The Effects of Interactional Experience of Tourists on Their Attitudes to the Host (case study: Mashhad)

Tourist-host relations are inevitable in the destination. The tourists expect to have a good experience in their interactions with the host. However, when they encounter unpleasant actions, they get contradictory attitudes towards the destination. This paper studied the effects of tourist-host interactional experience on tourists’ attitudes towards the local people. Four groups of service providers were selected: vehicle drivers, the staff of the Holy Shrine, resellers, and citizens of Mashhad. Data about the tourists’ experiences were extracted from open questions in the questionnaire. Participants’ qualitative experiences were then categorized and codified by thematic analysis in two categories of positive and negative experiences. After counting the thematic codes, attitudes of pilgrims and tourists were measured using a Likert scale. The results showed that the average score of tourists’ attitudes towards the people of Mashhad was 3.33 (1-5), which showed a neutral attitude to the hosts. Among the demographic characteristics, only age and education had significant relations with the pilgrims’ attitude. Age had a positive relation, while education had a negative relation. Besides, interactional experiences influenced the pilgrims’ and tourists’ attitudes. When they had pleasant and positive experiences with the hosts, their attitudes increased positively, while their negative and unpleasant experiences with the host, led to their negative attitudes.