Purpose: This paper investigates tourists' experience from the encounter with Islamic architecture and how it influences the formation of loyalty towards the visited destination, focusing on Islamic architecture in Putrajaya.
Methods/Design/approach: This study employed a convenient sampling approach targeting domestic tourists in Malaysia. Self-administered online questionnaires were distributed through social media platforms, including Whatsapp, Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. The distribution of questionnaires on Facebook was done through social groups, such as 'Kaki Cuti', 'Bercuti di Negara sendiri', 'Jom Melancong'. A total of 265 samples were collected and data were analysed through descriptive analysis and statistical tests.
Findings: The findings shows that aesthetic experience, emotional experience, and engaging experience are significant predictors of destination loyalty, with aesthetic experience as the strongest predictor. This means tourists experienced strong visual aesthetic stimulation in engaging with Islamic architecture, which resulted in significant influence on destination loyalty. Tourists also experience a significant level of emotional stimulation due to the special connection of religious bonds.
Implication/Limitations: This study focused only on the perspective of domestic tourists due to the current scenario of COVID-19 pandemic. Future research is to look into the perspective of international tourists on Islamic architecture in Malaysia
