Homestay in Sri Lanka. Operators' and Clients' perspective

Table of Contents

Abstract

Acknowledgement

Contents

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
1.2 Problem Statement
1.3 Research Questions
1.4 Objectives of the Study
1.5 Hypotheses
1.6 Significance of the Study
1.7 Summary of the Methodology
1.8 Limitations of the Study
1.9 Organization of Chapters
1.10 Summary

CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Tourists' Demographic Characteristics
2.3 Homestay
2.3.1Evolution of Homestays
2.3.2Homestay Context
2.3.3Morphological Changes of Homestays
2.3.4Authenticity and Homestay Product
2.4 Tourism Product Attributes
2.4.1Destination attributes: an overview
2.5 Tourists' Satisfaction
2.6 Tourists' Motivation
2.7 Homestay: benefits, issues and challenges
2.7.1Benefits of Homestay programme
2.7.2Issues and Challenges of Homestay Programmes
2.8 Summary

CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Research Design
3.2.1Specification of Empirical Model
3.3 Population and Sampling
3.3.1 Population
3.3.2 Sample frame
3.3.3 Sample and Data Collection
3.3.4 Sampling error
3.3.5 Selection error and frame error
3.3.5 Data collection tools
3.4 Instrumentation
3.4.1 Measurement
3.4.2 Validity
3.4.3 Reliability
3.5 Data Analysis
3.6 Preliminary Evaluation of Data
3.6.1 Data screening and missing analysis procedures
3.6.2 Statistic Assumptions
3.7 Summary

CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Demographic Characteristics of Subjects
4.2.1 Percentage of Sex Distribution of Homestay Tourists
4.2.2 Percentage of Age Distribution of Homestay Tourists
4.2.3 Percentage of Regional Representation of Homestay Tourists
4.2.4 Purpose of Visit of Homestay Tourists
4.2.5 Travel Party Composition of Homestay Tourists
4.2.6 Professions of Homestay Tourists
4.2.7 Income Levels of Homestay Tourists
4.2.8 Duration of Total period of Stay in Sri Lanka by Homestay Tourists
4.2.9 Duration of Stay in Homestays by Homestay Tourists
4.3 Significant Attributes of Sri Lankan Homestay Product
4.3.1Significance of Washroom in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.2Significance of Meals in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.3Significance of Bedroom and housekeeping in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.4Significance of Restaurant Facilities in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.5Significance of Host Family in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.6Significance of Internet Access in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.7Significance of Language and Itinerary in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.8Significance of Location in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.9 Significance of Activities in Homestay Selection Decision
4.3.10 Significance of Transportation in Homestay Selection Decision
4.4 Motivation of Homestay Tourists
4.4.1 Push Motivation Factors
4.4.2 Pull Motivation Factors
4.5 Attribute Satisfaction of Homestay Tourists
4.6 Summary of Overall Satisfaction
4.7 Test of Hypotheses
4.7.1Regression Assumptions
4.7.3Test of Hypotheses of the Study
4.7.4Test of Overall Regression Model:
4.7.5 Detailed Analysis of Tourists Motivation towards Homestay in Sri Lanka
4.8 Perceptions of Homestay by the Host Families

CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Conclusions
5.3 Recommendations
5.4 Future Research Avenues
5.5Summary

REFERENCES

APPENDIX
I. Survey Questionnaire
II. Interview Protocol
III. Transcriptions
IV. Open and Axial coding for HS motives, issues and potential solutions
V. Reliability Test Results

ABSTRACT

Homestays in Sri Lanka have become increasingly popular as an accommodation option among domestic and international tourists. The client patronage to homestay is increasing drastically given the increasing tourist arrivals to the country. In addition, operators need to regard which attributes influence tourist satisfaction and their destination choice in order to formulate the strategies that attract and better satisfy customers. Although several researchers have studied the cultural and heritage tourism, they did not provide homestay issues, especially homestays in Sri Lanka. The present study tries to answer the broad question “how the concept of homestay has been perceived by both tourists who visit homestay and homestay operators in Sri Lanka? The general explicit objective of this research study is to explore the homestay tourism product attributes, tourists' motivation and satisfaction and the perceptions of host communities on the homestay tourism product. Obviously the research is socio-economically and culturally situated and requires a rich narrative description which would support both qualitative and quantitative methods. The study utilized exploratory research design to examine the predicting effects of tourist's motivation and product attributes on tourists' satisfaction, the relationship between tourist's motivation and tourists' overall satisfaction and hosts' perceptions of homestay. The population for this study being the total number of homestay guests and operators of a given time it was practically difficult to figure out exact number. Hence the sample was drawn using statistical standards suits such situations. A total of 300 visitors were surveyed and 27 homestay operators were interviewed with a structured questionnaire and in-depth interviews based on an interview protocol to collect primary data. Host family, toilets, housekeeping and internet access are of pivotal in selecting homestay. Seeing, excitement, relaxation, nature, culture, activities and cleanliness were key motivators towards homestay. HS tourists were highly satisfied with living culture, local food and warm hospitality while entertainment, nigh life, information material and environmental concerns were of inadequately satisfied. While all target markets may not seek luxury and sophistication, conformable and reliable accommodation in a healthy and safe environment is demanded by all segments of the market. Homestay accommodation can be one of the major activities for economic development among rural communities where the appeal for tourism is rich and diversified. Local communities can benefit from this program as economically, socially and environmentally and culturally. Tourism policy should be formulated for enhancing homestay in the rural areas. This accommodation will ensure employment opportunities and economic advancement for the local people. Proper planning and marketing, standardization and quality assurance, legal and administrative formalities must ensure for a healthy homestay accommodation. Future research should focus community perceptions on homestay and post purchase behaviors of guests.

Key Words; Homestay, Satisfaction, Motivation, Perceptions

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research work as well as the course of study was supported by many personnel who encouraged me in numerous ways. It is worth to acknowledge their endeavors at least in the way of mentioning their names in this report. It is with great respect, I acknowledge the guidance of my parents and teachers which supported me to reach this level. I am grateful to my supervisor Dr. Iraj Rathnayake, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Tourism Management at Sabaragamuwa University, for his inexpressible admonition and encouragement during the course of research.

A special thank goes to Prof. Ranjith Wijewardena who showed me the way in life and also for his immense support extended during my postgraduate studies. The staff of MBA programme, of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka and all the resource personnel who contributed to MBA programme are acknowledge with great respect. It is also gratefully acknowledged, the support given by the members in all homestay units for the purpose of this study. Moreover, I would like to put a special notion on the homestay guests who were the pivot for this study for their kind support in responding my questionnaires during the survey. All the research assistants who participated in the survey are gratefully acknowledged. Finally, my loving wife and everyone who helped mein various ways are gratefully acknowledged for their love, patience and well wishes.

Ranasinghe

2013 Badulla Sri Lanka

List of Tables

1.1 Tourist arrivals surveyed on the purpose of visit 2008 in India

1.2 Tourist arrivals surveyed on the purpose of visit in Sri Lanka

2.1 Operationalization Table of the Research

3.1 Sample Design of the Survey

3.2 Establishmnet of validity of mesures for the study

3.3 Establishmnet of reliability of mesures for the study

3.4 Variables of the study

4.1: Mean Ranking of Main Attributes of Homestay Product

4.2: Mean Ranking of Washroom of Homestay Product

4.3: Mean Ranking of Meals of Homestay Product

4.4: Mean Ranking of Bedroom and Housekeeping of Homestay Product

4.5: Mean Ranking of Restaurant Facilities of Homestay Product

4.6: Mean Ranking of Host Family of Homestay Product

4.7: Mean Ranking of Internet Access of Homestay Product

4.8: Mean Ranking of Language and Itinerary of Homestay Product

4.9: Mean Ranking of Location of Homestay Product

4.10: Mean Ranking of Activities of Homestay Product

4.11: Mean Ranking of Transportation of Homestay Product

4.12 Summary of Push Motivation Factors

4.13 Summary of Pull Motivation Factors

4.14 Summary of Attribute Satisfaction

4.15 Zonal Comparison on Overall Satisfaction

4.16 Correlation matrix

4.17 Test of homogenety of varience

4.18 Test of fitness of the model and significance

4.19 ANOVA test results

4.20 Regression coefficenats and t test results

4.21 Results of indipendant sample t tests

List of Figures

2.1 Attributes of Sri Lankan Homestay Product

2.2The Conceptualization of overall Satisfaction of Homestay tourists

4.1 Sex Distribution of homestay tourists

4.2 Age Distribution of homestay tourists

4.3 Regional Representation of homestay tourists

4.4 Purpose of Visit of Homestay Tourists

4.5 Travel Party Composition of Homestay Tourists

4.6 Professions of Homestay Tourists

4.7 Income Levels of Homestay Tourists

4.8 Duration of Total period of Stay in Sri Lanka by Homestay Tourists

4.9 Duration of Stay in Homestays by Homestay Tourists

LIST OF ABBREVEATIONS

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

1.1.1 Global and Regional Perspectives in Tourism

Cultural and heritage tourism focuses on the characteristics of tourists who visit cultural and heritage destinations. It has become a major new area in the tourism industry because of people's inclination to seek adventure, traditional culture, history, archaeology and interaction with local people (Hollinshead, 1993). Tourists seek out adventures that could immerse them in a culture or a place (Thompson, 1998). In the present context tourism has become a cultural linkage which connect different cultures and expose various cultural backgrounds to the world. According to the Secretary General of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO, 2012),

“tourism is an economic sector based on human interaction, exchange and dialogue. WTD 2011 is a call to all those involved in tourism to act in a way that is conscious and respectful of culture, which promotes intercultural dialogue and ensures that local communities fully participate in, and benefit from...”

Source: Secretary General (UNWTO, 2012)

Accordingly the percentage of religious and cultural tourism proportion of the world increases gradually and steadily. This increase of cultural tourism indicates that cultural tourism has become important in the worldwide destination market (Richards, 2007). A recent research study conducted by Department of Commerce of USA (2009) reveals that 78 percent of all U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural and/or heritage activities while traveling and which is about to 118.3 million adults per annum. On average cultural and heritage traveler spends an average amount of US $ 994 per trip, and that contributes more than US $192 billion annually to the U.S. economy. According to the study says The Director, Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, U.S. Department of Commerce States,

“We discovered that an impressive number of U.S. travelers seek out cultural and heritage experiences., with 78 percent of all domestic leisure travelers participating in cultural and heritage activities, their expenditures confirm that this is a strong market, and they are contributing significantly to our communities during these challenging economic times.”

Source: Richards, (2007)

Moreover, The Travel Industry Association of America (2009) explains that 81 percent of the US adults who took a trip away from home in the past year included at least one such activity or event while traveling; and more than half (56 percent) of the US adults indicated that they included at least one cultural, arts, historic, or heritage activity while on a trip. As a result, operators interested in cultural tourism anticipate the importance of cultural and heritage tourism. Many tourism investors also initially constructed hotels, resorts, guesthouses, and eventually moving to homestays as one of the most outstanding concepts for cultural and heritage tourism investment. According to the Culture and Heritage Tourism Study of Arizona (2010), 58 percent of the respondents said they were highly motivated to visit Arizona either to learn about Arizona's history and culture or experience other cultures.

Table 1.1 Illustrates that the Indian (in Asia) composition of tourist arrivals based on the purpose of visit and the figures highlight that among domestic tourists the percentage of religious and culture related tourists are of importance. It is a fact that India has been a destination for most of the religious tourist form different countries such as Thailand, Japan and Sri Lanka.

Italy, being one of the top ten destinations for worldwide tourist arrivals has also been an attractive destination for religious and cultural visitation. Moreover, the Middle East region in particular Mecca has been an icon for religious and cultural tourists in the past and most of the aforementioned tourist destinations will remain religiously important for future as well. On the whole religious and cultural purposes are becoming more and more important in the world travel industry and particularly, different cultures act as catalysts for this industry in the present context (UNWTO, 2012).

Table 1:1 Proportion of tourist arrivals based on the purpose of visit 2008 in India.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Ministry of Tourism India, (2008), Tourism Survey Annual Report, MTI New Delhi, P.48

Table 1.2 Illustrates the tourist composition in Sri Lanka based on the purpose of visit from 2003 to 2009. According to the figures it could be noted that the religious and cultural based tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka are also in par with international context and is escalating gradually.

Table 1:2 Proportion of tourist arrivals based on the purpose of visit 2003-2009 in Sri Lanka.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Asha Financial Services Ltd, (2012),Introductory Document to Beruwala Resorts Ltd, p 15

1.1.2 Sri Lankan Perspectives in Tourism

Sri Lanka contains an astonishing eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites within its compact shores, the same number as heritage-packed Egypt. Six cultural sites are testament to a civilization with over 2,500 years of recorded history, while a seventh natural site boasts some of the highest biodiversity found outside the Amazon basin (Alvis, 2000). From colossal ancient monuments and serene rock carvings in sprawling ruined cities, to a 5thcentury AD king's palace in the clouds, the World Heritage Sites showcase the island's rich history and contribution to civilization. The largest and most dramatic of these are located in the so-called Cultural Triangle, the area formed by linking the ancient capitals of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy. It's a living heritage, where the visitor will see Buddhist monks and reverent devotees and hear the hypnotic murmur of religious invocations - all of which bring the crumbling brick temples, granite statues and towering Dagabas of Sri Lanka's ancient cities to life. Through the heritage sites the visitor can re­live some of the seminal episodes in the island's past, the introduction of Buddhism, which inspired kings to undertake astounding feats of engineering; the complex palace intrigues; the repeated invasions and conquests; and ultimately, the capitulation to the European colonial powers. Experiencing Sri Lanka's heritage sites has become one of the premier tourist activities for times SLTDA, (2009).

The homestay which refers to a stay at a residence by a traveler or a visiting foreign student is viewed as a mean of culture and heritage tourism emerging with traditional houses and culture of residents achieving two goals at the same time: increasing the income of host country families and encouraging them to preserve their cultural heritage by presenting their traditional houses (Wang, 2007). Many tourists believe that the homestays they participate in represent a unique living in a new culture. Tourists seek authentic experience and architecture of the host culture. Homestays could provide the cultural experience and the sense of being at home. This allows them to behave more freely and feel comfortable and relaxed in a foreign culture. The search for an authentic experience among travelers also increases the construction of cultural and heritage based tourism in order to provide a more authentic encounter for tourists. Through homestays, these cultural attributes often provide participants with such staged authenticity and acceptable satisfaction while hosts seek to offer tourists a genuine connection to the community. Residents' desire tourists to visit their houses because travelers bring economic benefits to their community while they are still maintain their traditional culture and heritage (Cole, 2007).

The immediate requirement for rooms to feed the tourist industry with the rapid increase of tourists into the country has prompted the authorities to promote the homestay and bungalow concept. The recent past has shown that the rooms required to cope with the huge influx of tourists is far from sufficient. As a quick fix solution, the SLTDA has launched a programme, calling interested parties willing to provide accommodation to tourists to register with the Authority. As per the following comment of SLTDA's Head of Standards & Quality Assurance and Investment:

“We are encouraging people from all over the country who are in a position to provide accommodation to tourists to register with us. However, we will see that all these places conform to the standards set by us as requirements. The tourists who wish to stay in home are the ones that want to experience the country and culture first hand. What we see is that these are people who take perhaps two or three days off their tour to experience this. We have at the moment around 200 places which have applied for registration and awaiting approval.” (Director, Standards & Quality Assurance and Investment, SLTDA, Personal Communication, July 04, 2011).

Homestays in Sri Lanka have become increasingly popular in the Sri Lankan tourism industry since 2009, and their development is expected to continue according to the tourism strategy of the Sri Lankan government 2010. From 2009 to 2010, SLTDA helped construct homestays in all the tourist zones in Sri Lanka (SLTDA, 2012). Previous researchers studied the relevance Thailand's heritage-based attractions to both international and domestic tourism, and provided several attributes to these attractions such as traditional villages, temples, and monuments (Peleggi, 1996). According to previous studies on Sri Lankan Tourism the guests' satisfaction on visitor experience was examined by, Fernando (2011); Ranasinghe (2010); Sheriff (2010) and Silva (2006) but not for homestay business and its product attributes.

The SLTDA has also agreed to support the hosts to develop their homestay business (SLTDA, 2012). Therefore, the cultural and heritage attributes such as food, shopping places, and accommodations were built into villages in Sri Lanka for homestays in order to attract travelers who searched for a mix of activities in an area. Travelers frequently seek adventures that immerse them in the culture or a place and search for small groups and personalized services. Tourism investors can learn about tourist interests and help shape the presentation of cultural and heritage attributes as well as the growing number of homestays in Sri Lanka. The homestay is a new concept in Sri Lankan tourism and it lacks studies providing the homestay information (SLTDA, 2012). Thus, this study was created in order to provide more information to homestay investors and homestay managers. This study investigates which attributes satisfy tourists who participate in homestays and what motivates tourists to choose homestay in Sri Lanka. According to the Chairman of SLTDA "People living in the cosmopolitan societies in the Europe like to visit countries like ours and familiarize themselves with our homely culture," Chairman, SLTDA (2011).

1.2 Problem Statement

Homestays are viewed as a means of cultural and heritage tourism. In 2010 the government of Sri Lanka announced the period from 2009 to 2011 as the years of Sri Lankan tourism with the slogan ‘Refreshingly Sri Lanka' after the resolution of the ethnic conflict. Thus, the government helped cultural tourism investors to develop their business and supported Sri Lanka's homestay programs since 2009. Therefore, the sector of cultural tourism and homestay tourism were become popular among tourism investors. Nevertheless, in developing this sector, desirable product attributes should be considered (SLTDA, 2011). Crompton and McKay (1997) use a push and pull model to study travel motivations and developed six push and pull motivation factors: cultural exploration, novelty/regression, recover equilibrium (rest and relaxation/escape), known group socialization, external socialization and interaction, and family togetherness and concluded that pull factors were dominant in travel motivations. Contrarily, Yoon and Uysal (2005) study the relationship among the push and pull motivation, satisfaction, and destination and concluded that push factors were dominant in travel motivations. Homestay operators need to consider which attributes influence tourists' motivation and satisfaction in order to develop strategies in attracting and satisfying the homestay participants. Although several researchers have studied the homestays in the region, e.g Masters, (2010), Anonymous (2007), Anonymous (2008), they did not certainly provide homestay issues, especially homestays in Sri Lankan context. Even though the tourist arrivals show a sharp increase the occupancy levels of star hotels remain low due to guests' movements towards alternative accommodations such as homestay in the present context. Given the significance to all above issues, this study address what factors motivate and what factors are significant in homestay in Sri Lankan context. The homestay is a new concept of Sri Lankan tourism but it is expected to continue with the support of SLTDA. Thus, this study could be applied to investigate what factors would motivate tourists to choose homestays in Sri Lanka and to predict tourists' overall satisfaction based on the product attributes. Further, the study endeavors to identify the real perceptions about homestay programme in the view of homestay operators.

