Purpose This study examines how rapport is formed between pilgrims and tour guides and its consequences in Islamic tour packages. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted with 316 Muslims in Pakistan who had previously participated in pilgrimage tour packages. Findings The results revealed a positive relationship between cognitive trust and affective trust in information provided by tour guides. Both forms of trust enhanced rapport between pilgrims and tour guides, which in turn increased tour satisfaction. Tour satisfaction positively affected well-being perception, which subsequently influenced destination loyalty. Practical implications This study’s results can be utilized by Umrah travel agencies and tourism marketers to enhance pilgrims’ well-being perception and destination loyalty by strengthening tour guides’ informational credibility and rapport-building competencies. Originality/value This study extends information trust research by distinguishing cognitive trust and affective trust in pilgrims’ evaluations of tour-guide information and by showing that cognitive trust is a strong antecedent of affective trust in a sacred service encounter. In this sacred-destination context, rapport and perceived well-being provide more meaningful pathways to future sacred-destination revisit intention than tour satisfaction alone, as satisfaction did not directly predict the final loyalty outcome.
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Hwang et al. (2026) studied this question.
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