Volume 13, Issue 7 (July 2026), Pages: 231-243

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 Original Research Paper

Place attachment to Kuala Lumpur as an Islamic city tourism destination: The influence of place attractiveness and experience quality

 Author(s): 

Asim Alamssi, Ahmad Azmi M. Ariffin *, Nur Wafaa A. Shaimi

 Affiliation(s):

Graduate School of Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia

 Full text

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 * Corresponding Author. 

   Corresponding author's ORCID profile:  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6204-8304

 Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

 
https://doi.org/10.21833/ijaas.2026.07.022

 Abstract

Islamic tourism is a growing global trend, driven by the increasing Muslim population worldwide. This study examines the antecedents of place attachment in the context of Islamic tourism. Specifically, it investigates the factors that build a strong emotional bond with Kuala Lumpur to enhance its attractiveness and competitiveness among Muslim tourists. Data were collected through structured questionnaires from Muslim tourists selected using a purposive sampling technique. A total of 596 responses, collected at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), tourist attractions around Kuala Lumpur city center, and through an online survey, were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The findings showed that core destination attributes had a significant direct effect on place attachment, whereas augmented destination attributes and Islamic destination attributes did not have significant direct effects. However, all three dimensions significantly improved experience quality, which in turn significantly strengthened place attachment. The mediation analysis further showed that experience quality significantly mediated the relationships between all three dimensions of place attractiveness and place attachment. Emotional bonding plays an important role in influencing tourists’ future behaviors, including repeat visits, longer stays, higher spending, and positive word of mouth. These findings provide useful implications for tourism marketing and planning organizations seeking to strengthen Kuala Lumpur’s position as an Islamic city tourism destination.

 © 2026 The Authors. Published by IASE.

 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

 Keywords

Place attachment, Place attractiveness, Experience quality, Islamic tourism, Muslim tourists

 Article history

Received 31 January 2026, Received in revised form 26 July 2026, Accepted 31 July 2026

 Acknowledgment

This study is funded by the GP-GSB 2026 Research Grant (UKM.GSB.800-3/2/5). 

 Compliance with ethical standards

 Ethical considerations

This study was conducted in accordance with the ethical principles for research involving human participants. Ethical approval was granted by the Graduate School of Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (Approval No. GPGSB-2025). Verbal informed consent was obtained from all participants before data collection after they were informed about the purpose of the study, the voluntary nature of participation, and the confidentiality of their responses. No personally identifiable information was collected. 

 Citation:

Alamssi A, Ariffin AAM, and Shaimi NWA (2026). Place attachment to Kuala Lumpur as an Islamic city tourism destination: The influence of place attractiveness and experience quality. International Journal of Advanced and Applied Sciences, 13(7): 231-243

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