An Integrative Model Analyzing Revisit Intentions and Behavior in Halal Tourism: Evidence from Indonesia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors that influence tourist behavior and revisit intentions in the context of halal tourism. The antecedent variables in this study included religiosity, digital halal literacy, halal destination features, contentment, and trust. This is a quantitative study that used travelers that visited halal tourism attractions in West Sumatra, Indonesia, as the sample population. The sample size was 400 respondents. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares–structural equation model (PLS-SEM). We discovered that religiosity is an important predictor of contentment and trust. Satisfaction was achieved through digital halal literacy and halal destination qualities and was found to have a significant influence on trust, tourist behavior, and revisit intentions. Finally, trust was found to have a significant association with intention to revisit and behavior. The results of this research are insightful for managers and policymakers on how to provide halal tourism attributes and analyze tourists’ digital halal literacy that lead to tourist satisfaction. This study also provides further knowledge to policymakers and local authorities on how to promote future tourist participation in halal tourism development in Indonesia; thus, it can help create more tourist returns for further visits to the same location in the future.

1. Introduction

In the tourism and hospitality service industry, revisit intentions indicate the possibility of tourists returning to visit and using more services in the future, whereas tourist behavior underscores voluntary action that tourists engage in and show regarding making positive contributions to the places they visit. Despite their different meanings, revisit intentions and tourist behavior have become important factors in tourism destination management (Xu & Lu, 2023; Chung et al., 2024; Peng et al., 2023), because these two indicators help create an emotional connection, positive word of mouth, and strong relationships with environments and places. This leads to a continuous growth in tourist visits, which generates more revenue and profits for the business sustainability of all service providers in the country. Therefore, investigating factors influencing revisit intentions and tourist behavior is the primary mission for all related policymakers and entrepreneurs in the tourism industry. According to Suhartanto et al. (2021a), Muslim tourists are one of the tourism industry’s most promising clientele. When they visit a specific location, they are concerned with halal issues and have the financial capacity to buy non-pork food. According to the World Youth Student and Educational Travel Confederation (WYSETC), halal travel has grown in popularity in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries, such as Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. According to the WYSETC (2017), Muslim tourists are lured to these countries because of the potential revenue from the tourism business. They believe that the reason for halal- or Muslim-friendly tourism becoming one of the fastest-growing industries in recent years is that it addresses the needs of Muslim tourists based on their religious beliefs.

Indonesia is one of the most popular travel destinations for Muslims worldwide. In the 2023 Top Global Muslim Travelers Index (GMTI), Indonesia placed joint first with Malaysia (Mastercard-CrescentRating, 2023). This demonstrates that Indonesia is a tourist destination that Muslims find hospitable. Moreover, the GMTI report showed that the number of Muslim tourist arrivals is projected to be 230 million in 2028, with USD 225 billion in expenditure. This is a significant opportunity for Indonesia’s tourism industry, and it will undoubtedly boost the country’s GDP. Tourism is a very promising business. To draw visitors and motivate them to go above and beyond by returning and recommending it to others, the government and administrators of popular tourist destinations should provide the most alluring programs that will have an impact on Muslim tourists’ revisit intentions and also their willingness to play extra roles in terms of spreading the word. Therefore, the future success of the tourism industry depends on how visitors behave as citizens and their loyalty to revisit in the future.

To the best of the authors’ understanding, past studies have emphasized some potential factors influencing revisit intention and tourist behavior. For instance, tourist satisfaction can influence revisit intentions and tourist behavior (Chung et al., 2024; Rasoolimanesh et al., 2022; Z. Liu et al., 2023). By contrast, other studies outline tourist trust as a significant factor influencing revisit intentions and tourist behavior (Torres-Moraga et al., 2024; M. Wang et al., 2023a; Sun et al., 2022). Both satisfaction and trust have been the key predictors of revisit intentions and tourist behavior in the tourism industry. Satisfaction and trust can also be derived from the contributions of religiosity (Suhartanto et al., 2020), literacy (Lee et al., 2020; Sambah et al., 2023), and halal destination attributes (Basendwah et al., 2024). Despite these significant associations, incorporating these factors and examining these relationships with respect to revisit intentions and tourist behavior represent a gap in the existing literature. This lack of information has left hospitality service agencies and institutions with insufficient information regarding how the above factors influence revisit intentions and citizenship behavior among tourists. To fill this research gap, this study aimed to examine the associations between religiosity, literacy, halal destination attributes, satisfaction, trust, revision intentions, and tourist citizenship behaviors. In comparison to past studies, the uniqueness of this study lies in expanding our knowledge regarding how religiosity, digital halal literacy, and halal destination attributes are significantly associated with tourist behavior in Halal Tourist Destinations. Notably, digital halal literacy enhances our understanding of how this factor can create an inclusive travel experience for tech-savvy tourists in Halal Tourist Destinations. This can give more clues to formulate smart tourism strategies for promoting positive tourists’ attitudes such as satisfaction and trust, which influence tourist revisit intention and citizenship behaviors. This contributes more tourist insights, which can be analyzed by all related institutions in Halal Tourist Destinations and can be used to find more effective ways to promote their tourists’ revisit intention and citizenship behaviors in Halal Tourist Destinations. To guide this research exploration, this study aims to address the following research objectives:

(1)

How religiosity, digital Halal literacy, and Halal destination attributes influence satisfaction.