1.3 Research Questions

This study addressed the following questions and that would assist homestay operators in developing strategies to attract more travelers. The tourists within the homestay industry in Sri Lanka are considered to be a target group because the program has become increasingly popular with foreign travelers, and it is expected to continue to increase.

The research questions to be addressed are;

(1) What are the critical attributes of homestay product in Sri Lanka from demand perspective?
(2) What are the key characteristics of motivation of tourists who come to experience Sri Lankan homestay?
(3) What is the current product-market match for the homestay operations in Sri Lanka from tourists' satisfaction perspective?
(4) How the concept of homestay has been perceived by the real host families?
(5) How might Sri Lanka homestay product better prepare itself to meet the demands of present and future visitors?

1.4 Objectives of the Study

The general explicit objective of this research study is to explore the homestay product attributes, tourists' motivation and satisfaction and the perceptions of host communities on the homestay.

Corresponding to the aforementioned research questions, the following objectives are developed to achieve in order to answer the research questions.

(1) To identify the critical attributes of homestay product in Sri Lanka from a demand perspective.
(2) To uncover the key characteristics of motivation of tourists who come to experience Sri Lankan homestay.
(3) To examine the current product-market match for the homestay operations in Sri Lanka from tourists' satisfaction perspective.
(4) To explore the perception on homestay of the host families.
(5) To elucidate the possibilities of improvement of Sri Lankan homestay product in order to meet the demands of present and future visitors.

1.5 Hypotheses

Hypothesis 1: There is a significant relationship between homestay product attributes and overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

Hypothesis 2: There is a significant relationship between tourists' motivation and overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

Hypothesis 3: Product attributes and tourists' motivation will predict the overall satisfaction of homestay tourists.

Hypothesis 3a: Homestay product attributes of Sri Lanka will predict overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

Hypothesis 3b: Tourists'' motivation will predict the overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays in Sri Lanka.

1.6 Significance of the Study

Culture and heritage tourism trends have particular relevance for rural areas when they are accompanied by abundant natural resources. Traditional ways of earning on stocks provide the primary source of income. But, to stimulate rural economies, it has become unavoidable for rural regions to seek alternative uses for local resources (Liu, 2006). Cultural heritage tourism is an option for enhancing rural lifestyles and distributing income in the region. As a result, tourism becomes the priority tool of rural orthodoxy (Augustyn, 1998).

Homestay programs play a momentous role in cultural tourism and are the fastest growing segments of the tourism market (Wang, 2007). The culture and heritage that has been preserved in a location causes the local people's everyday lives to infiltrate the everyday lives of travelers and thus, makes a homestay more attractive. Because of this, homestay tourism is a rapidly growing niche market, utilized by an increasing number of domestic and international tourists. As an attraction, it also continues to grow due to word- of-mouth. Therefore, to expand this market, the desirable cultural and heritage attributes should be considered in order to raise the number of travelers and thus, increase the local resident income.

In addition, operators need to regard which attributes influence tourist satisfaction and their destination choice in order to formulate the strategies that attract and better satisfy customers. The homestay is a new concept of Sri Lankan tourism but it is expected to continue. In this regard, this study could be applied to investigate what factors would motivate tourists to choose homestays in Sri Lanka and to predict tourists' overall satisfaction based on cultural and heritage attributes. This study seeks to analyze the relationships between tourists' motivation and satisfaction about the home stay in Sri Lanka. Similarly, the study evaluates the overall satisfaction of tourists stay together with destination attributes which elicit the realities for marketers. Based on these findings, tourism industry operators and policy planners can re-think about their actions in response to the priority and policy planning.

Further, the fourth and the fifth objectives of this study elucidate more on to application of practices in order to perform better for Sri Lankan homestay sector. Hence the findings of this study are vital for Sri Lankan homestay operators as well as SLTDA and other policy planners. All the findings of the study would be opened to the available literature of management of macro-economic changes and policy planning in tourism industry in Sri Lanka as well as to the rest of the world. This is the most significant impact of this study.

1.7 Summary of the Methodology

This study aims to explore the homestay programme of Sri Lanka with an eye to understand the issues, challenges and potentials with reference to both guests' as well as hosts' point of view. Obviously the research is socio-economically and culturally situated and requires a rich narrative description which would support both qualitative and quantitative methods. For these reasons both qualitative and quantitative methods have been adopted and the first analytical part was based on quantitative approach. Both primary and secondary data were utilized to meet research objectives. The study utilized exploratory research design to examine the predicting effects of tourist's motivation and product attributes on tourists' satisfaction, as well as the relationship between tourist's motivation and tourists' overall satisfaction.

A qualitative approach, in the form of in-depth interviews, was adopted to address the research objectives related to socio-cultural issues in relation to host point of view. Since, the concept “homestay” results many effects the true feelings of operators need to be tapped. Such an approach was chosen as it offers the researcher adaptability in data collection, whereby ideas could be followed up on, responses could be further probed and motives and feelings could be further explored. As the interviews were conducted by the researcher with respondents at various locations at different times, standard semi-structured questionnaires were used to ensure coverage of the research objectives; they have act only as an interviewing guide and haven't directly administer to the respondents.

The population for this study being the total number of homestay guests and operators of a given time it was practically difficult to figure out exact number. Hence the sample was drawn using statistical standards suits such situations. Out of 64 homestay operators, a total of 300 visitors were selected obtain data for the first part of the study. The second part consists of homestay operators and for that purpose the researcher conducted in­depth interviews by using an interview protocol until the received information supports the interview protocol without repetition.

For most of the indicators the researcher depended on pretested questionnaires in order to ensure the validity and reliability of tools yet the adaptation has been completed to make sure the socio-cultural setting is well suited for the concepts. The preliminary evaluation of data has also been completed with relevant statistical applications and particularly missing data, Cronbatch alpha have been verified to make sure the reliability of the questionnaire.

The first part of the study used statistical tools such as descriptive statistics, Friedman test, correlation matrix and regression to meet research objectives while the second part relied on descriptive method for the purpose of data analysis. Statistical packages such as SPSS, STATA were employed to analyze data. Narrative discussions and critical evaluations in the form of descriptive analysis has been applied to present qualitative data whereas tables, graphs and statistic supported calculations ad discussions were employed to present analyzed data whenever applicable.

Moreover, a detailed report on the methodological approach for this study is presented in the chapter three of this report.

1.8 Limitations of the Study

According to the proposed data collection method of the study, the data were not collected at different points in time (a longitudinal data), but it was collected at one point in time (a cross sectional data). Thus, the results of this study are from a one-time measurement from the data collection. The study doesn't distinguish between new tourists coming and long- staying condition. Furthermore, the study conducted in English and the tourists who cannot understand English were excluded from the study. One more limitation of this study is that it focuses on an evaluation of the satisfaction of homestay tourists with respect to product offerings. It is obviously an estimation of senses and feelings of people. This aspect of the study limited the unity of each analytical unit since, the mood, emotional condition, immediate incident as well as past experience of the tourists' etc. matters a lot of an evaluation of a tourists' experience.

1.9 Organization of Chapters

The structure of the research study would consist of five chapters. Chapter one would be dedicated to the introduction of the research. It also would cover the background of the research, research problem, research objectives, research methodology in brief and the limitations of the research. Chapter two explains the related literature available to support the development of conceptual frame and explored several similar studies. The literature review also covers the review on the product attributes of world and in Sri Lankan tourism, current tourism trends and issues of Sri Lanka. Various studies carried out so far to investigate any relationship between those variables are reviewed in this chapter. Chapter three includes the methodology adopted to carry out the study. The theoretical modals and development of conceptual frame for this study, formulation of hypothesis, the conceptual model of the research, definitions of the concepts and variables and the operationalization of the research model were also presented in chapter three. It also includes the study setting, design, and methods of survey, population and sample, methods of data collection, methods of measurement and techniques of data analysis. The data presentation and analysis are given in Chapter four. It includes the analysis of reliability and validity of the instruments used to collect data and the uni-variate, and bi-variate analysis, the discussion of findings from the data analysis. It includes the discussion of the relationships between the independent variables and dependent variable in the research model. The conclusions, implications, recommendations and the avenues for future research are presented in the fifth Chapter and references, bibliography and appendices are followed.

1.10 Chapter Summary

This chapter presents the summary of this research report as an approach to understand the structure of the study as well as the scope of it. It started with the background to the study scope while narrowed down to research questions, objectives of the research, hypothesis and variables as well as indicators. Further, this chapter consists of the significance of this study, limitations of the study as well as the summery of methodology employed in order to meet research objectives.

CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Introduction

First, this chapter discusses the demographic profile of tourists in cultural and heritage destinations. Second, the chapter provides the definition of homestay, as well as explains the narrative of homestays in Sri Lanka. Third, the chapter provides the literature of tourists' satisfaction on cultural and heritage destinations. Fourth, the chapter discusses previous cultural and heritage tourism, including such issues as the attributes of cultural and heritage destinations. Finally, the chapter identifies tourists' motivation and the relationship among the attributes of cultural and heritage destinations on tourists' satisfaction. Further, the conceptualizations of the research as well as operationalization of the research are presented in the end of this chapter. The theoretical framework of the study focused on the tourists' demographic characteristic, tourists' motivation and the attributes affecting tourists' satisfaction with cultural and heritage destinations.

2.2 Tourists' Demography

The demographic characteristics of tourists are important factors when the researcher analyzed tourists' motivation and tourists' satisfaction with cultural and heritage destination. The previous studies about cultural and heritage tourism have focused on identifying the characteristics, development, and management of cultural and heritage tourism, as well as on investigating demographic characteristics of tourists who visit cultural and heritage destinations. For example, Silberberg (1995) provides a common pattern of cultural and heritage tourists by analyzing age, gender, income, and education level. His study identifies the cultural and heritage tourists who earn more money and spends more money while vacation, are more educated, are more likely to be female than male, spends more time in a destination while vacation. Formica and Uysal (1998) explore the cultural festival with historical settings and examined the motivation and demographic characteristics of festival visitors. The results of the study show statistically significant differences between the group in terms of age, income, and marital status. Master and Predeaux (2000) analyze the variance by age, gender, occupation. Overseas travel of Taiwanese cultural and heritage tourists also determined the influence of responses on the importance of attributes and satisfaction levels by their demographic characteristic. According to the previous studies, demographic characteristics (e.g., gender, income, marital status, education, and occupation) are commonly use in tourism research to investigate tourists' satisfaction. This study provides tourists' demographic characteristics in order to explain the relationship between tourists' satisfaction and cultural and heritage destination Baloglu, (1997).

2.3 Homestay

Homestay refers to a visit to somebody's home in a foreign country which allows visitors to rent a room from a local family in order to learn local culture, lifestyle, or language. It is a living arrangement offered by a host or host family that involves staying in their furnished house or suite. The guest of a homestay would be staying in home-like accommodation with shared living spaces, facilities, and amenities. Utilities and meals are usually included and the length of stay could be daily, weekly, monthly, or unlimited unless specified otherwise by the host (Rivers, 1998).

Frederick (2003) also defines the homestay as a stay by a tourists or a visiting foreign student who is hosted by a local family. Homestay can occur in any destination worldwide; residents of homestay countries encourage homestays in order to develop their tourism industry. The concept of the home may be perceived to distinguish homestay establishments from other forms of accommodation.

Rhodri (2004) states that the distinction between homestay and hotel is boundaries of private area. The private space of homestay is opened to visitors that would not fall under the term of hotel. In other words, it may refer to a sector of homestay accommodation to distinguish the accommodation from other types which do not share all the characteristics to the same degree. The associations between visitors and hosts may be described as linked by the concept of the home which may be perceived to distinguish homestay establishments from other forms of accommodation. Homestay refers to types of accommodation where visitors or guests pay directly or indirectly to stay in private homes. Host of homestay is described as family who live on the premises, sharing their space which becomes public while other forms of accommodation, such as hotels where the host's (the manager or staff) private home is not on the premises and the boundaries of the private space are open to staff only (Lynch, 2003).

Homestay accommodation is a term with specific cultural associations such as private homes, interaction with a host or host-family, sharing of space which thereby becomes public (Lynch & MacWhannell, 2000). The associations of homestay establishments which link to the concept of the home can be distinguished from other forms of accommodation. In homestay accommodations, the boundaries of private homes are opened to public space, distinguishing from other accommodations which private space open to staff only (Hamsah, 2008). Thus, one may refer to the sector of homestay accommodations to distinguish the accommodation from other types which do not share all characteristics to visitors. Homestay accommodation types include farm stay accommodation, some small hotels, host families, and bed and breakfasts. It is used to refer to types of accommodation where tourists or guests pay directly or indirectly to stay in private homes (Lashley & Morrison, 2000). Wang (2007) shows that thereis an increased demand of homestays in China. This study focuses on a cultural growth of tourism in Lijiang after its inscription into UNESCO's prestigious World Heritage Sites List in 1997. Lijang's growth as a destination began in 1986, and the number of tourists increased from 200,000 in 1992 to 3.1 million in 1999. Hamsah (2008) studies networking in the homestay sector which explains the particular nature of the homestay is the interaction between guests and hosts/family. Thus, this study states that the family has a key role to play in setting the norms of behavior which impact the guest while staying in the home.

According to the economic and social developing plan of the Sri Lankan government (2010 edition) which decentralized power into local community, local organizations began to take interest in community income. Sri Lanka's Ministry of Tourism stated that one of the important ways to increase community income is raising local tourism by using various tourist attractions (SLTDA, 2009). Homestays are outstanding attractions which pull for the attention from operators. Moreover, homestay activities develop communities and increase community income while still maintaining the culture and environment of the local area. Simple lifestyles of local residents have become an important attraction which gains the attention of tourists. Sri Lankan homestays are established in every part of Sri Lanka (Western, Southern, North Central, Central, and the Northwestern part). Sri Lanka's Ministry of Tourism revealed that current homestays in Sri Lanka began to appear in late 2009. The number of homestays is continually increasing too many villages recently, and most of the homestays were constructed in 2009-2010. Tourists became interested in these homestays where another distinctive tourism feature of Sri Lanka became.

2.3.1 Evolution of Homestays

The homestay as an economic activity in tourism industry could be identified as an evolved process through the passages of time and indeed it is not an overnight creation by any force. The evolution process has been taken place in different parts of the world in different forms. Such forms could be identified particularly form both Eastern and Western parts of the world. However the concept as a commercial operation has comparatively a short history.

According to Hinch and Butler, (1996), Backpackers began to visit Yangjia Beach on Dachangshan Dao in 1985 during the period when China was moving from political revolution to economic reform. These early backpackers had to seek help from local fishers for food and accommodation as the island was short of inns and hotels. A few local fishers accommodated these early tourists spontaneously to earn some extra money which led to the local community's awareness of the value of tourism. Studies elsewhere have shown that economic considerations have been the primary motivating force for the local population to get involved in tourism development. With the increase in tourists, more local houses became homestays which appeal to the budget tourists because of price (Hinch and Butler, 1996).

Initially, operating homestays was not regarded as an economic activity and the local governments paid little attention to it. From 1997-2002, with groups of tourists coming to Yangjia Beach, both the town government and the county government encouraged the local people to operate homestays which could accelerate economic growth. By this time, the local people regarded homestay operation as a formal occupation and provided rooms and facilities to tourists. To enlarge accommodation capacity, homestay operators built two or three additional rooms in their yards in 2002. After 2003, the homestays face the challenge of hotel development by developers from other cities in Liaoning Province.

Even though the concept of staying with a family or ambalama ¹ are some old concepts the commercially stimulated homestays were promoted in Sri Lanka after 2009. Particularly, with the completion of the 30 year old war the tourism industry started growing rapidly. Hence the accommodation facility growth in comparison to the growth of tourist arrivals was of slow and as a solution to this problem SLTDA introduces the concept of homestay in Sri Lanka and called for applications for interested parties to operate as homestay units. On average the 64 registered homestays have been in operation by 2011 and the concept is being embraced by many tourism interested host families. The concept is still at the early stages in Sri Lanka, even though it has been existed for years in both eastern and western countries.

2.3.2 Homestay Context

Homestay is a specialist term used variously. Lynch (2003: p.30) points out that ‘homestay is a type of accommodation where visitors or guests pay directly or indirectly to stay in private homes, where interaction takes place to a greater or lesser degree with a host and/or family who usually live upon the premises and with whom public space is shared to a greater or lesser degree'. While in community-based tourism, the concept of homestay is applied as a tourism segment that encourages interactions between host families and tourists and which acts as development means to raise awareness based upon cultural exchange and respect for the host's culture whereby emphasize is placed on providing generosity and hospitality of excellent services (Jamil & Hamzah, 2007).

Likewise, the Sri Lankan government through Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority which is under the Ministry of Economic Development, has identified a homestay as ‘one type of tourism which tourists stay with the host's family in the same house as well as they will learn about the nature, Sri Lankan way of life or Sri Lankan culture. A homestay has to provide services and facilities appropriately. In addition, it needs to be registered with SLTDA, (SLTDA, 2011). Further, such registration would give a strong recognition in the marketing and promotion excises of homestay operators. Moreover, they will be advertized freely on SLTDA web site as well as registered operators would be given training programmes and will be guided in business operations in accordance with quality standards.

In terms of previous homestay studies, research by Lynch (2003) concerning conceptual relationships between hospitality and space in the homestay sector by conducting qualitative observations in the field identifies as significant. His results recognize the emotional significance of the home setting and identified it as an unacknowledged performative player in the hospitality experience. Research by Oranratmanee (2008) on the rural homestay and its relationships between space, social interaction and meaning in Northern Thailand is also significant. The evidence from her three case studies shows that there are important social and cultural distinctions and that strong relationships are formed between the spatial characteristics of rural houses and the social interactions produced within them. Hamzah (2008), meanwhile, studies the homestay programme in Malaysia which is gradually evolving into a mainstream tourism product that is being aggressively promoted by the government as form of catalyst for revitalizing the rural economy. For the homestay providers, the income from the homestay programme has been minimal; however, his research clearly signals warnings against the over­commercialization of the homestay programme by tour operators. Building upon this work, his study attempts to fill the gaps of such evidence by focusing on the critical investigation of the compatibility of homestay businesses with the concept of sustainable community development in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand.

2.3.3 Morphological Changes of Homestays

The morphology of the houses in Chinese villages evolved as the fishers became homestay operators. Before the 1980s, the local fishers lived in huts with mud walls and thatch roofs built on the present sites of the homestays. Following the typical house structure in north China, the local house has two master rooms, each with a Kang (heated brick bed) that is connected to a stove and they overlook a yard. The windows and doors face south to have more sunlight in winter with the open market economic reform, the fishers became better off in the late 1980s and were able to rebuild their houses with brick walls and tile roofs. The house layout remains the same but the brick houses were higher and roomier. From the early 1990s with more tourists coming to Yangjia Beach, one master room was rented to the tourists, Wang (2007). At the same time, the operators whitewashed the walls, changed the wooden windows to iron windows or even aluminum alloy windows, and added new facilities, such as a floor cover and a television set. In short, with the increase in tourists, the homestay operators kept renovating their houses inside but the basic house structure remains the same.

