Experience Dimensions of Religious Festivals: Religion and Spirituality at Paryaya, Udupi, India

Festivals and events have been found to be an important motivation for travel, and are a significant component in a destination offering. All religious festivals, irrespective of religion and tradition, aim to develop spirituality. Experience is the core of festivals and events, and the experience is multifaceted. This research aims to analyse the impact of various experience dimensions of religious festivals on participants' overall festival experience and behavioural intention at a biennial festival called 'Paryaya' held at Udupi, India, using the concept of the experience economy. The researchers have adopted a quantitative research approach for the study. The result obtained through Structural Equation Modelling reveal that education, esthetics, escapist, communitas, spirituality, and authenticity dimensions of experiences significantly contribute to tourists' overall festival experience. The overall festival experience of travellers acts as a statistically significant predictor of their behavioural intention at Paryaya. Moreover, the research concludes that visitors to a religious festival can be considered spiritual tourists, and their experience closely reflects the characteristics of spiritual tourism.