(2)

How religiosity and satisfaction influence trust.

(3)

How satisfaction and trust influence revisit intention and citizenship behaviors.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Revisit Intention and Citizenship Behavior

Revisit intention is conceptualized as a propensity of a person to visit the same place in the future (Ayoub & Mohamed, 2024; Rasoolimanesh et al., 2022). Xu and Lu (2023) describe tourist citizenship behavior as “discretionary and altruistic while efficiently promoting the effective functioning of a tour,” in order to extend the concept of customer citizenship behavior to travelers. Tourism scholars such as Assiouras et al. (2019) have described the independent extra-role behavior that tourists exhibit that contributes to destination growth as the phrase combined with the meaning of customer citizenship behavior. Customer citizenship behavior is related to social exchange theory and is the foundation of civic tourism (Hasan, 2024; Rather et al., 2023). Furthermore, H. Zhang et al. (2018) describe trust as a psychological state characterized by a willingness to endure vulnerability in the face of positive expectations about the intentions or behaviors of others. Consumers trust a corporation because they believe it will offer them products or services that satisfy their expectations (Yaghi et al., 2025; H. Zhang et al., 2018). According to Malhotra et al. (2017), contentment has an impact on trust. Itani et al. (2019) claim that perceived value has an impact on client trust. Furthermore, Lo Turco and Maggioni (2018) add that Islamic religiosity is a major factor predicting consumer trust.

According to El-Adly (2019), the degree to which a customer is content with a product or service overall is referred to as consumer satisfaction. Moreover, Miranda et al. (2018) define customer satisfaction as the degree to which a consumer is happy or unhappy with a product or service after comparing what they had expected and what they received. Two factors that may influence customer satisfaction are customer literacy and religiosity (Rasoolimanesh et al., 2021; Sambah et al., 2023). Religiosity refers to the outward manifestation of one’s religious beliefs and activities (Lo Turco & Maggioni, 2018). Based on (Eid & El-Gohary, 2015), religion is known to have a large influence on people’s behavior. (Zamani-Farahani & Musa, 2012) emphasized that there are two aspects to religiosity: religious practices and beliefs. Religious belief is people’s opinions regarding all activities as seen through a religious lens. “Their belief that Allah (God) will help them” is an example in the context of Islam. However, religious practice relates to how individuals live their lives following their religious beliefs, for instance, “Their consistency in praying every day”.

Halal literacy is the ability to distinguish between products and services that are unlawful (haram) and lawful (Halal), leading to a deeper understanding of Islamic law (Salehudin, 2010). According to Bhutto et al. (2023), Halal literacy refers to a subjective assessment of what is acceptable and banned behavior under Islamic law and includes a variety of information, skills, and awareness. However, as of late, digital literacy has become a significant commercial concern as well (Lee et al., 2020). In the digital age, people’s behavior may be influenced by their literacy or knowledge of Halal. They will refrain from acting in a way which is contrary to Islamic law and only partake in activities that are approved as Halal by their religious convictions. According to Han et al. (2019), the dimensions of HDA include the social environment, facilities, Halal food and beverage, Halal-friendly services, and Halal-friendly locals and staff. HDA is important for Muslim tourists when they decide to visit a destination.

2.2. Religiosity, Tourist Satisfaction, and Trust

Religiosity relates to customer satisfaction (Suhartanto et al., 2021b; Abror et al., 2021b). Wisker et al. (2020) discovered that religiosity plays a substantial moderating role in the relationship between holistic experience and consumer happiness. Meanwhile, one previous study discovered that religiosity is a strong predictor of customer satisfaction (Suhartanto et al., 2019). Religiosity refers to a customer’s religious beliefs and habits. Customers who are more religious will experience a higher quality of Halal tourism based on their religious understanding, and, presumably, this affects their happiness regarding the Halal location. A link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H1: 

Religiosity is an antecedent of tourist satisfaction.

Religiosity is also related to customer trust (Abror et al., 2021a; Farah, 2021). A previous study found that intrinsic religiosity has a significant impact on faculty members’ trust in their superiors (Lina et al., 2022). Aziz et al. (2019) discovered that religiosity is a strong predictor of customer willingness to purchase family takaful insurance. Customers’ religiosity, as measured by their knowledge and practice of their faith, influences their willingness to trust a product. They will trust a product if it meets the conditions established by their religious beliefs. Therefore, to increase customers’ confidence, the corporation must pay attention to their religion. In the context of Halal tourism, the tourists’ trust, presumably, depends on their religiosity. The link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H2: 

Religiosity is an influencing factor of tourist trust.