According to Wan (2007), the houses were substantially modified to cope with increasing numbers of tourists to Yangjia Beach. In 2002, the operators built some additional rooms in their yards and put many double or single beds in rooms. Two principal rooms (former master rooms) and four additional rooms were rented to tourists and the owners stayed in the former storage room converted into one small master room with a connection to a small kitchen. In addition, the village needed some stores to provide necessaries to the tourists. Three homestays converted their former storage rooms in their yards into stores to sell food, drinks, stationery, tissue paper, and other sundry items. At the same time, the village government supported the homestays and in 2002, the village government renovated all homestays' external walls with a unified design and gave them a pink colour.

The house structure has facilitated the conversion to accommodate more tourists and enable the local people to become involved in tourism. The main type of homestays is the modified house structure with four additional rooms. Generally, the two principal rooms facing south have enough sunlight but the additional rooms, especially those near the well and the drainage port, are very damp and without adequate sunlight. In addition, a new kind of homestay with two storeys has recently emerged in Yangjia village. Two such buildings were built by two richer operators near to the hill. Almost all homestays have vegetable gardens (for subsistence purposes only) which add to the character of the homestays. Some homestays have planted sunflowers and other colourful flowers instead of vegetables Ngamsom, (2007).

SLTDA, (2012),While any private house in good condition with owners occupying the same house and located in an easily accessible part of the country will primarily qualify to register as a Homestay unit, unoccupied houses with cooking/meals (and other guest service) facilities are categorized as Bungalows. The house shall fulfill the minimum requirements of the Homestay scheme including having one or more rooms for accommodation, with each room having separate attached bathroom facilities. Interested parties are at liberty to submit fresh proposals for approval for setting up Home Stay/Bungalow units in suitable locations, under the supervision Sri Lanka Tourism. As part of the program SLTDA will also be providing a training for all Bungalow and Homestay owners covering areas such as on-line marketing, house keeping, cooking with focus on guest satisfaction, kitchen hygiene, storage of food, garbage disposal, preparation of authentic cuisine, emergencies etc .

In the context of Sri Lanka the homestays are of urgent facility providers in order to solve certain accommodation gaps in late 2009. Hence the facilities started most of the time a pre-build house for different purpose or a house which is not resided by a family. In fact the concept of homestay has been misunderstood in certain cases since a care taker operates a lodging facility under the homestay registration with SLTDA. In contrast there are pure homestay facilities are in operation in most of the villages close to prominent tourist areas such as Sigiriya, Anuradapura, Ella, Bandarawela and Negombo. Hence the facilities could be seen with all required amenities for tourists in order to make sure homestay guests are happy with their stay.

2.3.4 Authenticity and Homestay Product

Authenticity in a tourism context is a broadly debated concept with MacCannell (1973) introducing the concept of ‘staged' authenticity and Cohen (1979, p.18) describing locals who "play the natives" to live up to the tourists' image. It presents as a value (Olsen, 2002), a motivational force (MacCannell, 1973; Cohen, 1988), the choice people make (Steiner & Reisinger, 2006) and a perception (Cohen, 1988). In their study tourism related authenticity issues are considered from the commercial viability of traditional Thai home­stay perspective and focuses on an important question is asked by Kolar & Zabcar (2010:p.654) “how tourist perceptions correspond with two basic types of authenticity, namely object-based and existential”. Hillman (2007) argues that objective authenticity can be defined as “an experience which genuinely samples the culture of the other, that is, of the host society and the host people”. While Wang (1999:pp.359-60) defines existential authenticity as being unlike object-related authenticity;

“Existential authenticity can often have nothing to do with the issue of whether toured objects are real. In search of tourist experience which is existentially authentic, tourists are preoccupied with an existential state of being activated by certain tourist activities.. They do not literally concern themselves about the authenticity of toured objects”.

In the context of Sri Lankan homestay the authenticity is of primarily importance since, most of homestay tourists are looking for some local, authentic ways of living. The sixteen homestay zones defined by SLTDA are of different geographic regions as well as portray some different cultural features. Hence the authenticities of food, language and of all living culture have little differences which may be experienced by the homestay tourists.

2.4 Tourism Product Attributes

2.4.1 Destination attributes: an overview

A destination image can be defined as “perceptions about a place as reflected by the associations held in tourist memory” (Cai, 2002: p. 273). Such a concept serves to enhance destination marketing by providing potential tourists with prior-trip information that allows them to identify a destination, differentiate it from competitors and build expectations about the likely holiday experience offered by the destination. (Murphy, Moscardo & Benckendorf, 2007). Furthermore, a destination image can assist tourists in consolidating and reinforcing their perception of the destination after their travel experience (Ritchie & Ritchie 1998). Building a destination (brand) image essentially means identifying the most relevant associations for the destination and strengthening their linkages to the destination brand (Keller,1993).

Perhaps the greatest volume of marketing-related work discusses the management and formation of place image and many authors (Gunn, 1988, Chon, 990, Ward & Gold, 1994) discuss image-related issues in destination marketing. A considerable amount of the work has attempted to conceptualize the components of destination image (Um & Crompton, 1990; Echtner & Ritchie, 1991; Gartner, 1996; Walmsley &Young, 1998). In particular, they examine the three main influences on destination image formation, namely, promotional material, secondary experiences (e.g. the opinions of others) and the media (Gartner, 1993, 1996; Ross, 1994; Font 1996). The assumption of much of this destination image-formation literature is that these three key influences combined with personal or individual factors (Ashworth & Voogd, 1990) produce a destination image (Font 1996; Baloglu & McClearly, 1999). But at the same time there is significant influence of the personal tourists' experience, for the creation post visit destination image.

That means it is very important to identify the level of destination attributes tourists evaluate and the level of their satisfaction with those attributes. This is the first step in the process of creating destination image and brand. Their study attempt to identify level of tourists satisfaction with destination attributes identified as the element of tourism functional system (Dobre, Ruskovic & Cuvljak, 2004):

- Information component - promotional system (destination image and perception, promotion and marketing, information and publicity)
- Tourists - where do they come from and their characteristics (location characteristics, interests of specific activities and cultural background)
- Complete infrastructural capacities for traveling to and at the destination (traveling to destination, between different tourist sites, and to the accommodation capacities)
- Tourism destination attractiveness (everything tourists want to see, traveling stimulus, expected value)
- Tourism services (accommodation, food, shopping facilities.)

Based on the studies they have generated 8 synthetic attributes for our study. These attributes include urban amenity, hotel accommodation, security conditions, tourist sites/attractions, tourist information, customs & immigration, hospitality.

They wanted to measure the level of tourist perception each of them, as the dependable variable influenced by: number of visits, as the sign of previous experience with the destination, and sources of information tourist had been using, type of tourism had influenced their decision to travel, country of origin they coming from, as well as their ages and companion, they had been traveling with.

Products are almost always combinations of the tangible and intangible. To the potential buyer a product is a complex cluster of value satisfactions. The generic thing is not itself the product. Customers attach value to a product in proportion to its perceived ability to help solve their problems or meet their needs (Levitt, 1989). The same study of Levit (1989) on marking success through differentiation elaborates a product into four major components namely the core (generic product, expected product, augmented product and potential product.

Atourism product attribute is an important factor for evaluating tourists' satisfaction of a destination. To satisfy guests, accommodation providers need to understand their guests in terms of the experiences they seek. It is important to evaluate the experiences provided, both tangible and intangible, by mainstream accommodations in contrast to homestays (Howell, Moreo, & De Micco, 1993). Previous show an increased demand for accommodations in private homes or hosted accommodations, especially homestays or nature lodges, which represent a rapidly growing sector of the tourism industry (Morrision et al., 1996). Therefore, it is important for homestay providers to understand which attributes satisfy guests in order to develop better business strategies and gain the attraction of more customers.

Researchers recognize the contextual value of the importance construct, especially within the context of the importance-performance (IPA) framework which is introduced as a useful technique for evaluating the different elements of a marketing program (Crompton & Love, 1995). To create this framework, product or destination attributes are first indentified; then, consumers or tourists are asked to rate the importance level of the attribute or services and also are asked for a performance rating on each attribute; lastly, the importance­performance scores for each attribute are calculated and formed into four strategies: concentrate here (high importance/low performance), keep up the good work (high importance/high performance), low priority (low importance/low performance), and possible overkill (low importance/high performance) (Martilla & James, 1977).

However, both the influence of importance and the implied effect of attribute performance on perceived importance require further exploration with respect to pre- and post-visit experiences. Additionally, Matzler & Sauerwein (2002) integrates the performance-importance response (PIR) function as an acknowledgement of the hierarchy of attribute importance and identified three categories of factors that influence PIR: basic factor (dissatisfies), excitement factors (satisfiers), and performance factors (hybrid factor).

Number of previous researches (detailed below) addresses the issue of the importance-performance analysis to examine cultural and heritage destination attributes. Crouch and Ritchie (1999) states that the destination's attractiveness attributes with the industry level attributes such as human resources and infrastructure contribute to the tourists overall satisfaction of a destination. Enright & Newton (2004) suggest that the tourists' overall satisfaction depends on both destination-specific attributes and factors influencing tourists' satisfaction of tourism products and services providers. This study seeks to identify cultural and heritage destination attributes which satisfy tourists when they visit these destinations.

Therefore, after investigating pervious research related to this topic, the researcher decided to select several attributes of cultural and heritage tourism. Peleggi (1996) explores the relevance of Sri Lanka's heritage attractions to both international and domestic tourism. The result shows several attributes which satisfied tourists who visited Sri Lanka, such as traditional villages and temples. Sofield & Li (1998) study the cultural tourism of China. They investigate which cultural and heritage attributes satisfy tourists. The result shows that cultural and historical events, traditional festivals, historical sites, beautiful scenic locations, architecture, and culture villages as the satisfied attributes.

Moreover, Janiskee (1996) identifies the importance of events though several attributes such as festivals, traditional ceremonies, music, dancing, craftwork, food, historic houses, and direct experiences of traditional life. The results showed the cultural and heritage attributes which satisfied tourists were art, handicrafts, shopping places, traditional scenery, and food. Based on the literature provided, the researcher decided to select several attributes of cultural and heritage, and it is hypothesized that:

Hypothesis 3a: Homestay product attributes of Sri Lanka will predict overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

Figure 2.1Attributes of Sri Lankan Homestay Product

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Borrowed from Theodor Levitt, (i983)

2.5 Tourists' Satisfaction

Satisfaction surveys are one of the most essential tools used to gather information regarding tourists' opinions of a destination. The methodology usually adopted consists of first identifying the most important attributes that define the attraction of a type of destination, and secondly asking the tourists to evaluate them on a symmetrical and one-dimensional scale. On such scale, the lowest value indicates the most dissatisfaction with the attribute, and the highest value represents the greatest satisfaction, while a midpoint marks a position of neutrality or indifference. Based on the above information, the estimation of statistical models of causality would enable us to find out how satisfaction with different attributes affects the tourist's overall satisfaction or even his/her intention to return to the destination. As we have mentioned above, some of the studies published to date suggest that this methodology can be erroneous, as it places satisfaction and dissatisfaction on opposite sides of a single coin.

Studies on critical incidents have asserted that not all of the attributes of a product or service affect overall satisfaction the same way. Cadotte &Turgeon (i988) analyze the content of the complaints and compliments recorded by a sample of restaurants. Based on their results, they divide the attributes into four categories: satisfiers, meaning factors that generate satisfaction when present yet which do not generate dissatisfaction when not present; dissatisfies, which are the factors that can generate dissatisfaction if they do not work properly, yet which do not generate praise when they work properly or above a certain standard level; critical attributes, which can generate both complaints and praise; and neutral attributes, which do not receive either many complaints or much praise. Bitner et al. (1990) apply the critical incident method to the services sector, to determine precisely which occurrences generate satisfaction in consumers, which generate dissatisfaction and to what degree the two types of occurrences are diametrically opposed or reverse mirror images. These authors suggest that it is unlikely that the same occurrences or generic behavior can be considered the underlying causes of pleasing or displeasing encounters. The same conclusion is shared by Bleuel (1990), who holds that there is no one-to-one correspondence between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, suggesting that the attributes or sources that generate satisfaction are not the same as those that generate dissatisfaction. The overall conclusion reached in the studies on “critical incidents" (Johnston, 1995) is that the sources of dissatisfaction are not necessarily the reverse of the causes of satisfaction. Making reference to the work of Cadotte &Turgeon, Pizam and Ellis (1999) assert: “If Cadotte & Turgeon's findings are confirmed by other studies, we might indeed revise the prevailing theory about the nature of customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction and reject the notion that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are two extremes on one continuum. Instead, we might accept a modification of a theory that was advanced some years ago on the subject of job satisfaction. In this theory, Herzberg et al. (1959) propose that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are two extremes on two continua." Pizam & Ellis (1999; p. 332).

Customer satisfaction has been an interesting area in academic research for a long time (Choi & Chu, 2001). Anderson et al. (1994) referred to customer satisfaction as an overall evaluation of the service provider/s? Performance based on all of their prior experiences with an organization. Hu et al. (2009), define customer satisfaction as a cognitive or affective reaction that emerges in response to a single or prolonged set of service encounters. Many studies have supported the view that customer satisfaction was important to the success of organizations, and that this construct was associated with the profits (Hocutt, Chakraborty, & Mowen, 1997; Brown, Fisk, & Bitner, 1994; Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, & Schlesinger, 1994; Bitner, 1990; Bell & Zemke, 1988).

Gilbert and Horsnell (1998) show that the task of increasing or maintaining the level of customer satisfaction has become an important issue of contemporary challenge for hotel management. Several researchers identify customer satisfaction as an affective condition that was customers. Emotional reactions to the experience of a product or service (Gunderson, Heide, & Olsson, 1996; Spreng & Mackoy, 1996; Cadotte, Woodruff, & Jenkins, 1987; Oliver, 1981&980). Kondou (1999) viewed customer satisfaction as a positive emotional response resulting from customers, Subjective evaluations of their experience. However, Fujimura (1992) argue that customer satisfaction is a core concept in contemporary marketing theory and practice, and that the foundation of services marketing was obtaining a satisfying profit in return for achieving customers,needs and wants.

Bitner and Hubbert (1994) refer to customer satisfaction as a function of satisfaction with multiple experiences or encounters with the organization. In general, customer satisfaction has been conceptualized as whether a product or service satisfied customers, Demands and expectations (Zeithaml &Bitner, 2000). Although the concept of customer satisfaction has been reviewed in various ways, the underlying conceptualization was that satisfaction was a post-purchase evaluative judgment that resulted in an overall feeling about a specific transaction (Fornell, 1992). Therefore, Wang, Chen & Zhao (2007) recommend that service organizations should pay more attention to the issue of customer satisfaction, and strive to achieve higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Although there are many definitions of satisfaction, it is generally recognized as a post-purchase construct that is related to how a consumer likes or dislikes a service or product after experiencing it (Woodside, Frey& Daly, 1989). In terms of travel, Moutinho (1987) notes that this post-purchase construct is primarily a function of pre-travel expectations and travel experiences. Similarly, Pizam, Neumann & Reichel (1978) define tourist satisfaction as the result of comparison between “a tourist's experience at the destination visited and the expectation about the destination”. According to Jang & Feng (2007) & Kozak & Rimmington (2000), satisfaction is one of the most relevant variables when analyzing tourist behavior, as it influences the choice of destination, the consumption of products and services, and the decision to return. For this reason, tourist's satisfaction has been a priority subject of research in recent years. Tourist satisfaction with a particular destination may be the result of multiple factors, including the expectations generated before and during the trip, as well as the tourist's perception of the service received. The literature analyzes tourist satisfaction from a wide range of contexts: cultural trips (Ross & Iso, Ahola, 1991); research into tourist satisfaction with the chosen destination (Chon & Olsen, 1991; Danaher & Arweiler, 1996; Joppe, Martin &Waalen, 2001; Kozak & Rimmington, 2000).

Achieving customer satisfaction has been identified as a primary target and impending task in most organizations (Jones & Sasser, i995); for example, customer satisfaction has been explicitly associated with the success of organizations in the hotel, catering and tourism sectors (Pizam & Ellis, i999; Legoherel, i998; Barsky & Labagh, i992; LeBlanc, i992). Lam and Zhang (i999) demonstrate that most studies focusing on customer satisfaction in the hospitality literature have attempted to identify service attributes treated as customers' needs and wants. From a marketing perspective, customer satisfaction has been achieved when customers' demands were satisfied (Lam & Zhang, i999). However, the multi-functional nature of hospitality services has resulted in the development of multi-attribute scales, as reflected in many studies measuring customer satisfaction (Callan, i994; Knutson, i988). Oh & Parks (i997) suggest that expectancy- disconfirmation has been generally accepted and conceptually applied in the hospitality study of customer satisfaction. Oh and Parks (i997) claim that a positive disconfirmation would occur and further contribute to customer satisfaction if the product or service were beyond customer expectations. Conversely, a negative disconfirmation might happen when a service provider'sperformance became worse than customer expectations (Oh & Parks, i997).

Su (2004) indicates that the biggest contemporary challenge for hotel management was to increase or maintain customer satisfaction. Some researchers indicate that customer satisfaction has been secured through high-quality products and services in the airline, fast­food restaurant, hotel, and telecommunication sectors (Getty & Getty, 2003; Tsang & Qu, 2000; Gupta & Chen, i995). According to Juwaheer (2004), customer satisfaction may be a good predictor of customers' willingness to return and to recommend the hotel to other people. However, Juwaheer (2004) argues that many studies have attempted to resolve the difficulties in measuring customer satisfaction in the hotel industry.

Tourist satisfaction is considered to be an important element to maintain competitive business in the tourism industry because it affects the choice of destination, and the consumption of products and services (Kozak & Rimmington, 2000). Tourist satisfaction became an important tool to measure the cultural and heritage sector (Peleggi, i996). Therefore, homestay tourism is considered to use the tourist satisfaction measuring tool by revealing how tourists react to or benefit from the experiences they gain through their associations with traditional places and local culture. Measuring satisfaction of cultural and heritage places provides information related to how well a homestay destination meets the tourists' needs and therefore, helps homestay destination marketers develop their products and services which are really appealing to tourists. Several researchers have studied customer satisfaction and provided theories on the subject: expectancy-disconfirmation, assimilation or cognitive dissonance, contrast, assimilation contrast, equity, attribution, comparison level, generalized negativity, and value perception (Oh & Parks, 1997). In particular, expectancy-disconfirmation has received the widest acceptance among these theories.

