宗教是人類的信仰文化，宗教文化是人類重要的資源，宗教觀光形成一種大規模的旅遊模式，也是全球最大規模的觀光旅遊活動之一，因此探討宗教觀光客的行為模式有其絕對的必要性。本研究目的在探討北港朝天宮遊客旅遊動機、認知價值與忠誠度之相關研究，以北港鎮朝天宮遊客為研究對象，採系統抽樣方式進行，共發出500份問卷，得到有效問卷487份，以描述性統計、因素分析、t檢定、單因子變異數分析、皮爾森積差相關分析、多元迴歸分析進行統計分析，研究結果發現：1.遊客前往北港朝天宮旅遊的主要動機為「拜拜祈願」、「體驗媽祖宗教文化」、「放鬆心情紓解壓力」；2.遊客認知價值主要為「獲得多元體驗活動」、「值回票價」、「認識古蹟建築」；3.忠誠度以「會再次前來朝天宮參拜」的平均數為最高。4.不同的婚姻狀況、年齡、學歷會影響遊客對北港朝天宮的旅遊動機；不同的婚姻狀況、年齡會影響遊客對北港朝天宮認知價值；不同的婚姻狀況、學歷、職業會影響遊客對北港朝天宮忠誠度。5.旅遊動機、認知價值與忠誠度呈現正相關，且旅遊動機、認知價值對忠誠度具有正向影響。本研究根據研究結果，提供給相關主管單位參考，亦對後續研究者提供後續研究方向。

Religious tourism is one of the fastest growth activities in the holiday industry whereby people travel individually or in groups for missionary or leisure purposes. As religious tourism is unlike commercial tourism, it is not done for exclusively hedonistic purposes, so it becomes one of largest tourism activities in the world. In Taiwan, religious tourism comprise an estimated billions dollars in this industry. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to explore tourists' behavior characteristics. This paper has reviewed many literatures published in a variety of journals before the study. The purposes of this study were 1. to identify tourists' traveling motivation 2. to understand tourists' perceived value 3. to explore tourists' loyalty. The object of this study was the tourists who visited Chaotian Temple located in Beigang, Yunlin County, Taiwan. The researchers adopted systematic sampling by issuing a total of 500 questionnaires, and 487 were valid. For the data analysis, the researchers conducted descriptive statistics, factor analysis, t-test, one-way ANOVA and Pearson product-moment correlation, stepwise multiple regression analyses. The findings from this study were; 1) Main travel motivations from tourists who visited the Beigang Chaotian Temple, are ”Worship and Pray”, ”The experience of the Matsu Religious Culture” and ”Relax and Relief of Stress”, 2) Perceived values received by tourists were ”Availability of Multiple Religious Activities”, ”Worth of the Trip”, ”Realization of the Antique Temple; 3) In the significance of loyalty, ”Willingness to revisit Chaotian Temple” was the most significant. 4) Based on the research findings, there were significant differences among Chaotian Temple tourists' social-demographic characteristics, their traveling motivation are significantly affected by marital status, age, education.level. In addition to; tourists' perceived value was also significantly affected by different marital status, age. Furthermore, the loyalty was significantly affected by marital status, education level, and occupation. 5) Tourist's travel motivation, perceived value and loyalty were positively correlated; loyalty was positive affected by travel motivation, perceived value. According to above results, this study proposed some managerial suggestions for Chaotian Temple operators, and also the policy-makers. Finally, the recommendations for future research were also discussed.