2.3. Digital Halal Literacy and Satisfaction

Digital Halal literacy might relate to tourist satisfaction. Based on previous studies (Örsal et al., 2019; Hayran & Özer, 2018), digital Halal literacy and satisfaction have not been widely studied yet. Thus far, Macleod et al. (2017) stressed the strong link between digital Halal literacy and contentment. However, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, the association between digital Halal literacy and tourist satisfaction, especially in the Halal tourism context, remains neglected. Literacy will lead to satisfaction; when tourists have better digital Halal literacy, it might have an impact on their satisfaction level because they have better knowledge about Halal tourism. The link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H3: 

Digital Halal literacy is an antecedent of tourist satisfaction.

2.4. Halal Destination Attributes and Tourist Satisfaction

Tourist satisfaction is influenced by the tourist’s experience of the destination’s attributes (Basendwah et al., 2024; Bhattacharya et al., 2023; Abror et al., 2021b). According to Suhartanto et al. (2021b), tourists’ experiences of the attributes of Halal tourism will influence their satisfaction toward the destination. Moreover, Dabphet (2021) investigated the significant role of Islamic attributes on Muslim tourist satisfaction in non-Muslim countries. Satisfaction relates to the tourists’ evaluation of the attributes based on their expectation and experience. When Muslim tourists perceive good Halal destination attributes, it will lead to satisfaction with the destination. The link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H4: 

Halal destination attributes influence tourist satisfaction.

2.5. Tourist Satisfaction and Trust

Tourists’ satisfaction might have an impact on their trust in the destination (Abror et al., 2021a; Soren & Chakraborty, 2024; Pham et al., 2024; Dong et al., 2024). According to Dong et al. (2024), satisfaction can formulate confidence within oneself. Subsequently, this leads to a creation of tourist trust (Al-Ansi & Han, 2019). This can occur because satisfaction is one of the positive attitudes with which a person positively reacts to the service offering when they obtain good service experience at the tourist destination. Therefore, it may be argued that satisfaction is an influencing factor of tourists trusting the destination. Despite this relationship direction, some authors have argued that trust is the antecedent of satisfaction (Soren & Chakraborty, 2024; Pham et al., 2024). This relationship direction is because trust can work as a precondition that enhances positive emotional infrastructure, triggering enjoyment and excitement among the consumers, and can also lead to consumer satisfaction. There has been some debate on this relationship, but despite this, this study proposes a credible relationship between satisfaction and trust. When tourists are satisfied with the services provided by the location, they will develop faith in it. The link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H5: 

Tourist satisfaction has an impact on trust.

2.6. Tourist Satisfaction and Citizenship Behavior

Tourist satisfaction is related to citizenship behavior (Nadeem et al., 2021; Prebensen & Xie, 2017; J. Liu & Jo, 2020; Z. Liu et al., 2023; Hwang & Lee, 2019). Some studies have found that satisfaction is the antecedent of citizenship behavior (Hwang & Lee, 2019; Z. Liu et al., 2023; Nadeem et al., 2021). When consumers are happy with the service offerings, they are likely to respond positively and collaborate with tourist destinations for future service engagement. Thus, this promotes better citizenship behavior among consumers. However, other studies have argued that citizenship is a factor influencing satisfaction (J. Liu & Jo, 2020; Grissemann & Stokburger-Sauer, 2012). It is possible that citizenship behavior causes consumers to show initiative, which fosters stronger interpersonal bonds with tourist companies and thus creates a meaningful sense of contribution, which makes consumers happy to participate with the tourist companies. Based on these contradicting views, this relationship remains debatable at present. This research argues that when the tourist is satisfied with the destination’s services, they will exhibit extra-role behavior such as helping other tourists when they are needed. The link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H6: 

Tourist satisfaction has an influence on tourist citizenship behavior.

2.7. Tourist Satisfaction and Revisit Intention

Tourists’ revisit intention can be developed by their satisfaction with the destination (Chung et al., 2024; Rasoolimanesh et al., 2022; Vassiliadis et al., 2021). According to Chung et al. (2024), tourist satisfaction is a major predictor of future visit intention. Satisfaction creates positive attitudes, which triggers individual confidence to accept the service offerings (Almodawer et al., 2024) Moreover, Rasoolimanesh et al. (2022) found that tourists’ satisfaction appears to enhance their intention to visit for both international and domestic tourists. Similarly, Suhartanto et al. (2021b) emphasized that once service satisfaction is improved, it leads to an improvement in domestic tourist satisfaction on tourist revisit intention. Therefore, revisits are likely to occur whenever tourists are happy with the service offerings. The link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H7: 

Tourist satisfaction is an antecedent of revisit intention.

2.8. Trust and Revisit Intention

Previous studies have found that trust can promote the intensity of revisit intention among consumers (Torres-Moraga et al., 2024; Pham et al., 2024; Istanbulluoglu & Sakman, 2024; Sun et al., 2022; Halimi et al., 2021). In the context of the theory of stimulus-organism response (SOR), any improvement in trust can result in a better intention to revisit (Torres-Moraga et al. (2024)). Furthermore, Pham et al. (2024) asserted that trust in ChatGPT has a significant impact on the intention to continue using ChatGPT 4.0. Therefore, when tourists trust the tourism destination, it is highly likely they will revisit the same location in the future. The link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H8: 

Tourist trust has an impact on tourist revisit intention.

