Abstract
This article seeks to determine whether there are any differences in managers’ perceptions of the impact of religious tourism on tourism policy makers. The focus is on Montenegro as an old religious tourism destination, with a long tradition of religious tourism development.
The initial survey sample had 2,104 cases, and the work sample had 2,076 cases. One-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used for testing the work hypotheses. The survey was conducted electronically and without any influence on managers as respondents. For data processing, IBM SPSS Statistics 26 was used.
The highest number of statistically significant differences was shown between managers in organisations that have religious tourism as a primary offer and organisations that do not have an offer of religious tourism at all. The most significant differences were about the influence of religious tourism on the National Tourism Organisation of Montenegro; Montenegrin Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism; Government of Montenegro; Regional Tourism Organisations of Montenegro and; Local governments of Montenegro. The highest level of significant differences belongs to the level p = 0.000, and it concerns managers’ perception of the influence of religious tourism on the European Commission and National Tourism Organization of Montenegro.
The results offer managers’ perception of differences in religious tourism influence on tourism policy makers through the innovative methodology approach. The identification of significant differences in managers’ perception of religious tourism impact on tourism policy makers can protect the specific social structure of employees within the religious tourism sector.
Religious tourism can become an even more significant factor in tourism development in destinations, but communications between mangers from the religious tourism sector and tourism policy makers should be more frequent and intensive. This would improve the social status of employees in the religious tourism sectors. Theoretical implications are in the field of disseminating knowledge about the impact of religious tourism on tourism policy makers. Practical implications refer to the possible determinations of the impact of religious tourism on individual tourism policy makers from micro- to mega-level. The survey can serve as a good example for future theoretical and practical researches showing how to optimise religious tourism policy in the destination.
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Recommended Citation
Vučetić, Aleksa Š.
(2021)
"Analysing Religious Tourism’s Influence on Tourism Policy Makers,"
International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage:
Vol. 8:
Iss.
8, Article 2.
doi:https://doi.org/10.21427/szes-wg62
Available at:
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol8/iss8/2
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21427/szes-wg62