An Investigation of Influencing Factors on Satisfaction and Revisit Intention of Foreign Travelers to Mihintale Heritage Site

Abstract

Heritage tourism has been one of the dominant forms of tourism since the early stages of tourism history. Sri Lanka is known as one of the major heritage tourism destinations in the region. Thus, it is playing a vital role in Sri Lanka tourism and the current situation of country’s heritage tourism can be further developed as there are many aspects to be considered and improved with regard to this particular form of tourism. In this effort, the visitor-oriented approach is needed to ensure the meeting of travellers’ expectations. Knowing of travellers’ intentions, expectations, and level of satisfaction with regard to a given heritage site is utmost important in the formulating and implementing of strategies in the process of development of a tourism site. Given all that, the main objective of this study was to identify the forces behind satisfaction and revisit intention of foreign travellers visiting Mihintale, one of the prominent heritage destinations in Sri Lanka. Site uniqueness, heritage attributes, facilities and services, gaining knowledge, site attractions were identified as factors of satisfaction and revisit intentions as dependent variable. Grounding on the post-positivism, a quantitative approach was selected. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire by personally approaching the foreign visitors at the Mihintale heritage site from February to March 2020 and a total of completed 100 questionnaires were used in the analysis. Descriptive statistics, correlation statistics, and regression statistics were calculated using SPSS software. The results suggest that heritage attributes and facilities and services have significant positive influences on travellers’ satisfaction whereas site uniqueness has a significant positive influence on revisit intention. Theoretically, the variables used in this research and their interrelationships provide new implications in the particular field of research and, when considering the managerial and policy implications, managers and policy making bodies need to give the due attention on-site uniqueness, heritage attributes, and facilities and services in providing a good experience to the visitors.