2.9. Tourist Trust and Citizenship Behavior

Past investigations highlight trust as an antecedent of citizenship behavior (Song et al., 2019; Ma et al., 2021). Trust in employees has an impact on their organizational citizenship behavior (M. Wang et al., 2023a). Moreover, Ma et al. (2021) underscore that trust represents individuals’ confidence and belief in their actions, creating more positivity in themselves and their surroundings; thus, this creates positive citizenship behavior. It is possible that an enhancement in trust can lead to better citizenship behavior. Similarly, when customers trust the product or service, they will engage in extra activities such as assisting others. Research on the relationship between tourists’ trust and citizenship behavior in the context of Halal tourism remains sparse. The link between these variables is hypothesized below:

H9: 

Tourist trust can affect tourist citizenship behavior.

3. Method

3.1. A Newly Proposed Research Model

All hypotheses discussed in the previous sections are incorporated into Figure 1, demonstrating the newly proposed research model for tourist revisit intention and citizenship behavior. This model begins by asserting that religiosity, digital Halal literacy, and Halal destination attribution have direct impacts on satisfaction and then that religiosity and satisfaction have direct impacts on trust. Finally, the model asserts that satisfaction and trust have direct impacts on revisit intention and citizenship behavior.

3.2. Sampling and Data Collection

The study population was Muslim visitors who visit West Sumatra tourism destinations. In this study, 5 of the top municipalities were selected based on the number of tourists from 19 municipalities and cities in 2022. Based on the 2019–2022 Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI), the province of West Sumatra was chosen for this study since it was found to be a top halal tourism destination according to Mastercard-Crescent Rating Agency (Mastercard-CrescentRating, 2023). Additionally, samples were made up of Muslim visitors to West Sumatra’s tourism destinations, chosen through the purposive sampling technique. The number of samples was determined using the rule of thumb: 10 times the number of items (Hair et al., 2014a). This study employed 33 items and the minimum number of samples was 330. Therefore, the number of samples met the criterion.

In this study, the data were collected through a survey using a questionnaire. During data collection, researchers randomly approached tourists in different parts of the tourist destinations, which ensured that researchers could obtain data from different respondents, resulting in diverse data. The researchers always asked for consent from each tourist who was qualified to participate. Then, the researchers handed a set of questionnaires to the tourist to fill in around 10 min once they agreed to participate. Finally, 400 replies were obtained after two months of data gathering (June–July 2023).

3.3. Measurements and Validity Process

To measure all the variables for this study, the researchers adopted measurement methods from some previous studies. Tourist citizenship behavior was assessed using three items adopted from Ahn et al. (2020), with questions such as “I assist other customers if they need my help”. The method for measuring trust was adopted from Al-Ansi et al. (2019), with “I believe that the label halal for the trip is accurate” as an example item. Satisfaction was assessed using two items that were taken from Al-Ansi et al. (2019), for example, “I think that conducting a Halal trip is a good idea”. Furthermore, the religiosity construct was tested using five items taken from Eid (2015), for example, “the Dua’ (supplication) support me.” Digital Halal literacy was measured as adapted from prior studies (Salehudin, 2010; Y. Wang et al., 2023b), with questions such as “I have knowledge about digital media related to Halal Tourist Destinations”. Halal destination attributes were measured by adopting the questions of Al-Ansi et al. (2019), such as “Availability of Halal food attracted me to visit tourist places”. Finally, revisit intention measurement was adopted from Rather (2021), with questions such as “I feel a sense of belonging to Halal tourism services”.

Meanwhile, all variables’ measurements were revised and modified to create a complete survey tool that was more suitable for Halal Tourist Destinations. The researchers then performed a pilot test on this newly developed survey tool, with 30 respondents. In this test, researchers applied Cronbach’s alpha (scores ≥0.7) to measure the content reliability, finding that there was no concern with content reliability since all variables exhibited scores of over 0.7. However, there were a few comments which outlined some confusion surrounding the items listed in the survey tool. To improve content clarity, researchers continued to revise and modify the remaining containing contents following the respondents’ comments until the survey tool was more understandable and applicable for data collection.

3.4. Data Analysis

In this study, a partial least squares–structural equation model (PLS-SEM) technique was used. Preliminary tests, including evaluations for heteroscedasticity, multicollinearity, and normality, were carried out prior to the major statistical study. We also looked at the reliability and validity of the data using discriminant and convergent validity. Additionally, a set of criteria was used in this study to evaluate the reliability and validity of the measurements used. These included average variance extracted, heterotrait–monotrait (HTMT), Composite Reliability (CR), internal consistency, and Cronbach’s alpha. A common bias test and an analysis of the measurement and structural model were also conducted in this study. Finally, t-test statistics were extracted to explain the significance of relationships.

4. Results

4.1. Demographic Information

This section contains demographic information of tourists who visited Halal Tourist Destinations in Indonesia. The demographic information was classified based on gender, age, education level, monthly expense, and frequency of annual travel presented in percentage. Regarding gender, 62.7% of respondents were female, while only 37.3% were male. Most of the respondents who visited Halal Tourist Destinations were younger generations (93.8%), whereas the rest (6.2%) were more than 40 years old. Regarding education level, most respondents had college degrees (9.8%), while the rest (1.2%) were in high school. The majority of respondents (94.2%) spent up to IDR 7.5 million a month and 85% visited Halal Tourist Destinations at least five times per year.