The expectation-disconfirmation model suggests that satisfaction is the comparison of the product expectation to the actual performance of the product (Oliver, 1980). Pizam and Millman (1993) developed this model to improve the predictive power of travelers' satisfaction and introduced this model into hospitality research. They employed a regression model with a single expectation-met measure as the dependent variable, and 21 difference­score measure as the independent variables. In the tourism industry, Chon and Olsen (1991) use a “goodness of fit" between tourist expectation for their destination (previous destination image), and tourist satisfaction (the perceived evaluative experience in the destination). Then, after tourists have bought the travel products and services, if the evaluation of the tourist experience with the travel products and services is better than their expectation, they will be satisfied with their travel experience. Kozak & Rimmington (2000) report the impact of overall satisfaction levels of tourists based on destination attributes. Pizam, Neumann, & Reichel (1978) support this and state that it is important to measure tourists' satisfaction with each attribute of the destination because satisfaction or dissatisfaction of each attribute leads to satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the tourists' travel experience. Since tourists may vary in motivation for visiting a destination and they may have different satisfaction levels, the evaluation of tourist satisfaction needs to be considered in multiple dimensions using integrated approaches in order to involve the complex nature of satisfaction evaluation and the theories of measuring satisfaction (Yoon & Uysal, 2005).

Undoubtedly, satisfaction has been playing an important role in planning marketable tourism products and services. Tourist satisfaction is important to successful destination marketing because it influences the choice of destination, the consumption of products and services, and the decision to return (Kozak & Rimmington, 2000).So some researchers also look at comparison of standards used in service quality and satisfaction and provide different measures of service quality and satisfaction (Ekinci, Riley, &Chen, 2001; Liljander, 994). An understanding of satisfaction must be a basic parameter use to evaluate the performance of destination products and services (Noe & Uysal, 1997; Schofield, 2000). Among the tourism literature, an assessment of tourist satisfaction has been attempted using various perspectives and theories.

Most of the studies conducted to evaluate consumer satisfaction utilize models of expectation/ dis-confirmation (Chon, 1989; Francken & Van Raaij, 1981; Oliver,1980), equity (Fisk & Young, 1985; Oliver & Swan, 1989), norm (Cadotte, Woodruff, & Jenkins, 1987), and perceived overall performance (Tse & Wilton, 1988). The following section presents the models that are commonly used for assessing consumer satisfaction. First of all, according to the expectation- dis-confirmation model contributed by Oliver(1980),consumers develop expectations about a product before purchasing. Subsequently, they compare actual performance with those expectations. If the actual performance is better than their expectations, this leads to positive dis-confirmation, which means that the consumer is highly satisfied and will be more willing to purchase the product again. If the actual performance is worse than expectations, this leads to negative dis­confirmation, which means that the consumer is un-satisfied and will likely look for alternative products for the next purchase. Chon (1989) find that tourist satisfaction is based on the goodness of fit between his / her expectation about the destination and the perceived evaluative outcome of the experience at the destination area, whichis simply the result of a comparison between his / her previous images of the destination and what the / she actually sees, feels, and achieves at the destination. Oliver and Swan (1989) are interested in equity theory. Consumer satisfaction can be seen as a relationship between the costs of what the consumer spends and the rewards (benefits) he / she anticipate. Here, price, benefits time, and effort are major factors in determining satisfaction (Heskett, Sasser, &Schlesinger 1997).

Thus, it can be said thatif tourists receive benefits or value based on their time, effort, and money for travel, the destination is worth while. Latour & Peat (1979) suggested the norm theory. Norms serve as reference points for judging the product, and dissatisfaction comes into play as a result of dis-confirmation relative to these norms. Several authors replaced ‘norm' with ‘ideal standard' in the literature (Sirgy, 1984). Francken & Van Raaij, (1981), hypothesize that leisure satisfaction is determined by the consumers'perceived disparity between the preferred and actual leisure experiences, as well as the perceptions of barriers (both internal and external) that prevented the consumer from achieving the desired experience.

This theory uses some form of “comparison standard''. Consumers compare a product they have purchased with other products. Tourists can compare current travel destinations with other alternative destinations or places visited in the past. The difference between present and past experiences can be a norm used to evaluate tourist satisfaction. Therefore, comparing Current travel destinations with other, similar places that they may have visited can assess the satisfaction of tourists. Tse & Wilton (i988) develop a perceived performance model illustrating customer satisfaction and their post purchase behaviors in tourism and hospitality industry. According to this model, consumer dissatisfaction is only a function of the actual performance, regardless of consumers' expectations.

In other words, the actual performance and initial expectations should be considered independently, rather than comparing performance with past experiences. Therefore, in this model, tourists' evaluation of their satisfaction with travel experiences is considered, regardless of their expectations. This model is effective when tourists do not know what they want to enjoy and experience and do not have any knowledge about their destination circumstances, and only their actual experiences are evaluated to assess tourist satisfaction. In summary, as seen in the above discussion, the evaluation of tourist satisfaction needs to be considered in multiple dimensions. Tourists may have varying motivations for visiting particular destinations, and also may have different satisfaction levels and standards. Therefore, a model that integrates the approaches used by previous models may be most effective inassessing tourist satisfaction.

Based on the literature provided, tourist satisfaction is an important measuring tool for the tourist destination including cultural and heritage sectors. Therefore, homestay tourism is considered to use the tourist satisfaction to be a measuring tool. Measuring satisfaction of cultural and heritage places provides information related to how well a homestay destination meets the tourists' needs and therefore, helps homestay managers develop their products and services.

2.6 Tourists' Motivation

Motivation is defined as “A need or desire that energizes behavior and directs it towards a goal" (Myers, 2004, p.345). Hence, a biological need or a sociological need that stimulate to act the individual in a way to achieve a goal has been identified by many anthropologic, scientific and sociological researchers right throughout the history. The factors that stimulate a person to take certain decision and act on a way to achieve certain goals are known as motivating factors.

Travel motivation refers to a set of needs that predisposes a person towards a certain tourist activity (Pizam, Neumann, & Reichel, 1979). International tourism began to grow exponentially since the 1950s due to stimulation by interrelated “push" factors, which originated mostly from individual and social need s and demands, as well as the “pull" factors stimulated by tourist destinations worldwide (Kalsom, 2011). “Tourist motivation represents one of the most important yet complex areas of tourism research" (Sharpley & Telfer, 2002 p. 308) and the substantial literature available offers a broad range of theories (Pearce & Butler 1993; Gnoth, J., 1997) while there does not appear to be any general agreement, recurrent themes emerge for example, the need to escape from everyday surroundings for the purpose of relaxation, and discovering new things, places and people.

Understanding why tourists choose certain accommodation and activities at a particular destination is vitally important to companies, organizations, individuals and governments trying to attract tourists and benefit from the products they choose. Given that many tourists' motivation for undertaking a homestay tourism experience is for enjoyment rather than a strictly educational experience, it is not surprising that host communities may consider themselves as being part tourist entertainer (Prideax & Kininmont 1999) and therefore, some form of customization can be accepted to successfully develop a palatable tourist product (Wall & Mathieson 2006). This may not require the introduction of staged authenticity (MacCannell 1973) but rather minor renovation (Chhabra 2008), for example replacing a ‘squat' toilet with a ‘sit-down' toilet, in other words, customized authenticity (Wang 2007). “Satisfaction is measured by how well leisure activities are perceived to fulfill the basic needs and motives that stimulated the idea to participate in the activity"

Another research on the tourists' motivation and satisfaction highlighted that there are specific reasons for tourists to act and those are indicators of tourists' behavior. Although, the issue of tourist motivation is widely examined, it has been limitedly conducted. Tourist motivation is the combination of needs and desires that affect the tendency to travel in a general sense (O'Leary & Deegan, 2005). Although other factors obviously influence tourist behavior, motivation is still considered to be an indicator and explains why tourists behave in certain ways.

Motivation refers to a need that drives an individual to act in a certain way to achieve to the desired satisfaction (Crompton, 1979). Tourist motivation is regarded as the combination of needs and desires that affect the propensity to travel in a general sense (O'Leary & Deegan, 2005). In addition, motivation influences the effective component of the images, or the feelings aroused by a place or people, who may assess a tourist destination based on varying motives of travel (Baloglu, 1997). Previous research is stated tourist motivation is a result of internal driving needs to get away from the ordinary environment (Iso-Ahola, 1982). Individuals escape routine environments and seek their choice of recreational opportunities such as meeting new people, visiting new places, and having new experiences (Mannell & Iso-Ahola, 1997).

Thus, push-pull travel motivation theory is developed as an important model for individuals to determine tourists' motivations and how they influence travel destination choices (Dann, 1997). Push factors are the internal drivers that motivate people to travel, while the pull factor is concerned about the external drives that determine where, when, and how they travel (Jang & Cai, 2002). Crompton and McKay (1997) use a push and pull model to study travel motivations and developed six push and pull motivation factors: cultural exploration, novelty/regression, recover equilibrium (rest and relaxation/escape), known group socialization, external socialization and interaction, and family togetherness.

Likewise, Pearce, Philip and Lee (2005) suggest that escape, relaxation, relation enhancement, and self-development were major push travel motivations. On the other hand, pull factors refer to the attractiveness of destination that attract people to travel. For example, specific attributes of a cultural destination such as a relaxed atmosphere, cultural events, and friendliness of the local people were important pull factors in attracting tourists. Based on the literature of push-pull motivation, the tourists' motivation items were created.

Previous studies show relevant relationships between tourists' motivation and their satisfaction of destination. Ross and Iso-Ahola (1991) find the correlation between motivation and satisfaction of sightseeing tourists. This correlation indicated the similarity of motivation and satisfaction dimensions which brings tourist overall satisfaction. Yoon and Uysal (2005) study the relationship among the push and pull motivation, satisfaction, and destination. The results showed that tourists are more likely to choose destinations which are believed to fulfill their internal needs or push factors. The model also revealed structural relationship between motivation and satisfaction. Uysal & Williams (2004) test a model looking at tourist satisfaction with destination attributes and tourist type based on travel motivation which moderates the relationship between satisfactions and attribute factors. It was indicated that motivation in the model influences relative importance of the two kinds of attributes to tourist satisfaction.

Although a number of studies have examined tourist motivation involved in travel, a limited number of tourism studies have addressed and examined the constructs of motivation and satisfaction in the same context. Given the literature on tourists' motivation, it is predicted that tourists' motivation will add significant variance of tourists' satisfaction on destination.

Motivation is referred to as psychological/ biological needs and wants, including integral forces That arouse, direct, and integrate a person's behavior And activity (Dann,i98i; Pearce,i982; Uysal & Hagan,i993). Since a paradigm of tourism is always related to Human beings and to human nature, it is a complex Proposition to investigate why people travel and what they want to enjoy. Many disciplines have been utilized to explain phenomena and characteristics related to motivation. In psychology and sociology, the definition of motivation is directed toward emotional and cognitive motives (Ajzen & Fishbein, i977) or internal and external motives (Gnoth, i997).

In tourism research, this motivation concept can be classified into two forces, which indicate that people travel because they are pushed and pulled to dosoby‘‘someforces''or factors (Danni977;i98i). According to Uysal and Hagan (i993), these forces describe how Individuals are pushed by motivation variables into making travel decisions and how they are pulled or attracted by destination attributes. In other words, the push motivations are related to the tourists' desire, while pull motivations are associated with the attributes of the destination choices (Cha, McCleary, &Uysal, i995; Crompton, i979; Dann, i98i; Oh, Uysal, & Weaver, i995). Push motivations are more related to internal or emotional aspects. Pull motivations, on the other hand, are connected to external, situational, or cognitive aspects. Push motivations can be seen as the desire for escape, rest and relaxation, prestige, health and fitness, adventure and social interaction, family togetherness, and excitement (Crompton, i979).

Tourists may travel to escape routine and search for authentic experiences. Pull motivations are those that are inspired by destination's attractiveness, such as beaches, recreation facilities, cultural attractions, entertainment, natural scenery, shopping, and parks. These destination attributes may stimulate and reinforce inherent push motivations (McGehee et al. i996). Several studies have been conducted using these perspectives (Yuan & McDonald, i990; Pyo, Mihalik & Uysal, i989 and Iso-Ahloa, i982).Iso-Ahola (i982) argues that individuals perceive a leisure activity as a potential satisfaction producer for two major reasons. The activity may provide certain intrinsic rewards, such as a feeling of mastery and competence, and it may provide anescape fromthe routine environment.

Similarly, Kippendorf (1987) find that tourists are motivated by ‘‘going away from rather than going toward something'' and that tourist motivation is self-oriented. In the above major studies, it is generally accepted that push and pull motivations have been primarily utilized in studies of tourist behavior. The discoveries and issues undoubtedly play a useful role in attempting to understand a wide variety of different needs and wants thatcanmotivate and influence tourist behavior.

Nevertheless, the results and effects of the motivation studies of tourist behavior require more than an understanding of their needs and wants. In tourism destination management, maximizing travel satisfaction is crucial for a successful business. The evaluation of the physical products of destination (instrumental performance) as well as the psychological interpretation of a destination product( expressive attributes) are necessary for human actions (Swan & Combs,1976; Uysal & Noe,2003),which could be represented as travel satisfaction and destination loyalty. Since the expressive is more related to emotion, whereas instrumental performance is more cognitively oriented, expressive experiences truly motivate and contribute to satisfaction. Instrumental performance includes maintenance attributes which, if absent, could create dissatisfaction. Both concepts can be examined within the context of a tourism system representing two major components of the market place, namely, demand (tourist) and supply (tourism attractions). It has been suggested that the instrumental and expressive attributes work in combination to produce overall satisfaction (Jurowski, Cumbow, Uysal, & Noe, 1996; Uysal&Noe, 2003).

Homestays are viewed as culture and heritage tourism, which emerged with the culture of local residents. Homestay tourists believe that the homestay represent a unique way of living in a new culture. They need an authentic experience, to see the architecture of the host culture and a sense of being at home. Understanding motivation is therefore a starting point to understand homestay tourists and how they satisfy their needs. Although several researchers have studied the cultural and heritage tourism, they did not certainly provide homestay issues, especially homestays in Sri Lanka. The homestay concept seems to be the new type of tourism in Sri Lanka and the examination of motivation is still needed for homestay tourism in Sri Lanka. Thus, this study could be applied to investigate what factors would motivate tourists to choose homestays in Sri Lanka and to predict tourists' overall satisfaction based on cultural and heritage attributes. In order to investigate satisfaction of cultural and heritage tourists such as homestay tourists, the investigation of tourist satisfaction is needed. Based on the literature provided, the motivation of tourists is a main factor to predict the tourists' satisfaction.

Baloglu and Uysal (1996) argue that the concept of product bundles is used to refer to the perceived importance of the interaction between push and pull items of motivations. This implies that certain reasons for travel may correspond to certain benefits that are to be valued and obtained at the destination site. Thus, marketers and destination promoters in tourism should keep in mind that most successful products are those which respond best to a bundle of needs within a given market segment, and should give more marketing efforts to matching a destination's major attributes to the tourists' diverse psychological needs.

Based on the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, as discussed above, the individual tourist builds his or her perceptions, and the perceptions can be different from the true attributes of the product depending on how the individual receives and processes information (Gartner, 1993; Dann, 1996; Baloglu & Brinberg, 1997). A general conclusion can be drawn that the personal motives (push motives) and the view of the characteristics of the tourism destination (pull motives) determine perceptions. These motives interact in a dynamic and evolving context (Correia, 2000), and the tourist motivation is seen as a multidimensional concept that explains tourist decision (McCabe, 2000).

Therefore it is hypothesized that:

Hypothesis3b: Tourists' motivation will predict the overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays in Sri Lanka.

2.7 Homestay: benefits, issues and challenges

2.7.1 Benefits of Homestay programme

Economic contributions from the homestay programme to the individual operators and to the homestay programme committee was examined by a case study in Malaysia in 2011 and the findings summarize as follows (Kalsom, 2011). According to one respondent of the interview,

the money obtained from the programme is important, also not a lot of capital is really needed. Houseorations and toilet facilities we also can use since we are living in this hose.” (Kalsom, 2011).

As visitors frequently purchase locally produced goods such as herbal medication and handicrafts as souvenirs, the homestay programme is seen as an outlet for the local small scale producers of this type of goods. The village womens' group also benefits from the homestay as they provide catering service for the homestay guests during the local feast activity. They are also involved in local food display exhibition, which is in turn contributes to the preservation of traditional food and ways of cooking.

Further, according to Kalsom, (20ii), the rest of the groups who are beneficial form the homestay incomes are local caterers, the cultural show performers and other who assist in activities. Those who are involved in local transport as well as those who are involved in managing services and logistics and coordination activities and overall the receipts from the homestay programme are distributed among villagers which are the major community benefit from the programme.

Further the improvement of the local attitudes towards tourism industry and the way of their thinking towards guests' satisfaction and appreciation of local culture and other resources is stimulated by homestay programme according to Kalsom, 20ii. As per her findings;

“I am excited and thankful to the government for introducing homestay to us... now we know the importance of tourism in developing the country... we know more about the tourist... because we are trained.. I' am proud to be a part of tourism.."

According to Jamil & Hamsah (2007) who studied the roles of women in homestays, women in the village were motivated by the programme since it promised them with some employment opportunities, new business opportunities and skills development as well as chance to secure greater control over local resources in their villages.

However, the success of the programme is controlled by several factors such as training and guidance given by the homestay management committee of the village, government support and guidance, training for local operators as well as rewards and recognition and guest allocation priorities based on feedback records. The management of the programme has lot to do in securing a properly managed local homestay programme and the involvement of the government and continuous improvement while controlling g improper activities lead the success of a homestay programme. The Sri Lankan context to be explored by the second part of the study with interviews conducted with operators.

Guest's point of view the cultural experience, low cost compared to hotel accommodation, living with local people are some benefits they can experienced form homestay. According to Kalsom, 2011, the cultural mingle and the experiential aspect of family living is of unique in term of guests' experience.

“my roommate I were asked to wear ‘sarung', eat on the floor and without spoon, and sleep on the floor it is really a unique experience that we could find in any hotel at any place!

No matter how good the services of a hotel, it will never give you the warm feeling of companionship, the feel of family..."

According to Rinchen (2007) benefits of homestay programme could be highlighted as follows. Income from Homestays more than doubled in most villages, especially the remote and poorer villages of Sku, Rumbak & Kaya. Most women (who comprise the majority of providers and in some cases work as local guides, and who receive the cash payments) felt that the income from Homestays has made a significant change in their lives. The income has given them greater decision making powers at home that they hadn't had before. With the ability to exercise decision-making power over economic resources, a majority have used the money to send their children to better schools in urban centers. In other households, providers such as Yanjor, bought additional pack ponies to augment his meager income from weaving. Tourism activities and local participation: At present there are 98 Homestay operators, seven cafes (which benefit 70 households), 60 nature guides have been trained, and there are 30 additional families running related enterprises (solar- powered baths, pack ponies, etc).Homestay incomes have enable villagers to protect their livestock with funds invested in a community-run livestock insurance scheme and building predator-proof pens. Participation in the Homestays has strengthened the sense of pride local people have their culture, lifestyles, surroundings plus provided opportunities to interact with people from other countries.

