The influence of event attributes on tourist’s loyalty: Evidence from the Ashoura event in Yazd City

Many studies have found that the perceived authenticity of cultural and religious events affects event satisfaction and loyalty. Little is currently known about how perceived authenticity is affected by the facilities, such as food and the availability of information, which are independent determinants of satisfaction and loyalty. This study aims to examine the antecedents of event loyalty. Questionnaire data were collected from 315 tourists participated in Ashoura event. This article explores this complex relationship using empirical data collected through a survey conducted during 2017 Ashoura event. The results indicate 53% of the variance of the event loyalty followed by event satisfaction and 35% of it belongs to event perceived authenticity. In addition, the results show that the greater the perceived authenticity with the event leads to the higher the degree of satisfaction with the event as indicated by a parameter estimated as 0.56 (p < 0.01). However, the relationship between facilities and event loyalty is no significant (0.006; p > 0.01). Based on the findings, the study concluded that facilities influence tourists’ loyalty through event satisfaction and perceived existential authenticity.