4.2. Preliminary Test

A number of preliminary tests, such as multicollinearity, homogeneity, and normality tests, were performed before the main analysis. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) was utilized in this work to carry out the multicollinearity test. The VIF value was found to be between 1.33 and 1.59 (<5), and the significance value was found to be >0.05 after the homogeneity test, which was carried out using the Glejser test (Hair et al., 2014b). After using the standard deviation ± 3 criterion for the normality statistics, it was discovered that the variable standard deviations ranged from 0.71 to 2.61. Given the above-mentioned preliminary test results, the data met the standards, allowing data analysis to continue.

4.3. Measurement Model Validity and Reliability

A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was applied to analyze the data and validity and reliability tests were carried out to analyze the model used in this research. The validity and reliability results are displayed in

Table 1. Construct validity and reliability.

Construct	Items	Loading	Alpha	CR	AVE
Tourist Citizenship Behavior (CCB)	I assist other customers if they need my help	0.817	0.809	0.886	0.721
	I help other customers if they seem to have problems	0.852
	I teach other customers to use the service correctly	0.878
Trust	The provider of Halal trip does not make false claims with their product	0.794	0.807	0.873	0.633
	I believe the information that the providers present to the customer is true accurate	0.812
	I believe that the label Halal for the trip is accurate	0.757
	I believe that the Halal signage is reliable	0.818
Satisfaction	I think that conducting Halal trip is a good idea	0.881	0.718	0.876	0.780
	I am satisfied with my overall experience of being a tourist of Halal	0.885
Religiosity	The Dua’ (supplication) support me	0.743	0.835	0.883	0.602
	The prophet Muhammad (peace-be-upon him) is the role model for me	0.803
	I believe that Allah (God) helps me	0.797
	I perform all my prayers	0.769
	I fast the whole month of Ramadhan	0.767
Digital Halal Literacy (DHL)	I have knowledge about various types of Halal tourist destinations	0.719	0.884	0.907	0.551
	I have knowledge about digital media related to Halal Tourist Destinations	0.797
	I have the skills to find various information about Halal tourist destinations on various digital platforms	0.761
	I have the ability to interpret various Halal tourist destinations	0.782
	I have the ability to evaluate whether information about Halal tourist destinations is useful for travel decisions or not	0.732
	I have the ability to use the information contained in digital platforms to plan the trips	0.711
	I have various information about Halal tourist destinations	0.728
	I have the concept of a halal tourist destination awareness	0.703
Halal Destination Attributes	Halal food providers in tourist sites are accredited with Halal certification	0.735	0.844	0.886	0.561
	Availability of Halal food attracted me to visit tourist places	0770
	The design and decoration of tourist places are Halal-friendly (e.g., paintings, pictures, architecture)	0793
	The atmospherics of tourist places comply with Islamic rules	0.707
	The Halal-friendly social environment of tourist places is comfort	0.756
	My overall experiences with Halal-friendly social environment in tourist places are good	0729
Revisit Intention	I think I will come back to West Sumatra in near future	0.715	0.837	0.884	0.606
	I feel a sense of belonging to Halal tourism services	0.761
	I feel that I am a member of Halal tourism service	0770
	I see myself as a part of Halal tourism	0.810
	I am happy to be a part of Halal tourism	0.830

. Based on the fact that the loading factor values were greater than 0.6 and the average variance extracted (AVE) values were greater than 0.5, all measurement items used in this research were valid for further analysis, passing the minimum requirement. Additionally, based on the Composite Reliability (CR) value (>0.7) and Cronbach’s alpha, it was discovered that all constructions were valid and reliable (Hair et al., 2014b). By using Cronbach’s alpha > 0.7, this study also confirmed the internal consistency of the data.

Additionally, as indicated in

Table 2. Discriminant validity using HTMT criterion.

Construct	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
Citizenship Behavior	0.450
Halal Destination Attribution	0.429	0.547
Digital Halal Literacy	0.187	0.444	0.187
Religiosity	0.623	0.553	0.509	0.348
Revisit Intention	0.529	0.626	0.574	0.547	0.516
Satisfaction	0.503	0.656	0.477	0.511	0.594	0.797
Trust	0.411	0.308	0.459	0.603	0.517	0.544	0.662

, this investigation used HTMT to verify the discriminant validity. The correlation value between variables was smaller than 0.90; hence, it was determined that there was no issue with discriminant validity. Meanwhile, this study examined common method bias using Harman’s single-factor model. The overall variance recovered for one factor was 26.59% (less than 40%), which indicated no significant indication of potential bias in the data.

4.4. Statistical Findings of SEM and Hypothesis Testing

The findings from hypothesis testing for the structural model are provided in

Table 3. Critical results and hypothesis testing.