2.7.2 Issues and Challenges of Homestay Programmes

Conversely, (Anonymous, 2006), Ban Mae Kam Pong Homestay seemed to be more commercialized and changed due the concept of homestay promoted by the government. Some villagers have experienced a change in their way of life affected by the emergence of tourism and homestay in the village. It has been widely argued that such cultural changes have been significant in this village context. Additionally, much pollution such as waste problems and visual pollution have been increasing according to the growth of community tourism. The carrying capacity of the village still needs to be carefully considered in order to reduce the negative consequences and to reach the purpose of sustainable community development. Competition from other organizations/agencies: See the potential, other organizations such as SECMOL and Markha Association have entered the Homestay market (Wanna & Kevin, 2012). However, they adopt the underlying features and ideas but without committing to and following through with CBT principles, thus competing directly with Himalayan Homestay initiative by offering lower prices. Such mimicking of and capture of visitors is causing disharmony within the villages. Spiti & Zanskar: Remoteness of these two regions, with poor or virtually nonexistent (and certainly unreliable communication systems), makes CBT work challenging. Host communities lack communication skills that are important given that most of visitors are foreigners.

Figure 2.2 The Conceptualization of overall Satisfaction of Homestay tourists

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Source; researcher's conceptualization based on published literature, 2012

Tourists' Overall Satisfaction (1 indicator) based on Chi and Qu (2008) perceived Performance theory on attribute satisfaction.

Attributes of Homestay Product (32 attributes ) based on the studies by Levitt (1980), Kozak & Rimmington (2000) and Heung & Cheng (2000)

Tourists' Motivation (24 push and 34 pull indicators) - Based upon previous studies of Kao, Patterson, & Li (2008), Beerli & Martin,(2004), and Ngamsom (2007).

Figure 2.2 presents the conceptual framework for this study. It illustrates thee variables and the dependant variable for the study is overall satisfaction of tourists who visit homestay in Sri Lanka. Further, this dependant variable is hypothesized to predict by two independent variables as per the figure 2.2. Namely, attribute satisfaction of homestay tourists in Sri Lanka and tourists' motivation towards the homestay product in Sri Lanka. The figure further illustrates that there are two hypotheses to be tested by this study and they are: H1 - there is a significant relationship between homestay product's attribute satisfaction and overall satisfaction and H2 - there is a significant relationship between tourists' motivation towards Sri Lankan homestay and their overall satisfaction.

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Table 2.1 details the variables of this study, technical definitions for variables, measurements and number of indicators for each variable. Accordingly, the overall satisfaction has 1 indicator while the homestay product attributes have 32 indicators and both above variables will be measured by 5 point Likert scale. Moreover, Homestay product attributes for the study would be categorized into 4 types based on Levitt's classification and those are core, expected augmented and potential products. Tourists' motivation will be measured using 5 point Likert scale where it will have 24 push and 34 pull motivation factors as indicators. Finally the table highlights how the homestay operators' perception could be faucet. This will be done by in depth interviews with the use of an interview protocol.

2.8 Chapter Summary

This section discussed the increase of interests in cultural and heritage destinations, including the homestay sector. First, the demographic characteristic of the tourist was provided and particularly, this section of chapter detailed different demographic factors and the satisfaction with homestay tourism product. Second, homestay definitions and the narrative of homestays in Sri Lanka were provided. Further this section reviewed the literature on evolution of the concept of homestay, morphological changes of the concept and some views on authenticity and homestay tourism products in Sri Lanka and international context. Then, tourists' satisfaction was defined and earlier research in this sector was acknowledged in order to explore which areas required further study. Lastly, this section provided the literature of cultural and heritage attribute destination and viewed the literature of tourists' motivation affecting tourists' satisfaction. The tourists motivation was discussed in different facets while strong emphasis on push (individual's point of view) and pull (destination itself) factors. From these previous studies, the attributes of this study were decided. Furthermore, this section discussed the relevant literature on the importance­performance (IPA), the push-pull travel motivation theory and the customer satisfaction (expectation-disconfirmation theory). These theories were analyzed in order to guide this study. In the end of this chapter the issues and challenges of homestay programmes are detailed since one of the objectives of this study is to explore the real hosts' perceptions towards homestay operations. Finally, the conceptual frameworks for the study and the variables and indicators or the operationalization of the study are presented.

CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This section addresses the methodology used to conduct this study. The second section of this section restates the purposes of the study. The third section presents the research design. Section four presents the population and sampling procedure. Then, Section five discusses the instrumentation and presents the measurement development, description of the measurement, validity and reliability procedures. Section six includes the procedures of data collection, followed by the statistical procedures adopted in the data analysis in Section seven. In Section eight, the preliminarily data evaluation procedures will be discussed.

3.2 Research Design

This type of research is socio-economically and culturally situated and requires a rich narrative description which would support both qualitative and quantitative methods. For these reasons both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized and the first analytical part was based on quantitative approach. Both primary and secondary data was utilized to meet research objectives. The study utilized an exploratory research design to examine the predicting effects of tourist's motivation and cultural and heritage attributes on tourists' satisfaction, as well as the relationship between tourist's motivation, cultural and heritage attributes and tourists' overall satisfaction.

A qualitative approach, in the form of in-depth interviews, was adopted to address the research objectives related to socio-cultural issues. Such an approach had to be chosen as it offers the researcher adaptability in data collection, whereby ideas can be followed up on, responses can be further probed and motives and feelings can be further explored. As the interviews are conducted by a team of researchers with respondents at various locations at different times, standard semi-structured questionnaires were used to ensure coverage of the research objectives; they were acted only as an interviewing guide and were not directly administer to the respondents. Data coding and summarizing have been carried out in order to process qualitative data to obtain aimed information for the analytical purposes of this study.

3.2.1 Specification of Theoretical Model

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Y = Overall Satisfaction of Homestay tourists

β0 = Constant

β1 = Tourist motivation to experience homestay in Sri Lanka

β[2]= Tourists' satisfaction on attributes of Homestay in Sri Lanka

u = Error term

3.3 Population and Sampling

3.3.1 Population

The target population of this study was tourists who visit homestay and use homestays in Sri Lanka as their travel destination. Accordingly as per the statistics of SLTDA, (2011) there have been 64 number of homestay units registered to operate homestay tourism and a total of 206 rooms were available in all nine homestay tourism zones defined by SLTDA and there have been 12,690 homestay tourists in Sri Lanka. However, any given time the maximum possible homestay tourists in Sri Lanka should be 412 and this should be the target population at a point of time. On the other hand taking the annual average number of tourists also into consideration the total population for the study was projected.

Similarly, being 64 homestay units are registered with SLTDA and are in operation, which also was under consideration for the purpose of this study. Therefore, all the homestay guests as well as all the homestay hosts of a given time were the target population for this study.

3.3.2 Sample frame

The total homestay room capacity was considered as the sample frame of this study. 206 rooms are available in all nine homestay zones by 2011 and this was the sample frame for this study based on which the sample was drawn for the collection of primary data.

3.3.3 Sample and Data Collection

This study employed an accidental sampling which is a form of non-probabilistic sampling. The questionnaire packages were distributed to managers of all the homestays in Sri Lanka. In this study, the sample frame consisted of tourists who were given a survey package by one of the operators during their check-out. Homestay operators were informed about the purpose of the survey in advance before they are given the questionnaire. They were asked to distribute the questionnaires to only to tourists who are least 18 years old.

The real hosts for homestay tourists who operate homestay tourism units (64 registered units) were interviewed to explore their perceptions about the homestay operations.

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Source: SLTDA, (2011)

Table 3.1 illustrates the sample frame for this study. According to the table 64 homestay unites registered with Sri Lanka Tourism by December 2011. It also illustrates the number of rooms in each homestay zone as per the SLTDA data. Further the table details how the 300 observations for this study are distributed among the 9 homestay zones in Sri Lanka.

According to Sekaran, and Roger (2011) if the population size is five hundred (500) the sample size should be 260 whereas for a population of 10,000 the sample size should be 370.For the purpose of this study a total of 300 questionnaires were distributed through 64 homestay units and particularly these homestay tourists were tapped from the typical homestay definition which guides this study. Number of tourists was selected in proportion to the number of rooms available at each homestay zone. Further, 27 of homestay hosts (operators) were intervened to explore their perceptions on the homestay operations.

3.3.4 Sampling error

For the selection of homestay units simple random sampling has been used and hence it is error free. Yet the selection of tourists was accidental, which is a form of non-probabilistic sampling and as a result the sampling error is remained.

3.3.5 Selection error and frame error

To ensure that respondents do not participate more than once, the survey conducted only on the checkout date. In addition, a cross check of the collected data based on demographic information was conducted to purge possible duplicates.

3.3.5 Data collection tools

In order to reach the research objectives both primary and secondary data were utilized. Secondary data for the study were gathered through reliable sources such as annual reports of Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), SLTDA annual statistical report, periodicals, through official web sites of SLTDA, CBSL, Statistical Reports of Ministry of Economic Development and Board of Investment (BOI).

Primary data were employed to guide the basic research objectives of this study and the collection of primary data was accomplished through two data collection tools. Firstly, a survey questionnaire and secondly, an interview protocol served the above purposes. The first three objectives of this study were reached by using primary data and required primary data for this purpose was gathered using a survey questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed among 300 homestay guests from all 64 homestay units in operation in Sri Lanka. The questionnaire consisted of five sections and the first section addresses the identification of critical product attributes of Sri Lankan homestay product and based on the clients ranking for product attributes the objectives would be reached.

The second section of the survey questionnaire explores the tourists' motivation to experience homestay tourist product in Sri Lanka. Both push and pull factors for tourists' motivation for homestay in Sri Lanka were explored using five point Likert scale and the overall motivation was computed for statistical operations with the support of such scales.

The third section of the survey questionnaire was to identify the tourists satisfaction over homestay product in Sri Lanka and the satisfaction was explored in general attribute satisfaction as well as tourists overall homestay satisfaction. The last section of the survey questionnaire consists of general information of the tourists and such information as sex, gender, profession, duration of stay, travel party composition; income level etc would give a clear picture about the client profile for Sri Lankan homestay.

The second data collection tool which was employed to explore the homestay operators' perceptions towards homestay operations is an in depth interview which was guided by an interview protocol. The interview protocol consists of fifteen questions and was structured in such a way to cover the factors such as motivation and involvement of homestay operations, benefits from homestay operation, problems, issues encountered and the potential solutions form operators' point of view and stakeholder roles in homestay operations in Sri Lanka.

3.4 Instrumentation

3.4.1 Measurement

The purpose of this study was to analyze which destination attributes are important in satisfying tourists who visit homestays in Sri Lanka and indentify a relationship between tourists' motivation, product attributes, and tourists' overall satisfaction. For tourist's motivation items, the preliminary questionnaire was developed based upon previous studies of Kao, Patterson, & Li (2008), Beerli & Martin (2004), and Ngamsom (2007). Cultural and heritage attribute items were selected from previous instrumentations by Kozak & Rimmington (2000) and Heung & Cheng (2000). Table 3.4 shows the variables use in this study. The dependent variable is the tourist's overall satisfaction. The independent variables are the tourist's motivation and cultural and heritage attributes.

3.4.2 Validity

Validity is defined as “the extent to which a measure actually taps the underlying concept that it propose to measure” (Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh, & Sorensen, 2006). For the purpose of this study, validity was determined by employing several techniques. Utilization of pre tested indicators for all research constructs particularly from the same research field would guide construct validity while utilizing a panel of experts guided to make sure the content validity of the instruments used. The panel members were selected who are experienced in the study's content and instrumentation. They were informed on the topic of this study. After the awareness they were asked individually to assess content, format, wording, and overall appearance. The questionnaire was in English since the focus of the study is for foreigners.

The following table summarizes the types of validly under the consideration for this study and a brief note is given for each type of validity to be confined during the course of actions in this study.

Table 3.2 Establishment of Validity of Measures for the Study

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Source: Sekaran & Rodger (2011) modified by the researcher in 2012

The above table illustrates the 8 types of validity which should be considered during a research study and the ways and means to secure such validity criteria in the course of this study.

3.4.3 Reliability

Reliability is defined as “the extent to which a measure yields consistent results; the extent to which scores are free of random error” (Ary, Jacobs, Razavieh, & Sorensen, 2006). In other words, the reliability of a measure is an indication of the stability and consistency with which the instrument measures the concept and helps to assess the “goodness” of a measure (Sekaran & Roger, 2011). The ability of a measure to remain the same over time - despite uncontrollable testing conditions or the state of the respondents themselves - is indicative of its stability and low vulnerability to the changes in the situation. This would attest the “goodness” because the concept is stably measured, no matter when it is done.

To establish the reliability of this study measurement use in the survey instrument, the reliability coefficient (Cronbach alpha) was verified. Therefore, the reliability of this study was accomplished. The alpha should ideally be around .90 and never be below .70. According to this rule, all of the constructs in the measurement of this study therefore have been dully checked for this requirement.

The table 3.3 details the two main considerations in the case of reliability of a research study namely the stability of measures and internal consistency of measures. Further it explains the procedure to make sure such reliability measures are secured in the course of this study.

Accordingly, the Cronbatch Alpha for the two variables was tested and tourists' motivation towards homestay product in Sri Lanka was verified with 40 items and the Alpha value was .891 and is highly reliable. Secondly, the reliability test result for attribute satisfaction of homestay experience was tested and the value was .874 which is also in a high degree of reliability. (Appendix 5)

Table 3.3 Establishment of reliability of measures for the study

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Sekaran & Rodger (2011) modified by the researcher in 2012

Table 3.4 Variables of the Study

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Literature Survey, 2012

The questionnaire was consisted of three sections. The first section explored the critical attributes of Sri Lankan homestay product in demand perspective. 10 measures were employed on a ranking scale and altogether 49 indicators are used to identify the critical product attributes.

Tourists' motivation to select Sri Lankan homestay was measured by means of two aspects in the second section of the questionnaire. Firstly, push factors are measured on a 5 point Likert scale and altogether 24 indicators would be used for push factors of motivation. Secondly, pull factors for tourists' motivation was measured by means of 5 point Likert scale and altogether 58 indicators were measured for this aspect. The tourists' motivation was tested on a 5-point Likert-type scale which ranges from strongly agree to (5) to strongly disagree (1).

The section three explores tourists' satisfaction with the destination's product attributes. This construct ask the respondents' satisfaction with 32 items which are developed from the previous researches. The second construct ask respondents' overall level satisfaction level with homestay in Sri Lanka (5 =extremely satisfied, 1 = extremely dissatisfied). The final section of the questionnaire would contain demographic items such as age, gender, income, and country of residence.

Further, an interview protocol would be employed to explore the homestay operators' perceptions about the issues, challenges and applications about homestay tourism in Sri Lanka. This interview protocol was structured into five areas namely, section A- Motivation and involvement - Operators (questions A1, A2), section B - Motivation and involvement - Guests (questions B1, B2), section C - Benefits (to the operator, to the community) questions C1, C2, and C3, section D - Problems and issues encountered and solutions/suggestions to mitigate issues and section E - Stakeholder role (government, community, homestay tourists and other operators/industry.

3.5 Data Analysis

After sorting the questionnaires, data was coded, entered, and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Statistical analyses such as descriptive analysis (frequencies) were used according to the respective objectives of the study. Descriptive analysis was conducted to evaluate tourists who visit homestays in Sri Lanka. Descriptive statistics is used to identify the differences in the overall tourists' satisfaction in terms of tourists' demographic characteristics (e.g., age, gender, country of resident, marital status, education level, and total household income). Friedman test statistics have been employed to analyze rank data on key attributes of homestay product in Sri Lanka. Correlation matrix analysis was employed to create correlated variable composites from an original motivation items and 58 attributes and to identify a set of dimensions. A multi correlation analysis was performed to check the relationships between variables defined for each objective. Thenthe derived results were applied in subsequent regression analysis. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine tourists' overall levels of satisfaction with the tourists' motivation destination and product attribute dimension. The dependent variable (tourists' overall satisfaction levels with destination) was regressed against each independent variable (tourists' motivation dimensions and product attribute dimensions) derived from the factor analysis.

3.6 Preliminary Evaluation of Data

3.6.1 Data screening and missing analysis procedures

Once the data begins to flow, the data preparation starts and it includes editing, coding and data entry and is the activity that ensures the accuracy of the data and their conversation from raw form to reduced and classified forms that are more appropriate for analysis. A cross check of the collected data based on demographic information was conducted to purge possible duplicates. Three hundred participants were surveyed for the first section of the study and another 27 individuals were interviewed for the second section of the study.

Missing data are information from a participant or case that is not available for one or more variables of interest. In the survey missing data typically occur such as participants accidently skip answering, refuse to answer or do not know the answer to an item on the questionnaire. The Missing Value Analysis program from SPSS was used to assess missing values. List wise deletion was employed, which resulted in the removal unusable surveys. From the target of 300 surveys 282 cases have been used in the future analyses.

3.6.2 Statistic Assumptions

The data were screened for: (a) outliers, (b) multivariate normality, (c) linearity, and (d) multico-linearity. Outliers are cases with extreme values on one or a combination of variables that influence the size of correlation coefficients, the average value for a group, or the variability of scores within a group (Tabachnick & Fidell, 1983). In this study, outliers were identified by examining the standardized z-scores of each score. To assess for multivariate normality, descriptive statistics was conducted to examine skewness and kurtosis. In the assumption of multivariate normality, values > 1.96 for skewness and kurtosis indicate a violation of multivariate normality (Field, 2005). In addition, given the large samples in this study, the shape of the distribution was also visually inspected. Lastly, assumption of multi-co-linearity was tested using Variance Inflation Faction (VIF) and Tolerance Values. According to Kline (2005) and Field (2005), VIF greater than 10 and Tolerance values below .10 indicate co-linearity in the data.

3.7 Chapter Summary

This chapter is devoted to address the methodological approach which is used to conduct this study. The first section introduces the chapter while the second section of this chapter restated the research design. Population of the study, sample frame and sampling procedures in the study were discussed in Section three. It also discussed the instrumentation including measurement development, validity, and reliability of measurements. Section four of this chapter included the procedures of data collection for this study both for primary and secondary data. Section five presented the statistical procedures adopted in the data analysis. In Section six, the data were evaluated preliminarily by using data screening and missing analysis procedure and statistical assumptions such as outliers, multivariate normality, linearity, and multi-co-linearity. It also included the statistical assumptions deployed in the course of this study.

