THE ANTECEDENT OF INTENTION TO VISIT HALAL TOURISM AREASUSING THE THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR: THE MODERATING EFFECT OF RELIGIOSITY

Halal tourism has a significant current market share. The increasing number of tourists from Muslim countries is a consideration for many areasto change their marketing strategies. In various works of literature, religiosity plays a role in consumer behavior. In this study, religiosity becomes a mediating variable from the subjective norm, attitude, and perceived behavioral control (PBC) to the intention to visit a halaltourismarea. This study modifies the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), intending to understandhow intense religiosity affects tourists’decisions to visit ahalal tourism area.The number of respondents in this study amounted to 590 people. Questionnaires weredistributed via Google formsto tourists in Indonesia and analyzed through Moderated Regression Analysis to test the moderating effect of the religiosity variable. This research shows new informationrelated to the religiosity variable. TPB can predict the intention to visit ahalal tourism area. Subjective normsand attitudeshave apositive and significant impact, while PBC has a positive but insignificant impact on intention. Still, religiosity does not play a role in strengthening the three exogenous variables that can affect the intention to visit ahalal tourism area.The insignificant impact of religiosity in moderating the three independent variables may be because,in Muslim-majority countries, domestic tourists do not have to consider the halal aspect of ahalal tourism area. Halal restaurants and places of worship are relatively easy to find, especially in provinces that are known for having a religious presenc