	Hypothesis	Coefficient	SD	p-Value	Significant Level	Hypothesis Verdict
H1	Religiosity → Satisfaction	0.29	0.044	*	Significant	Supported
H2	Religiosity → Trust	0.21	0.051	*	Significant	Supported
H3	Digital Halal Literacy → Satisfaction	0.30	0.045	**	Significant	Supported
H4	Halal Destination Attribution → Satisfaction	0.24	0.052	*	Significant	Supported
H5	Satisfaction → Trust	0.52	0.042	**	Significant	Supported
H6	Satisfaction → Tourist Citizenship Behavior	0.24	0.068	*	Significant	Supported
H7	Satisfaction → Revisit Intention	0.16	0.064	*	Significant	Supported
H8	Trust → Revisit Intention	0.40	0.056	**	Significant	Supported
H9	Trust → Tourist Citizenship Behavior	0.28	0.058	*	Significant	Supported

Note: * indicates a significant p-value of <0.05, while ** indicates a significant p-value of <0.001. SD indicates standard deviation.

and Figure 2. The results indicate that all hypotheses were significant. First, satisfaction was significantly influenced by religiosity (β = 0.29, SD = 0.044, p < 0.05), digital Halal literacy (β = 0.30, SD = 0.045, p < 0.001), and Halal destination attribution (β = 0.24, SD = 0.052, p < 0.05). Based these factor strengths regarding satisfaction, digital Halal literacy was the strongest influencing factor for tourist satisfaction, followed by religiosity and Halal destination attribution.

Next, trust was significantly influenced by religiosity (β = 0.21, SD = 0.051, p < 0.05) and satisfaction (β = 0.52, SD = 0.042, p < 0.001). From these statistics, satisfaction contributed more to tourist trust than religiosity did.

After that, revisit intention was significantly influenced by satisfaction (β = 0.16, SD = 0.064, p < 0.05) and trust (β = 0.40, SD = 0.056, p < 0.001). In comparison to satisfaction, trust was the stronger factor influencing tourist revisit intention.

Finally, citizenship behavior was significantly influenced by satisfaction (β = 0.24, SD = 0.068, p < 0.05) and trust (β = 0.28, SD = 0.058, p < 0.001). Based on these statistics, trust continued to be the stronger factor influencing tourist citizenship behaviors, compared to the strength of satisfaction.

5. Discussion

Based on the impacts on satisfaction, religiosity was a strong predictor of tourist satisfaction, supporting hypothesis 1. This finding is supported by some previous research, such as Suhartanto et al. (2019) and Abror et al. (2021b). However, this study found that tourists with better religiosity values exhibited better satisfaction toward the destination. For normal destinations, when tourists know something is good or bad based on their religious beliefs, it normally influences their expectations and needs because all human beings are bound by emotional connections and understanding. However, Muslim tourists treat religiosity more carefully and considered it the spiritual alignment to their obligations and motivation. Therefore, any improvement in religiosity arrangement promotes more positive feelings, which resulted in high satisfaction. As a result, tourists were satisfied with their travel once the improvement in religiosity surpassed their expectations. Furthermore, digital Halal literacy was associated with tourist satisfaction, supporting hypothesis 3. It was found that digital Halal literacy created symbolic communication in tourists who visited Halal Tourist Destinations. Similar to other digital literacy in normal tourism contexts, its symbolic communication enhanced convenience and accessibility to tourists, allowing them to quickly experience hospitality services based on Halal certifications, logos, icons, and other digital hotel signage. This created ease of access to services, which promoted the service experiences of all tourists who visited Halal Tourist Destinations. Subsequently, it increased clarity and understanding in many tourists and thus improved tourist satisfaction during their stay. Halal destination attribution was associated with tourist satisfaction, supporting hypothesis 4. This discovery supports previous research, such as Suhartanto et al. (2021b) and Dabphet (2021), outlining the significant impact of destination attribution on tourist satisfaction. In other non-Muslim contexts, destination attribution played a significant role in promoting service values through providing friendly service offerings, care, quick solutions, and attractiveness to all visitors. These were the core benefits that many tourists felt was worth spending time in traveling to such destinations. In an Islamic contact, the Halal destination attributions were further signified beyond the normal contexts because the service offerings include Islamic physical attributes such as Halal-certified food, prayer facilities, gender-segregated amenities, and alcohol-free environments. Meanwhile, many hotels and other hospitality service industries at Halal Tourist Destinations had to display friendly staff behavior, modest dress codes, and Sharia-complaint financial services, contributing to the sense of comfort and respect, which reinforced individual positive emotions in their travel to Halal Tourist Destinations. As a result, this triggered significantly more satisfaction among tourists.