CHAPTER FOUR DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction

This section addresses the data interpretations and analysis in order to materialize the set research objectives. Basically, there were two approaches in the above process. The first approach is the quantitative one and it is used to explore the Sri Lankan homestay from the tourists' point of view. The second section uses a qualitative approach to excel problems, challenges and issues faced by Sri Lankan homestay from the operators' point of view. The first part starts with the analysis of demographic characteristics of homestay tourists of Sri Lanka. Secondly, the key attributes of Sri Lankan Homestay product are excelled. Thirdly, push and pull factors for tourists to select Sri Lankan homestay is presented. Fourth section consists with the satisfaction of homestay tourists in Sri Lanka. The final section of the quantitative approach test the hypotheses through, correlation analysis and regression analysis followed by qualitative descriptions and interpretations to explore issues, challenges and problems faced by Homestay operations in Sri Lanka.

4.2 Demographic Characteristics of Subjects

The final section of the research instrument was to identify the demographic characteristics of cases. Accordingly, the key characteristics of homestay tourists in Sri Lanka would be profiled by this section.

4.2.1 Percentage of Sex Distribution of Homestay Tourists

The sex distribution of homestay tourists in Sri Lanka is 58 percent male and 42 percent female as illustrated in the following graph.

Figure 4.1 Percentage of Sex Distribution of Homestay Tourists

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Source: Survey 2013

4.2.2 Percentage of Age Distribution of Homestay Tourists

The following graph illustrates the age distribution of homestay tourists in Sri Lanka. Accordingly 32 percent of homestay tourists belong to 30 to 39 age group, whilst 22 percent belongs to 40 to 49 age group. Only 4 percent tourists recorded in the age group of 60 and above.

Figure 4.2 Percentage of Age Distribution of Homestay Tourists

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.2.3 Percentage of Regional Representation of Homestay Tourists

The region from where the homestay tourists came to Sri Lanka is explained by the following radar. Accordingly, 37 percent of homestay tourists are from Western Europe and
a 24 percent of homestay tourists are from South Asia. Further, an 8 percent of homestay tourists were from Australia and New Zealand according to the findings of the survey.

Figure 4.3 Percentage of Regional Representation of Homestay Tourists

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Survey 2013

4.2.4 Purpose of Visit of Homestay Tourists

The following radar illustrates the purpose of visits of homestay tourists in Sri Lanka and a 26 percent of homestay tourists came for culture and heritage reasons while a 23 percent homestay tourists came for leisure activities. Moreover, 22 percent homestay tourists visited Sri Lanka for VFR reasons. Nature based reasons represented an 18 percent homestay tourists in Sri Lanka according to the following radar.

Figure 4.4 Purpose of Visit of Homestay Tourists

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Source: Survey 2013

4.2.5 Travel Party Composition of Homestay Tourists

As per the following radar 49 percent of homestay tourists to Sri Lanka came in a group of 3 to 10 members. Similarly, 36 percent homestay tourists were in couples and 14 percent homestay tourists visited Sri Lanka alone. More over only 1 percent homestay tourists visited Sri Lanka in a group which had more than 10 members.

Figure 4.5 Travel Party Composition of Homestay Tourists

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.2.6Professions of Homestay Tourists

The following graph illustrates the professional composition of the homestay tourists who visited Sri Lanka. It explains that 18 percent homestay tourists belong to the professional category of Scientists and Technicians. Another 17 percent represent professional category where a 16 percent belong to the businessmen category. 14 percent of homestay tourists visited Sri Lanka were executives by profession.

Figure 4.6 Professions of Homestay Tourists

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4.2.7Income Levels of Homestay Tourists

The income levels of homestay tourists are also interesting as per the following radar. It illustrates that the income categories of USD 20,000 to 39,999 and 60,000 to 79,999 both had 28 percent homestay tourists in Sri Lanka. Another 23 percent of homestay tourists were belong to USD 80,000 to 99,999 income category. It was only 2 percent witnessed an income of USD 100,000 and above category according to the radar.

Figure 4.7 Income Levels of Homestay Tourists

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4.2.8 Duration of Total period of Stay in Sri Lanka by Homestay Tourists

Figure 4.8 Duration of Total period of Stay in Sri Lanka by Homestay Tourists

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The above radar exemplify the overall duration of stay in Sri Lanka by surveyed homestay tourists. Accordingly, 31 percent of tourists stay between 15 to 21 days in Sri Lanka. Another 30 percent tourists surveyed stay 8 to 14 days in Sri Lanka while 18 percent tourists stay 22 to 30 days in Sri Lanka. Further, only 1 percent tourists stay 1 to 3 days period among the surveyed as exemplified by the above graph.

4.2.9 Duration of Stay in Homestays by Homestay Tourists

Figure 4.9 Duration of Stay in Homestays by Homestay Tourists

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Survey 2013

Amongst the surveyed tourists at homestays in Sri Lanka their stay period in homestay accommodations is illustrated in the following radar. Thus, a 43 percent of tourists stay at homestays from 4 to 7 days period. Another 33 percent tourists stay at homestays for a period of 8 to 14 days. There were 16 percent tourists who stay only 1 to 3 days at homestays out of surveyed tourists. Further, according to the graph 8 percent of tourists stay at homestays for the period of 15 to 21 days. No tourists were reported who stayed either 22 to 30 days or 31 and above number of days at homestays as illustrated by the above graph.

4.3 Significant Attributes of Sri Lankan Homestay Product

The significant attributes of homestay product in Sri Lanka were identified by ranking the listed attributes. In order to identify the order of attributes Friedman test has been employed and the results are discussed in detail in the following section.

Table 4.1: Mean Ranking of Main Attributes of Homestay Product Friedman Test Statistics

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test

Statistics

The table above illustrates the significance of each attribute based on the ranking of homestay tourists. Accordingly, washroom facility has been the first product attribute to be considered as the mean rank is 2.01 followed by bedroom and housekeeping which recorded a mean rank of 2.57. Host family and internet access were also significant, ranking in the 3rd and 4th places respectively. Contrarily, meals, transportation and restaurant facilities have been less significance in homestay selection decision since they were ranked 8th, 9th and 10th places respectively. Moreover the test is significant at alpha 0.05 level testifying the statistical reliability of the results.

4.3.1 Significance of Washroom in Homestay Selection Decision

The next step was to explore each of above attributes in detail. Consequently, washroom which was ranked no.01 (1.86) in the main attributes reveals the following information as per the test statistics. As per the table sit-down toilet has been ranked number one. Similarly, the washroom has to be located in-side house as per the above ranking. Moreover, cold shower and traditional splash and wash are ranked number 5th and 6th (5.11, 5.18) respectively.

Table 4.2: Mean Ranking of Washroom of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test Statistics

4.3.2 Significance of Meals in Homestay Selection Decision

The detailed analysis of preference for having meals of homestay tourists reveals that many a HS tourists prefer to have some meals with host family since the mean rank is no. one (1.90). Further, experiencing local food (2.04) and participation in food preparation (2.16) were ranked second the third respectively. Moreover, eating every meal with host family and don't eat meals with host family were less significant as per the results of the table below.

Table 4.3: Mean Ranking of Meals of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test

Statistics

4.3.3 Significance of Bedroom and housekeeping in Homestay Selection Decision

The table below presents the analytical results of Friedman test for the significance of bedroom and housekeeping in homestay selection decision. As per the mean rankings availability of laundry service (1.99) ranked no. one while inner spring mattress as well as air conditioning (2.02) given the second place. On the other hand, fan and traditional mattress or floor have been ranked fourth and fifth places (4.43 and 4.54) respectively giving a less significance in homestay selection decision. In addition, the significance of the test statistics illustrates that < 0.05 testifying the statistical significance of the test.

Table 4.4: Mean Ranking of Bedroom and Housekeeping of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test Statistics

4.3.4 Significance of Restaurant Facilities in Homestay Selection Decision

The following table presents the analytical results for the significance of restaurant facilities in homestay selection decision in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, HS guests prefer easy accessibility to a restaurant open at any time (2.04) and also they prefer such restaurants to be local restaurants ranking it in the second place (2.13). In addition, access to western restaurants is ranked last (3.20) giving less significance in their decision on selecting homestay.

Table 4.5: Mean Ranking of Restaurant Facilities of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test

Statistics

4.3.5 Significance of Host Family in Homestay Selection Decision

According to the Friedman test statistics for the host family in HS selection decision staying with a host family was ranked in the first place (1.63, having a host family yet staying separately and don't have a host family (1.80, 2.57) were ranked second and third respectively.

Table 4.6: Mean Ranking of Host Family of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test

Statistics

4.3.6 Significance of Internet Access in Homestay Selection Decision

Internet access being a significant factor to select homestay accommodation, the following table elaborates its role further. Accordingly, availability of internet free of charge at the accommodation area has been ranked number one (1.69). Further, Wi-Fi access at the accommodation has being of significant with a mean rank of 2.00. Availability of internet at a nearby shop and availability at accommodation for fee were ranked third and fourth places (3.02, 3.29) respectively giving a less significance.

Table 4.7: Mean Ranking of Internet Access of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test

Statistics

4.3.7 Significance of Language and Itinerary in Homestay Selection Decision

Language and itinerary in homestay selection decision was examined in detail and the following table illustrates the results of Friedman test. In accordance with that the flexibility and daily fixture of itinerary has been ranked in the first place (1.82). In addition, guests also prefer hosts to communicate in their own language since this option ranked in the second place with a mean rank of 2.03. Contrarily, guide and interpreter and fixed itineraries were ranked in the third and fourth places respectively (2.77 and 3.39) giving a less significance in selecting homestay selection decision.

Table 4.8: Mean Ranking of Language and Itinerary of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test

Statistics

4.3.8 Significance of Location in Homestay Selection Decision

Location is an important factor for tourists and when it comes to homestay how the homestay tourists expect their location to be was examined and the following table illustrates that close to a recognized tourist area is an important factor (2.08). Close to a beach as well as being in a rural area have recorded second and third ranks respectively (2.22, 2.70). Locating in a historically important area was les significant in homestay selection as per the results present in the following table.

Table 4.9: Mean Ranking of Location of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test

Statistics

4.3.9 Significance of Activities in Homestay Selection Decision

Activities being of pivotal for tourists to arrive to a destination, the detailed significance of activities for HS tourists are present in the following table. Accordingly, outer adventure activities are of pivotal for homestay tourists in Sri Lanka ranking it in the first place (2.16). The second and third significance has been recorded for easy access to nigh club and visiting cultural and religious places (3.88 and 4.77). Contrarily, visiting farms and access to golf courses were ranked eighth and ninth places (6.60, 7.17) respectively giving a less significance to such activities.

Table 4.10: Mean Ranking of Activities of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

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a. Friedman Test Statistics

4.3.10 Significance of Transportation in Homestay Selection Decision

The results below present the significance of transportation in HS in Sri Lanka. In view of that, many tourists prefer to have self driving vehicles ranking it in the first place (2.11). Similarly, flexible transport modes too were significant, ranking it in the second place (2.55). Moreover, public transport has been given least significance since it has been ranked last (3.87).

Table 4.11: Mean Ranking of Transportation of Homestay Product

Friedman Test Statistics

Ranks

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Friedman Test

Statistics

4.4 Motivation of Homestay Tourists

4.4.1 Push Motivation Factors

Table 4.12Summary of Push Motivation Factors

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Survey 2013

The above table presents the factors that motivated homestay tourists themselves to visit Sri Lankan homestay or in other words the push motivation factors. The overall mean value for this item is 3.39 and being away from home and seeing recorded the highest motivation recording a mean of 3.98. Contrarily, safety and fun and escape were low pull motivating factors for homestay tourists to visit Sri Lanka.

4.4.2 Pull Motivation Factors

Table 4.13Summary of Pull Motivation Factors

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Survey 2013

The above table shows the level of motivation pulled by the destination factors towards homestay tourists. The overall mean value for this item is 3.42 and factors such as natural scenery and beaches and small size and reliable weather recorded high mean value. Contrarily, night life and local cuisine, cleanliness and shopping found to be of low significance in pulling homestay tourists to Sri Lanka.

4.5 Attribute Satisfaction of Homestay Tourists

Table 4.14Summary of Attribute Satisfaction

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Source: Survey 2013

The above table highlights the satisfaction of homestay tourists on the 32 attributes surveyed. According to it the total satisfaction on all attributes is 3.43 and the highest mean value was recorded for the warm hospitality and it was 3.98. Further, diversified attractions, value for money, local food and living culture and customs recorded a high mean vale. The table also presents lower mean values for the attributes such as information materials, educational programmes, availability of customized packages and concern on environmental protection.

4.6 Overall Satisfaction

The mean value for overall satisfaction of homestay tourists in Sri Lanka was 3.47 with a standard deviation of 0.31. The following table illustrates the zonal comparison of overall satisfaction of homestay tourists in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, Dambulla homestay zone has the highest overall satisfaction followed by Kandy homestay zone. In addition Anuradhapura homestay zone recorded a slightly lower satisfaction compared to Kandy and Dambulla. Moreover, the lowest overall satisfaction was recorded from Galle homestay zone followed by Colombo Homestay zone.

Table 4.15 Zonal Comparison on Overall Satisfaction

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Source: Survey 2013

4.7 Hypotheses Testing

In this section hypothesis test has been employed to determine whether there is a relationship between the degree of tourists' satisfaction on attributes of homestay in Sri Lanka and motivation of tourists to experience homestay in Sri Lanka and degree of overall satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka. Consequently, in order to achieve the third objective of this research, a multiple linear regression test has been used as ananalytical tool.

4.7.1 Regression Assumptions

The data set employed for the regression meet the key assumptions of linear regression and the test results are as follows. The scatter plots given below and the Pearson's correlation coefficients (Table 4.15) prove that the regressed data meet the linearity assumption.

Figure 4.20: Scatter Plot for Overall satisfaction of Homestay and Motivation to Homestay

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Source: Survey 2013

According to the above graph there is a linear trend in the data distribution of degree of tourists' overall satisfaction and degree of tourists' motivation for homestay experience in Sri Lanka.

The graph 4.21 below shows the relationship between tourists overall satisfaction on homestay experience in Sri Lanka and the tourists attribute satisfaction of homestay product in Si Lanka. It also shows a linear trend in the data set which is suitable for further analysis with regression model.

Figure 4.21: Scatter Plot for Overall satisfaction of Homestay and Motivation to Homestay

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Source: Survey 2013

The following table illustrates the correlations between variables under this study and in accordance with the Pearson correlation coefficient values given below, there is a higher positive correlation 0.912, (Significance p<0.05) between Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka and Tourist motivation to experience homestay in Sri Lanka. Not only that but also there is a higher positive correlation 0.862, (Significance p<0.05) between Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka and Tourists' satisfaction on attributes of Homestay in Sri Lanka.

Correlations

Table 4.16: Correlation Matrix for the Variables under the Study

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Source: Survey 2013

Homogeneity of Variance

The tables below illustrate the homogeneity of variance or the homoscedasticity between the variables of this study. In view of that the F values 12.2 and 12.9 respectively for attribute satisfaction and motivation are not significant. (Both P values are P>0.05 and it is also proves that the homogeneity of variance is not significant as shows in the below tables 0.843 and 0.672 respectively).

Table 4.17: Test Results for Homogeneity of Variance for F test

ANOVA

Tourists' attribute satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka

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ANOVA

Tourists' motivation towards homestay in Sri Lanka

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Source: Survey 2013

Autocorrelation

Table 4.18: Test Results for Fitness of the Model and the significance

Model Summary

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a. Predictors: (Constant), Tourists' satisfcation on attributes of Homestay in Sri Lanka, Tourist motivation to experience homestay in Sri Lanka

b. Dependent Variable: Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka

Source: Survey 2013

The statistical assumption that there should not be autocorrelation between variables is testified with the above table and the Durbin-Watson value ranges between 1 and 4 is 1.98 and it proves that there is no serious autocorrelation as the value is closer to 2.

The variance inflation factor (VIF) diagnoses the multicolinearity issue and since the VIF value is less than 5, there is no serious multicolinearity effect of the data. Validity of the parameters can be assessed through t-test and according to the coefficients table, it is clear that both independent variables are statistically significant.

4.7.2 Overall Fitness of the Model

In accordance with the adjusted R square given (Table 4.17) it is clear that 88.4% of the variation in the dependent variable of Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka is explained by the independent variables of Tourists' satisfaction on attributes of Homestay in Sri Lanka, Tourist motivation to experience homestay in Sri Lanka. Hence, a higher variation is explained by the established model and accordingly the model is fitted well. Moreover the F value of 1.08 which is significant at P<0.05is also proves that the fitness of this model.

Table 4.19: Test Results for Fitness of the Model and the significance

ANOVAb

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Predictors: (Constant), Tourists' satisfaction on attributes of Homestay in Sri Lanka, Tourist motivation to experience homestay in Sri Lanka

b. Dependent Variable: Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka

Source: Survey 2013

4.7.3 Test of Hypotheses of the Study

Hypothesis 1:

H0 There is not a significant relationship between homestay product attributes and overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

H1 There is a significant relationship between homestay product attributes and overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

There is a higher positive correlation ( Pearson Product movement correlation coefficient, 0.862, Table 4.15) between Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka and Tourists' satisfaction on attributes of Homestay in Sri Lanka and that is statistically significant at (P<0.05) level. Hence, the data support for rejecting the null hypothesis and therefore it is proven that there is a statistically significant relationship between homestay product attributes and overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays is accepted.

Hypothesis 2:

H0 There is not a significant relationship between tourists' motivation and overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

H1 There is a significant relationship between tourists' motivation and overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

There is a higher positive correlation ( Pearson Product movement correlation coefficient, 0.912, Table 4.15) between Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka and Tourists' motivation towards Homestay in Sri Lanka and that is statistically significant at (P<0.05) level. Hence, the data support for rejecting the null hypothesis and therefore it is proven that there is a statistically significant relationship between tourists' motivation towards homestay and overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays is accepted.

Hypothesis 3:

Product attributes and tourists' motivation will predict the overall satisfaction of homestay tourists.

Table 4.20: Test Results for Regression Coefficients and t tests

Coefficients

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

a. Dependent Variable: Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka

Source: Survey 2013

Hypothesis 3a:

H0 Homestay product attributes of Sri Lanka will not predict overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

H1 Homestay product attributes of Sri Lanka will predict overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays.

The above coefficient value 0.400 (table 4.19) of homestay attribute satisfaction indicates that one unit change in the attribute satisfaction of homestay tourists will in response change the overall satisfaction of tourists by 0.4 and that is statistically significant at (P<0.05) level. Furthermore, the t value of 11.47 further proves that the coefficients are statistically significant. Hence, the data support for rejecting the null hypothesis and it is proven that Homestay product attributes of Sri Lanka will predict overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays is accepted.

