Community-Based Tourism as a Sustainable Direction in Destination Development: An Empirical Examination of Visitor Behaviors

Abstract

Community-based tourism is an emerging form of sustainable tourism. Community-based tourism often brings various financial/non-financial benefits to local communities and maximizes sustainability at the local level. The present study was designed to uncover the role of community-based tourism performance in elucidating travelers' post-purchase decision-making process for sustainable destination products by considering the moderating effect of sense of belonging. A quantitative approach was adopted for the achievement of the research objective. A field survey conducted at community-based tourism destinations was utilized for data collection. The acceptable level of the measurement quality was demonstrated. The results of the structural equation modeling provided empirical evidence that community-based tourism performance significantly affects the formation of travelers' post-purchase intentions. In addition, the adequacy of the higher-order structure of community-based tourism performance was identified. The community-based tourism performance and intention relationship was also moderated by sense of belonging. With a lack of empirical research about community-based tourism, the findings of this research significantly add to the existing body of knowledge in sustainable tourism.