Religiosity significantly predicts tourist trust, supporting hypothesis 2. This result is similar to those of previous studies such as Lina et al. (2022) and Aziz et al. (2019). In a normal context, religiosity underscores the value congruence in which tourists could somehow possess strong religious beliefs, which influenced their desires to travel to their destinations. Many tourists and travelers often perceived this as a sign of safety and authenticity around the destinations where they were ensured peace and relaxation. Similarly, the religiosity in Halal Tourist Destinations also provided spiritual assurance to tourists to feel supported, safe, and relaxed. This created emotional and religious comfort to Muslim tourists who obtained a sense of credibility and built trust with the destinations. Then, satisfaction significantly influenced tourist trust, supporting hypothesis 5. This study found that when tourists were happy with their travel to Halal Tourist Destinations, their expectations appeared to be fulfilled. This fulfillment indicated their positive evaluation of Halal Tourist Destinations, where they could truly enjoy the services with their families and relatives, and subsequently promoted tourists’ understanding and acceptance of service delivery promises, which made tourists see the reliability and authenticity of the service offerings. Therefore, this could significantly increase tourist trust at Halal Tourist Destinations.

Based on the impacts on tourist revisit intention, satisfaction was associated with revisit intention, supporting hypothesis 7. When the tourists were satisfied with the services, they had a higher probability of revisiting the destination in the future. This finding is in line with some prior studies (Chung et al., 2024; Rasoolimanesh et al., 2022; Vassiliadis et al., 2021). Despite this similarity, the result of this study highlighted that satisfaction indicated the individuals’ acceptance with the service performance exceeding their expectations; thus, it created positive emotional responses to the service offerings which normally occurred in other tourist contexts. Similarly, when tourists were happy with their traveling experience at Halal Tourist Destinations—whether through service quality, destination image, or cultural contact—they often felt that they wanted to come back to obtain such satisfactory experiences again. This indicated that they were more likely to visit the same places in the future. Therefore, it was possible that satisfaction created a positive emotional memory that encouraged future repeat visits. Second, tourist trust has an impact on revisit intention, supporting hypothesis 8. This finding supports the results of Torres-Moraga et al. (2024) and Pham et al. (2024) who identified a significant connection between tourist trust and revisit intention. However, this study identified that trust promoted confidence in traveling experiences to tourist destinations. When tourists felt trusted, they often showed their beliefs in the consistent quality of service offerings at the tourist destinations. In Halal Tourist Destinations, trust also promoted confidence in traveling experiences and beliefs in the promised service quality; thus, this led to a significant reduction in uncertainty that built emotional connections to Halal Tourist Destinations and made the tourists more inclined to revisit the same place without any hesitation.

Tourist satisfaction was significantly associated with tourist citizenship behavior, supporting hypothesis 6. This result was found to be consistent with past studies (Hwang & Lee, 2019; Na-Nan et al., 2020; Nadeem et al., 2021), highlighting satisfaction as the predictor of citizenship behavior. However, in this study, satisfaction was identified as one of the indicators that promoted a reciprocity norm, making tourists feel valued and well-treated after receiving service offerings at the tourist destination. For tourists who visited Halal Tourist Destinations, when they were happy with their travel within the destinations, they were more likely to reciprocate through helpful behaviors. Furthermore, they also started to build emotional bonds with the destinations where they felt motivated to act in supportive ways such as promoting the destination and engaging in respectful conduct with the community. All of these acts pushed tourists to advocate for the destination and further support the local businesses in Halal Tourist Destinations. Finally, tourist trust was significantly associated with citizenship behavior, supporting hypothesis 9. Previous studies have investigated the link between trust and citizenship behavior in the context of human resource management (M. Wang et al., 2023a; Ma et al., 2021). Despite this similarity, this study found that trust normally indicated individuals’ emotional security in relation to service consumptions. This sense of security encouraged them to move beyond passive consumption and engage in citizenship behaviors (e.g., word of mouth, recommending services to their friends, performing other promotion activities). In Halal tourism contexts, tourist trust also outlined the sense of security that encourages tourists to further engage in activity with the local people and community and thus enhances tourists’ citizenship behaviors. Through this they can support the community, respect local customs, and advocate for the destinations.

6. Theoretical Contribution

This study has helped to advance knowledge in the Halal tourism marketing context through conceptualizing, operationalizing, and examining the impacts of religiosity, digital Halal literacy, and Halal destination attribution on satisfaction, trust, revisit intention, and tourism citizenship behavior. These enhance our understanding as follows:

First, it was observed that tourists are happy when there is an improvement in religiosity, digital Halal literacy, and Halal destination attribution. Particularly, religiosity can create belief sharing and community connections, which lead to spiritual motivation and emotional fulfillment among tourists, thus promoting increased satisfaction in trips to Halal tourism areas. Furthermore, digital Halal literacy also promotes digital content to visitors and tourists, aligning with Islamic values and travel needs, and thus community engagement can be developed, where tourists can share experiences, recommendations, and feelings concerning the global Halal travel community. This leads to more satisfactory experiences for the tourists. Meanwhile, Halal destination attribution also contributes valuable traveling experience to the tourists via a combination of Halal food, Islamic architecture, and cultural experiences that make the destinations more appealing to tourists, thus boosting comfort and positive attitudes and making tourists happy with their travels.

Second, we observed that religiosity and satisfaction significantly contribute to tourist trust. In particular, religiosity enhances respectful cultural norms, which trigger a sense of alignment in Islamic values and hence trigger tourists’ religious beliefs. Moreover, tourist satisfaction outlines the positive expectation and experience derived from good service offerings, which promotes emotional connection, creating trust in Halal Tourist Destinations.

