Cultural Sensitivity and Tourists’ Engagement Among Culture-based Destinations in CALABARZON Region: The Mediating Role of Perceived Authenticity

CALABARZON’s heritage corridors hold over a thousand inventoried cultural assets, yet the region still negotiates the tension between safeguarding living traditions and welcoming inquisitive visitors. Drawing on surveys completed by 394 domestic travelers, this study examines how an open attitude toward local customs (cultural sensitivity) evolves into deeper tourist engagement, and how this pathway is amplified when the experience feels genuine (perceived authenticity). A mediation analysis using Hayes’ PROCESS Model 4 (5,000 bootstrap samples) through SPSS revealed that cultural sensitivity significantly predicted perceived authenticity, a = 0.959, SE = 0.0124, t(393) = 77.07, p < .001, R² = .24; perceived authenticity in turn predicted tourist engagement, b = 0.442, SE = 0.0454, t(392) = 9.74, p < .001. The direct effect of cultural sensitivity on engagement remained significant, c′ = 0.468, SE = 0.0449, t(392) = 10.40, p < .001, and the total effect was c = 0.891, SE = 0.0125, t(393) = 71.41, p < .001. Bootstrap results indicated a significant indirect effect, ab = 0.424, SE = 0.0439, 95 % CI [0.340, 0.508], accounting for 47.6 % of the total effect. The model explained 94 % of the variance in engagement (R² = .94). These insights invite planners and hosts to move beyond surface‐level presentations and craft dialogue‐rich encounters that foreground community voices.