Nor'ain Othman

Tourist perceived value in a community-based homestay visit: An investigation into the functional and experiential aspect of value

This study analyses the dimensionality of tourist perceived value in a context that is rarely studied, community-based homestay tourism. A survey of 353 tourists to homestay villages was used to examine both functional and experiential aspects of perceived value, and structural equation models were used to verify the validity and reliability of the scales. Tourist perceived value was tested and illustrated through a parsimonious construct with five dimensions: (i) functional value (establishment); (ii) functional value (price); (iii) experiential value (host-guest interaction); (iv) experiential value (activity, culture and knowledge); and (v) emotional value. These dimensions were measured by 20 significant items. The results indicate that functional, emotional and experiential factors are important determinants of the perceived value of community-based homestay tourism. It is therefore recommended that host providers, marketers and governments should pay attention to the order of importance of these value dimensions to increase overall tourist value as well as to better develop the positioning strategies and promotion of this tourism niche.

The Moderating Influence of Psychographics in Homestay Tourism in Malaysia

ABSTRACT Like other special interest tourism products, homestay as a community-based tourism product has shown substantial growth in terms of number of visits in recent years. Nevertheless, compared to other special interest tourism products, visitor behavior in homestay tourism has been neglected by the literature. This study fills this void by investigating the relationships between perceived value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention, and by examining the moderating influence of psychographics in a homestay tourism context. Respondents were visitors who visited selected homestay villages in Malaysia. Multi-group structural equation analysis was used to test for group differences in the structural weights.

Visitors Experiences, Expectations and Satisfaction in Trade Shows and Exhibitions

A trade show and exhibition is an important promotion tool for communication which includes information exchange. Participating in international trade shows and exhibitions is an approach that facilitates global expansion. Achieving better trade show and exhibition performance should be a vital issue for participating companies because they dedicate budgets and time for the participation. The purpose of this chapter is to examine visitor experiences across different stands and other event areas at the trade show and exhibition; to identify visitor expectations with the different exhibitors and with other visitors; to identify visitor satisfaction through their evaluations of different experiences at the trade show and exhibition; and to propose a new perspective to see business visitor behavior from an experiential standpoint. Ethnographic methods are adopted based on extensive study and an immersion in a selected trade show and exhibition in Malaysia. This chapter provides an initial understanding of the nature of the experiences provided at trade shows and exhibitions. In reporting corresponding visitor responses, this chapter will also contribute to research on trade show and exhibition performance.

Balancing Development and Sustainability in Tourism Destinations

The issues of conservation, restoration and sustainability in tropical environments are critical for the health of the world. As tourism industry continues to grow, it plays important role in the development of tropical countries, and benefits from the conservation and sustainability of the cultural and environmental resources. The issues of managing the balance between the development of tourism in tropical environments and the sustainability of traditional and sensitive places have inspired the conduct of an international tourism conference on 29–31 July 2015 in Lombok, Indonesia. A number of authors looked at various constituents of tourism sector and analyzed each of those from a sustainability standpoint. The tourism development and its sustainability were addressed in three main parts: (1) ecotourism, local culture, and marketing issues, (2) local community participation and tourist behavior issues; and, (3) sustainability and economic development in tourism.

Attitudes, Lifestyle and Social Benefits of Local Communities Towards Islamic Tourism Development in Malaysia

Muslim market is one of the latest growing market segments in the world. Muslim countries, such as Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Indonesia have developed Islamic tourism in marketing the country as a holiday destination for Muslim travellers. Non-Muslim countries, such as Japan, Korea, Thailand and Europe also show great interest to attract this market. There are various issues and challenges faced by these countries. Malaysia, being a multiracial and multi-religious country with Islamic modernization and revivalism has provided an interesting research context for Islamic tourism development. The issues and challenges such as the sensitivities and sensibilities of the other religion towards the implementation of Islamic tourism in the country may exist. These issues are also supported based on the previous studies where problems such as complications of the relationship and disagreement between religious practices occurred when tourism and Islamic religion came in contact. Thus, this study aimed to (i) identify the most influential socio-cultural attributes towards the development of Islamic tourism in Malaysia, (ii) to investigate the relationship between socio-cultural attributes and the development of Islamic tourism in Malaysia, and (iii) to examine the government support as the moderating variable towards the development of Islamic tourism in Malaysia. The findings and results from this research may benefit the local communities as well as the government particularly the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and also Islamic Tourism Centre (ITC). The outcome of this study also could be used as an indicator in setting up the particular policy standard for Islamic tourism development. As for the local communities which consist of multiracial community, they surely will have a better understanding regarding the proper Islamic tourism perspective.

Innovative System Indicators for Islamic Tourism Using C-PEST Factors

Islamic tourism is seen from a different perspective as compared to the conventional tourism, such as economic, cultural and religious. The qualitative research design has been incorporated to assess the innovative system indicators through systematic analysis. Basically, it is an exploratory study of the Competitive-Political, Economic, Social and Technological (C-PEST) factors that were conducted through three phases to understand current and potential Islamic tourism market in the tourism industry. The preliminary stage involves a comprehensive literature review taken as a foundation of Islamic tourism concept, theories and principles from the Holy Quran, Hadith, and tourism reports. Phase two (2) and three (3) involves the field survey with tourists and interviews with key informants from tourism suppliers.

The vulnerable context of tourism development: evidence from Sri Lanka.

A large number of countries adapted tourism as a significant tool for development, but over utilisation of resources and negative impacts were claimed planned tourism development to ensure the sustainability. Sri Lanka also embarked on the tourism industry, beginning in the 1960s with planned tourism development. This paper intends to identify and understand the broader context of tourism development and its vulnerability with reference to Sri Lanka. This study adopted an inductive descriptive analysis methodology through informal and formal interviews and participant observation, in addition to a wide documentary analysis. Many researchers and authors verify that planned tourism development determines positive outcomes and attainment of desired objectives. Until 1982, Sri Lanka had recorded highly favourable growth in tourism. Since 1983 planning deficiencies, internal crises and natural disasters have curtailed the progress of planned tourism development. Conceptually, the tourism planning process provides positive outlooks of a potential tourism industry but in a broader context, political, socio-cultural, environmental and economic stability determine tourism development in a destination.