Hypothesis 3b:

H0 Tourists' motivation will not predict the overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays in Sri Lanka.

H1 Tourists' motivation will predict the overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays in Sri Lanka.

The above coefficient value 0.598 (table 4.19) of homestay tourists motivation indicates that one unit change in the motivation towards homestay tourists will in response change the overall satisfaction of tourists by 0.598 and that is statistically significant at (P<0.05) level. Furthermore, the t value of 18.6 further proves that the coefficients are statistically significant. Hence, the data support for rejecting the null hypothesis and it is proven that tourists' motivation towards homestay in Sri Lanka will predict overall satisfaction of tourists who visited homestays is accepted.

4.7.4 Test of Overall Empirical Model:

According to the test results of the above table 4.19 the overall regression model could be build as follows and the significance of the coefficients, as well as the results of the t tests further testify the test results are statistically significant.

Overall tourist satisfaction on homestay in Sri Lanka = 0.08 + 0.598 Tourist motivation to experience homestay in Sri Lanka + 0.400 Tourists' satisfaction on attributes of Homestay in Sri Lanka.

Tourists' Overall

Satisfaction

According to the above model, the overall satisfaction of homestay tourists is jointly predicted by both tourists motivation towards homestay and the attribute satisfaction of homestay tourist in Sri Lanka and the contribution of each coefficient and their significance were discussed under the testing of hypothesis 3 of this report. Furthermore, these results are in line with the several previous studies. Yet the significance of each variable is different slightly.

4.7.5 Detailed Analysis of Tourists Motivation towards Homestay in Sri Lanka

To identify the motivation in detail; whether push (independent tourist related factors) or pull (the destination related factors) has significant difference the independent sample t tests vas carried out. Here the difference of overall satisfaction was tested in terms of motivation level. Motivation level was categorized in to two namely, push and pull. Then, dominant motivation factor was determined considering whichever is the higher. If push motivation level is higher than pull motivation level, that tourist was considered as push motivation dominant tourist and vice versa.

As there are only two groups to be compared, Independent sample t-test was used. Assumptions

a) Normality Assumption

The figure illustrated below (figure 4.22) shows that the overall satisfaction related data are normally distributed around the central line (expected normal vale Vs observed value).

Figure 4.22: Normal Q-Q plot for overall satisfaction

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Source: Survey 2013

b) Variance has to be homogeneous and this can be tested from Levene test.

Hence, the homogeneity of variance test is insignificant we can conclude that equal variance is assumed.

Table 4.21: Test Results for Independent Samples Test

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Source: Survey 2013

Group Statistics

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According to the above group statistics table, the mean value of both cases (pull motivation and push motivation are slightly differ. In order to see whether this difference is a significant difference or not independent sample t-test has employed. According to the table above on “independent sample t test, it is clear that there is no significant difference of overall satisfaction levels of tourists in terms of dominant motivation category as test is insignificant at P>0.05.

4.8 Perceptions of Homestay by the Host Families

The forth objective of this study is to explore the homestay programme from the perspective of its real operators. The methodology suggested to explore these socio­economic phenomena was the in-depth interviews and qualitative narrations based on the interview transcriptions. The following interpretations were drawn from the transcriptions produced with the interview results to materialize the aforementioned objective in order to elucidate the answers to set research question.

4.8.1 Motivation and Involvement of Homestay Operators

It was interesting to find that variety of factors act as motives for people to enter and run homestay business. Even though a business mainly focuses money and material objectives, homestay as a business has motivated operators by an assortment of aspects. Among them Source of income, Business prospect, Persuasion and experience, Appeal of the area, Personal appeal and Availability of resources were key points to understand the operator motivation factors for homestay.

Source of Income

Leading their life in an economically strong manner is a critical problem in remote rural villages of every nook and corner of the country. Difficulty in finding a permanent employment and un-availability of reliable employment openings are key reasons for the above issue. Homestay has become a good opportunity in such cases in securing the livelihood of the entire family. As their main livelihood many operators found to be motivated to run homestay business. It was evident that many rural families who were running homestay were mainly depending on this business for their living. The following comment revels that the role of homestay business after the retirement of the breadwinner of the family. E.g after my retirement it was difficult to manage our living and this was a good way out for that”. (Respondent 22, Personal Communication, April 23, 2013). Furthermore, some other operators were motivated toward homestay as an ancillary income source. When the operators have their main income source they also focused homestay as an ancillary income while some other factors motivated them for homestay business. For example the wife of the family at home is running a homestay business while their main income source remains the employment of husband.

“ being a house maid I also can earn some money ” (Respondent 26, Personal Communication, April 23, 2013).

Business Prospect

Entering into and growing a business is a dream for most of the villagers and homestay has been very attractive to materialize such dreams of villagers. With such motives many have entered into this business and many believed that homestay business is a reliable income source for their families and it is financially viable for them. E.g."...homestay business enhance our family income.." (Respondent 15, Personal Communication, December 20 2012). In addition, operators trust that the investment they lay on homestay is of secured and will not be a waste. At least the house constructed remains for the family and for their children was their home at last and hence the security of investment has been a key motive for entering into homestay business. Among villagers homestay has been an attractive business in comparison to the other businesses they vested on. Many have entered into homestay giving up their previous businesses and they trust homestay will produce them better results.

E.g. "Guest are there ..I thought instead doing other businesses we can do better with homestay.." (Respondent 24, Personal Communication, April 18 2013).

High tourist arrivals to the area and the booming trend of homestay have motivated entrepreneurs to enter into this business at large. The future ambition to expand the business into different areas in other words diversification is another motive for entering into homestay. The entrepreneurs are confident that they will be able to advance their business in other spheres in the future. E.g "...after retirement I wanted to open and develop a business ..." (Respondent 15, Personal Communication, December 20 2012). The unprecedented desire to open and grow a business for their next generation has been a long felt need of many. To make it happen some of the villagers have selected homestay and they are in the opinion that the business would be the steer for their next generation. Homestay was of attractive since in nature it is a family-run business as well. In nature many businesses require the assistance and involvement of outsiders for which some dislike. Homestay being a family-run business and being able to operate at home has attracted entrepreneurs into it.

Persuasion and Experience

For many villagers starting and running a business is a dream and it vest in their deep heart for times. Yet a strong push is indeed a must to put their dream into a reality. In this role the motivation and assistance by tourists have been key motivators to start homestay business for many operators. Similarly, Assistance and facilitation by tourism officials have motivated homestay operators e.g “.the assistance I got from NCP tourism office also a factor...” (Respondent 14, Personal Communication, April 24, 2013). Persuasion by both tourists as well as friends is other important motivators while assistance form family members are significant as motivators to venture into homestay business. In addition, the established relationships with either foreigners or locals have also been a motivating factor to start and run homestay business operations, since it has been vital in promoting, marketing and even in investing in certain cases.

Appeal of the Area

Sri Lanka being an island with a tropical climatic conditions and being vested with historical heritages, tourist attractions are abundant in all most all the areas of the country. Homestay operations are based on such attractions and the way of life of the people, heritage sites as well as wild life and many more have become pivotal for tourist attraction. Consequently, many a homestay areas are located in close proximity to tourist attractive areas in the country. The researcher observed that many homestay operators have capitalized such an existing attractiveness of the area. The natural beauty, beach or a historical heritage attract many tourists to such areas and that potential has paved the way for many to start and operate homestay businesses in such areas. Further, it was found that tourists prefer to go for homestay for few days out of their total trip. Hence the homestay has been an attractive business venture at exiting tourist areas of the country.

E.g . “. this area is ideal since we can get tourists from Ella station.” (Respondent 21, Personal Communication, December 15, 2012).

According to the above comment the railway station has become a transit hub for homestay operators to pick their tourists and take them to their homestay.

Personal Appeal

Sri Lankans believed to be a nation of hospitality by their tradition for times immemorial and in fact no visitor for any village house will be returned without a tea or a meal even today. Given that the passion for hospitality has motivated for homestay as per the following comment “. I like to invite and treat people at my place.” As a hobby and for interest and to contribute to the economy effectively are too motivators for homestay. Some of the villagers have on their own creativity and ability to innovate new things. Particularly, to design authentic accommodations, gardening and so on is of typical creations of villagers. The freedom of such creations and innovations has also been a factor that motivates people to this business. When a person is on his own is in free mind to innovate rather than an employee under a boss or a management as felt by many homestay operators. By nature people tend to be independent and on their own. Once a person is employed by another such independency is impossible since the employee will have to follow the employers' guidance. Once the particular person is on his own in terms of employment, he is free and self-controlled to make decisions and run the business for which many homestay operators have attracted to.

E.g “.since I have the freedom to operate it..." “..it gives both money and satisfaction..."

Passion to work with people, desire for self-employment and self-satisfaction to do something effective is also some appealing reasons to enter into homestay business. Moreover, the desire to see the venture capital growing and wealth maximization was a motive for homestay business. The desire to see the venture capital growing is another motive to enter in to homestay business.

Availability of Resources

Some of the houses have become empty mainly due to the migration of the second generation towards urban areas. In such cases the houses are found with large number of rooms which are vacant and are in a good condition to accommodate tourists. The enterprise oriented members of the family, with the consent of the future owner of the property effectively employ such resources in a business activity. Hence, homestay has been very attractive for such business initiatives while unemployed resources are in employment.

4.8.2 Motivation and Involvement by Guests toward Homestay

The motivation and involvement of guests in the homestay programme was observed in the operators' point of view. The major motives of guests to patronize for homestay programme were economic motives, desires, attractiveness of homestay, relaxation and freedom and company and association were major points.

Economic Motives

The operators of homestay viewed that the low budgets of tourist direct them to homestay. They also are in the opinion that these types of tourist select homestay due to low cost involvement. Yet homestay is not always for low budget tourists since many tourists have selected homestay for a change or to experience rural life styles and so on E.g “I think they can get the same service at a very low cost...”. (Respondent 1, Personal Communication, March 18, 2013). Homestay provided relatively better value for money for tourists. Many operators are in the opinion that tourist can lead a better life experiencing low living cost at homestay in the prevailing economic conditions of the country. The operators viewed that tourists are being very rational in comparing the cost of living (the outcome they receive Vs the amount they spend) they select homestay to experience such elevated value for money.

Personal Desires

Experiencing distinctive cultures have been of primarily important for people to travel form one corner to another in the world. In fact this has been a motive for travel and tourism business for times immemorial. The desires of experiencing such cultures have opened the way for homestay business, since it allows meeting two or more cultures together in an authentic way. E.g “.while staying they can learn and experience our things..” (Respondent 2, Personal Communication, March 20, 2013). The interest to live and move with local people, the local cuisine, experiencing local food and interest to learn to prepare local food were too key motivators to patronize for homestay. E.g “...our homemade foods.some of the ladies join us for cooking...” (Respondent 13, Personal Communication, December 15, 2012). Experiencing and living in local culture has too been a key motivator to homestay units. Homestay has been perceived by both tourists as well as guests to be of authentic and is of different from commercial lodging properties. This has been an edge for homestay to motivate tourists towards it. Some of the tourists prefer to spend few days with homestay as a different experience form conventional hotel experience.

Attractiveness of Homestay

As discussed above the distinctive characteristics of homestay experience has created a unique opportunity to attract tourists. Particularly, the authentic service involvement is something tourists prefer in homestay. This interaction is something that occur in a natural setting and of its raw nature. Many tourists prefer this unadulterated experience which is facilitated at homestay.

Eg. “..It is not like any other accommodation type.” (Respondent 9, Personal Communication, April 25, 2013).

Homestay being less expensive has been an attractive form of accommodation especially for low budget tourists, young explorers, backpackers and so on. The homely environment provided at homestay and the opportunities to enjoy with children are significant in motivation tourists to homestay. Some of the families without children have got used to visit homestays of their preference frequently to enjoy and experience children's company at homestay. E.g ..” to relax I think the best is at home.” (Respondent 8, Personal Communication, April 25, 2013). Besides, genuine service at homestay units, calm and clean environment and quality accommodation motivated tourist toward homestay. The easy access particularly the location factors such as locating near a railway station or close to main bus route has been a motivating factor for homestay guests. Ability to enjoy the surrounding has also motivated tourist toward homestay.

Relaxation and Freedom

Homestay experience is prompt in providing the tourist with relaxation and freedom. Tourists feel that they are free as much as they are at home at homestay units. Similarly, the relaxation they enjoy at homestay is something that they cannot experience at other forms of accommodations. Another important reason that motivates tourist to patronage for homestay accommodation is relaxation and freedom it offers to tourists. Comprehensively the relaxation at a homely set up which provides to tourists has motivated them toward homestay. This homely setting provides the foundation for homestay business in its true form. E.g "..young couples or families need to relax in a free environment.." (Respondent 13, Personal Communication, December 15 2012). In addition many empty nesters as well as families seek escaping their routine life visiting homestay families. This product has opened avenues for rest and relaxes while escaping hustle and bustle settings of urban life.

E.g ".they want to be away from their routine and need to get close to us at.."

(Respondent 13, Personal Communication, April 25 2013). Flexibility that is available in the homestay product has also been motivated tourists to experience it. The opportunity tourists get to choose from particularly, entry, exit, food and their choice of extensions are very simple in a homestay and are very flexible compared to any other form of accommodation.

Company and Association

The desires to associate different folks of people, to collect new experience being with them are some instincts human kind. Tourism itself today has been something take place in search of new experiences and experiential tourism has opened the prospects for homestay. Hence the company and association are of significant reasons for travel or to visit certain areas which are common for homestay as well. Here the interaction of local families with homestay guests have created an opportunity to form an association intern motivate guests to make a demand for homestay. Tourists prefer to stay at homes during their visit to a destination. However, they patronize for hotels a certain period and a few days for homestay as well. In such cases tourists select to experience the typical difference of homestay from the conventional accommodation products. Any person feel free, comfortable and relaxation at home. On top of that when one with the family members he feels that it is full of mind and soul. This family experience is possible when there is an authentic interaction with host family at a homestay. E.g "..but the friendship and the company at home worth millions." (Respondent 21, Personal Communication, December 15 2012). In addition the opportunity to live with locals is also a motivator for homestay seekers. Not any form of other accommodation provides such an opportunity. Here, guests can live in harmony while experiencing local way of life. E.g "..need to move with our local people and live with them.." (Respondent 22, Personal Communication, April 23 2013). Family type cohesiveness is also important in homestay. Many find in today's busy life styles the family type togetherness is impractical in their day-to-day life which they seek during a visit to a homestay. The existing relationships between hosts and guests motivate guest to visit their rural friends and live a few days with them. Such motives pave the way for homestay operators to capitalize.

E.g "..our links and relationships with tourist make them to come and live with us.." (Respondent 4, Personal Communication, April 21 2013). Many tourists who have not got their own children tend to patronize to homestay families in rural areas and used to visit them to experience their company with those children and belongings while enjoying a holiday with all family members and host the community.

4.8.3 Benefits of Homestay Programme to the Operator and to the Community

Homestay being an activity which has broad socio economic impacts, the benefits it offer also wide for all the stakeholders. However, the economic benefits of the homestay programme were discussed under the factors of motives and grounds for involvement. The following section focuses only on non-monetary benefits of homestay programme for operators as well as for the community.

Benefits to the Operator

Benefits to the operators from homestay programme were identified in key major areas such as, educational and social benefits. Educational benefits were the ones with some mental satisfaction or conditions with their mind set and new knowledge, experience or exposure. The social benefits were classified which emerge as a result of any social or human relations in between host, guest or community interrelationships.

Educational Benefits

Any interaction between two foreign groups or two or more groups who are not familiar to each other is the beginning of a learning process. Homestay in nature meeting two groups of foreigners in their way of life opens avenues for learning from each other. Homestay programme has been a key educational tool for most of the operators. According to some it has been a university for them to explore the socio-cultural affiliations at global level “all in all it is a university for us”(Respondent 17, Personal Communication, December 20 2012).Homestay programme has paved the way for them to master other languages and most of them manage English as a result of running the business for two three years. These operators being poor people just meeting their both ends find difficult to afford their children at popular schools in cities. Yet homestay programme has opened them the world by supporting to secure education at renowned schools in the country and in some cases in abroad

E.g . “.one of clients helped us to send our daughter to Germany for her studies...” (Respondent 18, Personal Communication, December 20 2012).

Further, the gifts and the assistance provided with schooling amenities such as books, pens and pencils in some cases bicycles were among the other benefits to the homestay operators. Ideas and suggestions to improve and expand business are also advantages for operators. Some of them they have learned the up to date technology and improved their businesses. E.g hydroponic agriculture has been taught to an operator of Anuradhapura by a foreign client. Particularly, operators viewed that they get significant assistance to improve and strengthen business. E.g "..for example this dining set and furniture bough for me by one of my repeat guest.." (Respondent 22, Personal Communication, April 23 2013). They also get suggestions and valuable ides to run and expand business.

Personal Benefits to Operators

Running a homestay business presents a range of benefits to the operators while the feeling of operators of recognition in the world is predominant. Running a business which link rural folks with people from every nook and corner of the world absolutely help the operators to present themselves in the global map. In their own point of view they get a global level recognition through homestay programme. E.g "..we feel that we are strong in the world since we have a network of friends all over the world.." (Respondent 4, Personal Communication, April 21 2013). Similarly, operators have a self-pride that they are effectively contributing to the national economy. In the current context there is a broad discussion on the significance of tourism in the national economy. Most of the operators run homestay as their retirement job and they are in need of self-satisfaction at latter part of their life. Such a satisfaction present form homestay is of significant for the operators.

E.g "..I'm happy that I'm doing this.. That satisfaction is one I appreciate.." (Respondent 10, Personal Communication, April 25 2013).

Operators when they run a business and particularly, something which involves with tourists they deserve recognition in the society and that it self creates them an elevated image in the society. When a family grows and children separate from parents for their own families the home become empty. Yet, when homestay operates in such homes the feeling of completeness of the family is also a type of a solace for operators. Moreover, the contented mind set by running a business, treating people and ultimately being with people portray through homestay business. Most of the homestay operators are happy that they are effectively contributing to the country via tourism operations and they feel that it is a non­monetary advantage of homestay operations. Mutual helps which is possible through homestay in between guests and hosts also an advantage. Hence, homestay provides them an opportunity to move with the world itself through their guests.

Social Benefits to the Homestay Operators

Homestay demonstrate not only Personal and educational benefits. It endows with a range of socially significant benefits to operators. Among social benefits interaction to different folk of people was a key benefit. It is evident that rural children seclude in their life style and become another member of the rural community as tradition forced them to. Yet, homestay programme shade them a light to see the world in their naked eye and the international level exposure their children experience is a major highlight homestay operators enjoy due to this business e.g “.also my children they are very social. and talk in English well..” (Respondent 27, Personal Communication, April8 2013). The network of people they make was a significant advantage for all most all the operators of homestay e.g “.I have friends all over the world.” ..” making contacts with foreigners all over the world..” (Respondent 15, Personal Communication, December20 2012).

