage attractions of Ramsar; and finally to diversify cultural heritage tourism products and the ways they are presented—based on market research (market segmentation) and destination research (existing capacities or capacity building).
Ahmad Pourahmad; Rahmatollah Farhudi; saeed zangeneh shahraki; Tahoura Shafaat Gharamaleki
Abstract
Introduction The city is a familiar word that brings movement with itself. This endeavor follows a path that is sometimes growing and sometimes declining. The historical texture includes many spiritual, symbolic, and aesthetic dimensions, which at the same time represent areas that contain evidence of ...
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Introduction The city is a familiar word that brings movement with itself. This endeavor follows a path that is sometimes growing and sometimes declining. The historical texture includes many spiritual, symbolic, and aesthetic dimensions, which at the same time represent areas that contain evidence of urban civilization because it reflects the identity of the city. Urban regeneration is an interdisciplinary approach and comprehensive and integrated measures to develop and improve economic, physical, social, and environmental sustainability in the conditions of residents. It has long-term and strategic goals to regenerate the city. There are different approaches to creating sustainable regeneration in cities. An approach can create sustainability for the city that can advance modernization in physical dimensions and lead to the sustainable economic, social, and cultural-identity performance of the texture. Regeneration with a tourism development approach can lead to tissue sustainability. Historical textures of cities, which are hidden treasures, sometimes become the lifeblood of cities and a problem for them. Consider integrated. The purpose of this study is to "evaluate the tourism capabilities of historical textures to regenerate in the city of Tabriz," and, to achieve this goal, we seek to answer the question, "What is the status of tourism capabilities in the historical texture of Tabriz to regenerate?" Materials and Methods The type of research in this article is applied, and its study method is descriptive-analytical. The field of research is the historical texture of Tabriz, and the statistical population is tourists of the historical texture of Tabriz. The questionnaire of tourists in three socio-cultural, physical, and environmental dimensions with 30 items was prepared to evaluate the research. The number of questionnaires for tourists is 384. In order to increase the accuracy, 390 questionnaires were distributed among tourists entering the tourist areas of the historical texture of Tabriz (museums, parks, hotels, etc.). Questionnaires were prepared with a 5-point Likert scale. The results were analyzed by SPSS software using the Chi-square test. Discussion and Results In examining the independent characteristics of the study population concerning the subject, the distribution of tourists by gender includes 49.74% of men and 50.26% of women. The distribution of tourists by age indicates that young people are the most visitors to the historical texture of Tabriz. The distribution of tourists by job in the three groups of freelance, employee, and student has been a balanced distribution. The highest percentage of tourists in the historical texture were tourists aiming for leisure and recreational travel with 56.41%. The situation of tourism in the historical texture of Tabriz in socio-cultural, physical, and environmental dimensions is as follows: 1) Socio-cultural dimension: More than half of the respondents (90.5%) have chosen 'many' and 'very many' options and the tourism capabilities of the historical texture of Tabriz in order to regenerate the socio-cultural dimension from the perspective of tourists is in good condition; 2) Physical dimension: More than half of the respondents (96.2%) have chosen ‘medium’ to ‘very large’ options and the capabilities of the historical texture of Tabriz for tourism in order to regenerate the physical dimension are relatively favorable for tourists; 3) Environmental dimension: More than half of the respondents (95.1%) have chosen ‘medium’ to ‘very large’ options and the capabilities of the historical texture of Tabriz for tourism in order to regenerate the environmental dimension from their point of view is relatively favorable. Conclusions The results indicate that the tourism capabilities of the historical texture of Tabriz so as to regenerate the socio-cultural dimension to the desired level, in the environmental and physical dimension to a relatively desirable level. For this purpose, for the development of tourism in order to regenerate the historical texture of Tabriz, physical and environmental strategies and policies should be given priority. If the development of tourism is purposeful, it will cause regeneration in the historical texture of Tabriz. Due to the existence of many historical attractions in the historical texture of Tabriz and the potential to attract tourists, in fact, strengthening and reviving tourism centers can be the driving force of urban regeneration in this area. If the development of tourism is not purposeful, it will destroy the structure of the texture, congestion, and traffic will cause hardship to the residents.
