Model Summary

Heritage tourism has increasingly emphasized the importance of guide-tourist interactions in shaping visitor experiences and satisfaction outcomes. This study examined the impact of tourist guides’ trust-building and rapport development on international tourists’ satisfaction at Sigiriya heritage site in Sri Lanka. The research problem addressed the lack of empirical evidence on how tourist guides’ guides’ trust-building and rapport development influence satisfaction in heritage tourism contexts. The main objective was to determine the relationship between tourist guides’ trust-building and rapport development behaviors and international tourists’ satisfaction. A quantitative research approach was employed, collecting data from 100 international tourists using structured questionnaires. Correlation and regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between variables. The results revealed a strong positive correlation between trust-building and rapport development behaviors and tourist satisfaction (r=0.831, p<0.01). Regression analysis demonstrated that trust-building and rapport development significantly predicts tourist satisfaction (R² =.690, F= 218.530, p<0.001), explaining 69% of the variance in satisfaction outcomes. The findings confirm that trust-building and rapport development behaviors are crucial determinants of tourist satisfaction in heritage tourism contexts. The study recommends implementing trust-focused training programs for tourist guides and developing standardized assessment tools for guide-tourist interaction quality.