Finally, we observed that satisfaction and trust play significant roles in promoting revisit intention and citizenship behavior among tourists to Halal Tourist Destinations. With a better satisfaction, tourists are more likely to make good memories with their friends and relatives at Halal Tourist Destinations which surpass their expectation. Meanwhile, their trust also promotes their confidence, which enhances their acceptance and participation with the Halal tourism areas. This can trigger a desire to revisit the Halal Tourist Destination in the future. Furthermore, they appear to contribute efforts towards improving the tourism areas in collaboration with the local people so that others can have similar travel experiences and experience similar relaxation.

7. Managerial Implications

From this study’s results, several managerial implications are provided as contributions to practical efforts in further developing the Halal tourism areas. To make such improvements, the following improvements in all related agencies and institutions in the Halal tourism industry are recommended:

First, religiosity should be promoted in Halal Tourist Destinations. This can be accomplished via providing infrastructure support to the tourists such as prayer rooms and Halal food options. Meanwhile, community engagement within the local areas also promotes the involvement of local religious leaders and communities in sharpening tourism offerings so that it can align with Islamic principles.

Second, digital Halal literacy should be promoted in Halal Tourist Destinations. The agencies and institutions can offer smart tourism infrastructures where QR codes, digital signage, and smartphone apps can be used to guide users toward Halal services and prayer spaces. In addition, they can also collaborate with tech startups by partnering with developers to create Halal travel apps, AR-based heritage tours, and AI-powered itinerary planners so that tourists can use and learn more about Halal travel tips, practices, and service consumptions in Halal Tourist Destinations in the future.

Third, Halal destination attribution should be further promoted. The agencies and institutions can collaborate with all related stakeholders via engaging with local businesses, religious leaders, and tourism boards to ensure high authenticity and compliance for maximizing Halal service value to tourists so that they can obtain better lifestyle experiences.

Fourth, tourist satisfaction should be promoted in Halal Tourist Destinations. Agencies and institutions carry out digital integration for smartphone apps and smart signage to enhance convenient consumption experiences for all tourists; thus, this can promote positive traveling experiences with the tourists. Meanwhile, feedback-driven design was conducted using digital platforms to survey tourists’ insights and make some suitable adaptations in Halal hospitality services for travelers’ needs.

Finally, tourist trust should be highly maintained in Halal Tourist Destinations. The agencies and institutions have to offer their staff enough training regarding Halal hospitality services with cultural sensitivity and Islamic hospitality principles. This can ensure consistent service quality that meets Halal standards and expectations of the tourists. Furthermore, all Halal hospitality service providers are encouraged to obtain transparent certifications which show visible Halal certifications and digital verification tools to reduce ambiguity among their tourists.

8. Conclusions

The overall aim of this study is to examine the associations between religiosity, digital Halal literacy, Halal destination attributes, satisfaction, and trust with tourist revisit intention and tourist citizenship behavior. The results of this study demonstrate that religiosity, digital Halal literacy, and Halal destination attribution significantly influence tourist satisfaction. Meanwhile, satisfaction and digital Halal literacy significantly influence tourist trust. Finally, satisfaction and trust are significant predictors of tourist revisit intention and citizenship behavior.

To sum up, the success of promoting tourist revisit intention and citizenship behavior relies heavily on how religiosity, digital Halal literacy, and Halal destination attribution are well-developed from an early stage. Improving these three factors in Halal tourist destinations can enhance tourist satisfaction and trust, which formulates significant relationships between tourists and Halal tourist destinations. As a result, tourists are highly likely to exhibit high interest in not only revisiting the same places but also showing more support for and involvement in the local people and community at Halal Tourist Destinations.

9. Limitations and Future Studies

Despite having completed its objective, this study also has some limitations. First, the results were found to follow the direction of causal relationships from satisfaction → trust and satisfaction → citizenship behaviors. In contrast, some studies have identified the reverse direction of causal relationships (trust and citizenship influencing satisfaction); thus, the relationships between these variables are still debatable. Therefore, future research should consider testing the reverse causal directions between these variables so that researchers obtain different results and conclusions.

Second, this study featured a cross-sectional design, which was designed to understand tourist behavior at the current time. Future research should apply longitudinal studies to explore the dynamic nature of revision intention and citizenship behaviors among tourists in the long term.

Third, this study was conducted in Indonesia, concentrating on Halal Tourist Destinations; hence, it may be difficult to justify revisit intention and citizenship behaviors in other tourism destinations. Future research can apply this current research model to further investigate revisit intention and citizenship behaviors in normal contexts to determine new consumers’ insights so that new policies and practical implications can be developed.

Finally, this study concentrated on the impacts of religiosity, digital Halal literacy, and Halal destination attribution on satisfaction, as well as the impact of trust on revisit intention and citizenship behaviors. However, there may be other potential factors, such as memorable experiences and psychological ownership, that significantly contribute to revisit intention and citizenship behaviors. Therefore, future research should incorporate these two factors to examine tourist revision intention and citizenship behaviors.