by Muhammad Awais Bhatti, Sultan Mohammed Alkhozaim
ABSTRACT
The present study investigated how rich cultural tourism experiences influence tourists’ behavioral intentions and the sustainable use of cultural heritage in Saudi Arabia. It specifically examines the mediating role of destination identification in the relationship between rich cultural tourism experiences and tourists’ behavioral intentions as well as their sustainable use of cultural heritage. In addition, the study explores the moderating role of tourist satisfaction on the relationship between destination identification and both behavioral intentions and sustainable use of cultural heritage. A quantitative survey approach was adopted, collecting data from 375 international tourists through self-administered questionnaires at major cultural heritage sites in Saudi Arabia during the peak season from November 2024 to January 2025. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS Macros to test the hypothesized mediation and moderation effects. The results show that rich cultural tourism experiences have a significant and positive impact on destination identification (p < 0.001). Destination identification mediates the relationship between rich cultural tourism experiences and tourists’ behavioral intentions (p < 0.05), as well as between rich cultural tourism experiences and sustainable use of cultural heritage (p < 0.001). Tourist satisfaction significantly moderates both the destination identification–behavioral intention linkage (p = 0.031) and the destination identification–sustainable cultural heritage use linkage (p = 0.047). The findings suggest that policymakers should prioritize fostering destination identification through high-quality, authentic cultural experiences, as this psychological connection is a key driver of tourist loyalty and commitment to heritage preservation. Tourist satisfaction plays an essential role in enhancing service quality and enabling identified tourists to fully express pro-social and pro-loyalty behaviors. The study contributes theoretically by validating a comprehensive moderated-mediation model that advances understanding of how identity and affective evaluations jointly shape tourist behavior in cultural heritage contexts. Key limitations include the use of a cross-sectional survey design, which constrains causal inferences, and reliance on self-reported data that may introduce bias. Additionally, the findings reflect the cultural and demographic characteristics of tourists in Saudi Arabia and may not be fully generalizable without further comparative research across diverse international destinations.