The recognition and the image they get in the society was another attractive advantage they get out of this business. The opportunities and openings for migration and traveling has become a noteworthy advantage for many locals who operate homestay business in Sri Lanka e.g “...I've been to Germany several times...”,(Respondent 8, Personal Communication, April25 2013). Besides, the opportunity to be exposed to different types of people from the world in different age and education levels, opportunity to collect experiences by talking and observing are other benefits. Further, through volunteering activities the services received by community are key benefits of homestay operations e.g “..get their support to our country.volunteering.” (Respondent 11, Personal Communication, April25 2013).

Among the social benefits to operators through homestay collecting experiences, recognition and value for local customs and local culture, value addition to local products and new openings for potential tourists were noteworthy. The opportunity to learn experience and follow high standard of living of tourists' e.g. “.we lead a very high level life with tourists.”(Respondent 14, Personal Communication, April24 2013).

Benefits to the Community

Homestay operators feel that the community also experiences a number of benefits due to the homestay business which were classified under material, social and which are discussed at length in the following section of this report.

Material Benefits to the Community

Through homestay business the community experience material benefits which also could be categorized as income and asset. Many homestay operators viewed that increased sales for their business outlets and products is of significant for the community. E.g. “ .they are doing sales to them..” (Respondent 27, Personal Communication, April 8 2013). Similarly, the increased sales open the opportunity for community members to improve their income levels. Enterprise people in the community also can think of business ventures and that it self-open them good opportunities for opening new businesses. E.g "..is good income sources and everyone can think of a business.." (Respondent 22, Personal Communication, April 23 2013).

Unemployment is a burning issue in rural areas and most of the members in such communities earn daily wage doing a labor job. Yet such jobs are too not constant and in the absence of such jobs it is very difficult for them to meet both ends in the family. Homestay has provided a very good reply or such issues and it is great opportunity for many villagers to secure employment in this business. “.they get jobs and other employment related to tourism.."(Respondent 14, Personal Communication, April 24 2013). By means of such employment it ultimately has become their livelihood and homestay finally has secured many families living in the villages it operates. E.g ".there is a lady assisting me for last five years and se is living with it.." (Respondent 16, Personal Communication, April 22 2013).

Social Benefits to the Community

In addition to the economic benefits other main form of benefits experienced by community members around homestay operations are social benefits. Among them opportunity to establish relationships with guests, “..who married locals from Sri Lanka..” (Respondent23, Personal Communication, April 22 2013)., opportunities for travel and migration with the help of clients.I know few people around who went to guests countries..” (Respondent 3, Personal Communication, April 26 2013)., the recognition to the area, developed facilities due to homestay operations were noteworthy.

Improved living standards, “..as I said it is a life style for us..” (Respondent 27, Personal Communication, April 8 2013) advantage of developed facilities e.g water supply and electricity supply, assistance to develop common places such as temples, wells etc, opportunity to receive services from volunteer organization through homestay clients, .”guest taught painting, drawing .. Organized an exhibition at village school..”(Respondent 12, Personal Communication, March 17 2013)., Company of foreigners, improved value for local resources, land price increase, were too experienced by local communities.

In addition, the opportunity to learn languages of importance, exposure and educational opportunities and experiencing international level of living are key social advantages of homestay to the community “..We learn a quite a lot in world, other countries, their habits, lives and even different languages..”(Respondent 15, Personal Communication, December 202012).,

Personal Benefits to the Community Members

In addition to material and educational benefits a community which facilitates homestay can experience Personal level benefits for its members. Community members are able to establish their relationships with foreigners due to homestay. Such strong relationships they create change their way of life in some cases. The relationships next open them the opportunity to travel around the world and finally some can migrate with foreign tourists to their countries seeking for better prospects in life. The opportunity to associate different folks of people and the recognition the area attract form the rest of the world are other social benefits of homestay operations. The area gets an attraction by tourists and as a result the community and the area are recognized in the society and in the global level. This recognition is a value added to the community which comes through homestay.

4.8.4 Issues and Problems Encountered due to Homestay

The study also examined the issues and challenges encountered by homestay operators due to this form of accommodation rural areas and found a number of such issues. The weaknesses of the existing product, socio-cultural issues, and external disturbances, unethical behavior of guests, guest complaints and poor capability of operators were of significant issues due to homestay.

Weaknesses of Existing Product

Many operators viewed that the income they generate is just enough for their survival and to invest on product maintenance and improvement is difficult with the small income they made from homestay business. As such the product itself had issues in quality. E.g." .not enough facilities..rooms sometimes insufficient. no money to develop too.." (Respondent 26, Personal Communication, April 23 2013). The other important issue homestay operators face is insufficient rooms particularly during the season. No space during season, hence I had to say no to many.E.g ." (Respondent 18, Personal Communication, December 20 2012).

Cleanliness of the area and improper garbage disposal creates issues for operators and sometimes these were aggravated due to homestay business. In certain cases the collection and disposal is not acceptable and everywhere in the town and streets the garbage was dumped. The other key issue was the cleanliness of the area which is backed by the above issue. Yet the expectations as well as the requirement for homestay being a clean and neat surrounding it has created a great difficulty for operators to run business. E.g "...cleanliness is an issue. Tourists should not get into trouble during their stay.authorities need to clean garbage..(Respondent 14, Personal Communication, April 14 2013).

The poor infrastructure facilities available at homestay areas such as public toilets, bus halts and even access routes were of burning issues to flourish for homestay as an attractive product. Food outlets and other commercial requirements too are of limited supply in certain cases.

E.g "..few problems.. Road.. Water especially in dry season is a restraint to our business... " (Respondent 20, Personal Communication, April 8 2013).

Lack of activities to involve was major hurdle for homestay operators and it was observed that homestay tourists expect local events to experience. Even though the operators were doing well during the season the off season created huge problems for them. To maintain facilities, make the living and to manage with children were challenging in the face of low business performance during off season.

Unethical Behavior of Guests

In many cases it was evident that some of the requests made by guests are impossible to meet by hosts in the existing framework of law and ethics. Particularly, the drugs, illicit liquor and even prostitutes are among such requests. Guests also behave unexpectedly at homes of locals and some of such cases have irritated the normal way of living for them. E.g “.some guests request illicit liquor for which we don't have authority or license.” (Respondent 20, Personal Communication, December, 15 2012)

Tourists also find difficult to adopt with local norms and that has created practical problems for operators of homestay business. Tourists are also different in their cultures and behaviors as such the preferences. Some of them prefer to have a party, shout and sing and enjoy in the evening and some others may be tired after hard explorations day time and may need calm and quite sleep early. Such confrontations create clashes between clients and it has been a problem for many homestay operators. E.g “.some tourists sometimes behave unacceptably..specially under liquor they try to be as they are in their own country or family.” (Respondent 4, Personal Communication, April, 21 2013)

In addition even though it was very few the significance of the problem being very high it is noteworthy to mention that sexual persuasions were reported from some homestay units. Such behaviors are not accepted at any cost in rural community and culture. Hosts also come across very difficult guests to satisfy since their expectations are of high level in comparison to the one in offer.

Socio-Cultural Issues Faced by Homestay Operators

Society and culture related issues faced by homestay operators were of immense connotation in this form of business. Particularly the barrier to communicate in an international language was a huge hurdle for many to run their businesses. Some of them they were managing English yet when it comes to other languages they found it difficult to communicate with e.g .” language has been a major problem..”(Respondent 8, Personal Communication, April25 2013). . Another socio-cultural implication was the tendency of children getting into tourists customs or cultural and social alteration in the younger generation. This could be viewed as a very serious type of an issue which faced by homestay operators. E.g “ . we also see that with our small kinds the culture we are experiencing from guest is not healthy for our kids.” (Respondent 8, Personal Communication, April25 2013).

When the clients stay at local houses the cultural clashes were too observed frequently. Particularly, the behaviors had clashes since some of such cases were no expected by locals e.g .” sometimes their behavior conflicts with our culture..half nude is not expected at...” (Respondent 23, Personal Communication, April22 2013). Another significant issue was the clash between social events of local community and the tourist expectations e.g “.overnight Pirith Chanting ceremony..” Guest asked hey what's this noise..and they didn't pay for accommodation..”(Respondent 21, Personal Communication, December15 2012). This was a serious issue again which is very difficult to cope. High level of noise experienced by tourists was another issue. Another frequent issue was the very high level of expectations of some of the homestay tourists.

The limited privacy due to homestay clients occupation at home was an issue for some of the operators and in some cases the operators had to lead double lives one in front of guests and another in front of family particularly in the case of domestic clashes e,g”..we find the privacy of our own family is limited..have to live double life pretending them.” (Respondent 15, Personal Communication, December20 2013). The other form of social issue due to homestay operations was sexual persuasions by guests. This was very rare yet a significant issue in a rural society. Another serious issue was the abuse of tourists done by locals both as gangs and individuals. This was a frequent issue at every homestay zone the exploitation, overcharge, misuse, mislead and so on e.g. “..sometimes our gets are misused, overcharge and even cheat..” (Respondent 1,Personal Communication, March18 2013). External Disturbances

Number of homestay zones had the disturbance from monkeys and if monkeys are in presence the demand for homestay has become low. It has been a part and partial of the environment which is difficult to control for operators. Yet in the guests'' point of view they reject the homestay bas a whole if they find monkeys in the area. Long dry season experience by many areas is a problem for homestay operators and as such water supply has become a significant issue since the consumption too is very high during the dry season. The limited availability of water was another nature related issues for homestay operators “..some of them go out form our places because there are monkeys here..” (Respondent 7, Personal Communication, April6 2013).

Operators also claim that the low level of income during off season a great difficulty they face. They have to maintain facilities, the living standard they lead during the season as well as in some cases the dependents form the homestay business. This is another form of external disturbance which is complex and difficult to sort form the operators' point of view.

Guest Complaints

In addition to the above forms of issues several other issues were identified which are discussed under this section. Among these frequent complaints to operators form guests about very high entry tickets to sites is important. Overcharging by three wheel drivers too a common issue at most of the homestay zones e.g “..they also are misused by our people..” (Respondent 5Personal Communication, April21 2013). .

Few operators' complaint that they get some tourists who are extremely difficult to satisfy. The other significant issue under this is the inability for most of the operators to market their homestay units to foreigners e.g. marketing overseas is a big problem to small enterprises as ours.” (Respondent 16Personal Communication, April22 2013).Most of the homestay clients at the end of their stay ask for another homestay unit at a different area. This was a issue to the operators since they had no contact to recommend or arrange homestay accommodation at the requested zone e.g they ask information and homestay accommodations all over the county quite often.” (Respondent 22Personal Communication, April23 2013).

Poor Capability of Operators

Frequently guests request arranging rooms and homestays in other parts of the country for which the operators have to say no since they have no access to such facility. Hence it has been a constant issue the absence of a common mechanism or network among homestay operators island wide. The other significant issue under poor capability of operators is that their poor accessibility to markets. Here the marketing and promotion has to be done in other parts of the world. For small entrepreneurs it has been extremely difficult to come across this hurdle by effectively communicating their product to the potential customers. E.g “.We are unable to invest for hotels.yet need to give a good stay to guest..for that we need to have a good place.” (Respondent 7Personal Communication, April62013).

4.8.5 Suggestions to Mitigate Issues and Problems in Homestay Programme

In order to further explore the aforementioned issues the research probe into the views of homestay operators to find out applicable suggestions to mitigate such issues. The suggestions proposed by homestay operators are classify here in the axial coding stage to explain and understand them better. Accordingly, host guest understanding and awareness of homestay, improvement of facilities, Marketing and promotion, Enhancing operator capacity and better organization for the sector would be discussed as suggestions to mitigate above issues.

Host/Guest Understanding and Awareness of Homestay

The operators viewed that some of the issues need to mitigate by better understanding by both guests as well as operators. In this case the community and society has to be aware that the homestay tourists are too an important component of the system. Moreover, adjusting according to the situation particularly in the cases of some clashes between guests and hosts have to be solves by adjusting from both ends to come to a conclusion.

Educational programmes to all parties such as guests, operators, and community was an important suggestion to combat many issues. Proper knowledge and understanding was possible through educational programmes. E.g “..we have agree what we can give and what we can't. Then we can minimize such misunderstandings.” (Respondent 5Personal Communication, April21 2013). Particularly, undercutting of business, overcharging and cheating tourists could be decrease by educating such people about the long term importance of tourism to the area.

E.g “..we all met thero and the principle and explain the guests complain about noise. they also understood the importance of tourism to the area..” (Respondent 21Personal Communication, December15 2012).

Language barer among the operators was a key issue and if some basic courses on language and culture could be arranged it would improve the level of service and the effectiveness of the homestay experience for guests. Further if the operators are given basic training on running businesses the investment, income and cost management and particularly to manage their life during of season would be easy.

Improved Facilities

Lack of rooms and saying no to many homestay request was a key issue which in turn homestay operators proposed to expand the facilities. Moreover the quality and status of bathrooms could be improved by expanding the facilities. E.g ..” to expand and improve our houses with better facilities..” (Respondent 26Personal Communication, April23 2013).

Better planning for homestay programme was another suggestion to mitigate many issues faced by homestay operators. Marketing to foreigners was another burning issue for many small scale homestay ventures. An ideal solution to this was the central web site hosted by the government tourism body and may be a contribution charge collected from advertisers. E.g .” a proper management programme should be introduced. homestay operators collective thinking.' (Respondent 13Personal Communication, December, 15 2012).The events and rates could be easily known for anyone and by this many problems could be avoided, particularly misunderstandings.

Marketing and Promotion

It was a crucial and difficult issue for some of the operators to market themselves in the source markets to attract potential customer to their homestay operations. Some individual had string relationships yet commonly a solid marketing progammme is fundamental to take the homestay programme to world recognized level. Hence marketing and promotion issues should be looked at in a sustainable and long term basis. Since, the marketing and promotion alone is difficult the centralized promotional programme coordinated by national tourism bureau for homestay is a timely need. Further a key issue for operators was the guests request to organize and recommend them homestay units in other areas of the country. “. web sites and other medium of promotional support..” (Respondent 24Personal Communication, April18 2013). This could easily be solved by introducing a directory of homestay operators all over the country e.g. “..using a central promotional facility..” (Respondent 16Personal Communication, April 22 2013).

Better Organization for the Sector

Efficiency and prompt actions at all the time would lead to effective results in terms of marketing, product delivery and mitigating adverse occurrences. For such efficiency the structure and the system should be well defined and organized and coordinated in an efficient manner which is common for homestay sector as well. Cheating, exploiting, misleading and overcharging of guests are common issues faced by operators and they get the complaint after all. Formulation of strict rules and regulations against such incidents as well as put them into action very effectively is a must to run a successful homestay programme. E.g. “..further strong rules are needed to control and punish peoples misuse guests..” (Respondent 3 Personal Communication, April 26 2013).

Doing business is easy as an organized group rather than as individuals. As such an attractive answer for many issues was to form a network of homestay operators in different zones. Such an organization at national level and operating at regional level will support in great deal to make homestay programme stronger. Another key issue was the absence of noteworthy activities that homestay tourists could involve in during their stay. To solve this problem many activities could be introduces and promoted. E.g ..” tourists should involve in activities..there should be activities for them always.. cultural and dancing events..we can have sport events swimming .” (Respondent 27 Personal Communication, April 8 2013).

Better communication should be there. We must know the person exactly to be informed in case of illegal activities by any person which could affect homestay business. Other than this financial assistance by the government or any other loan scheme by a bank to support our developments is a need. Proper communication to guests before they arrive at homestay is necessary to avoid misunderstandings. An effective relationship management programme to improve the image of homestay programme and to attract repeat clients should be a part and partial of the homestay programme.

Enhance Operator Capacity

Capacity of the operators is crucial principally in a programme like homestay. Their strength in meeting guests' needs and producing and presenting the expected product by the clients is of predominant in the capacity concern. Stronger the operator in terms of capital, knowledge, understanding and financial availability they would play such key roles if not leading to a difficulty in community sensitive offers like homestay. Homestay programme most of the time being operated by rural communities is frequently in deed of capacity enhancements. A proper awareness for the prospective customers about the homestay product is an essential to avoid misunderstandings. Similarly, training and education progammes for operators too are in need to develop a wholesome homestay product. Training programmes for basic communication in foreign languages would enhance the effectiveness of homestay experience for guests. In addition awareness programmes for community members too would lead to better product organization in the long run. The other important solution to the business operators is introducing a code of ethics for homestay operators so that they are aware of what to do and what not to. Since undercutting and fierce completion is in action a code of ethics is a must in this field.

E.g “..if a guiding rules are available to prevent undercutting. persuading tourist to different activities.” (Respondent 15Personal Communication, December 202012).

Moreover, a good management of socio-cultural issues should be put into action. Particularly when the community and homestay operators face with clashes they must be solved immediately for the good health of the programme. In addition to prevent issues such cultural erosion a good management of socio-cultural balance is a must.

4.8.6 Stakeholder Roles and Responsibilities in Homestay Programme

The final section of the study shade light to elucidate the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders in the homestay programme and identified that operators, guests, community and government (local and Central) are key stakeholders of the homestay programme. Hence, the different roles particularly, as expected by homestay operators are discussed with respect to the above four stakeholders.

Operators' Role in the Homestay Programme

Homestay is not like any other tourism product and the authentic interaction of the host and the guest being the pivot of the entire experience, the host or in other words the operators of the business have an inestimable role to be played. As per the views of most of the homestay operators a good balance between their private family life and homestay business would pave the way to sustainable homestay programme while securing their socio-cultural values. Hence they need to reach well balanced homestay operations which need to come as a result of a deep understanding of consequences of the business. The other important factor is to follow and adopt a set of business ethics. That would again pave the way to a sustainable homestay business in turn. Their commitment towards a genuine service is a must to form an attractive homestay sector. Particularly, homestay sector has a completion as an accommodation provider from different levels of organizations. Hence, commitment towards a genuine service would keep such competitors away.

Sharing instead individual focus would open the path towards a collective effort to run an industry rather an individual business unit of the system. In the rural community the tendency towards sharing instead selfish is of high degree and when it comes to sharing businesses and related information some operators found to be violent. Yet a broad mindset to see the whole picture is essential in such situation so that a collective excise is put forward to run the homestay business rather than one in individual focus. E.g. “. we need to exchange information.” (Respondent 7, Personal Communication, April 6 2012). Such collective approaches would help to combat many improper forces. The operators must unite to combat other forces who destroy the business opportunities by tarnishing the image of the area s well as the country as a whole. E.g “. we need to support each other. may be my place full then I can give guests to other by cooperating each other.' (Respondent 8, Personal Communication, April 25 2013). The authentic experience and the value of culture entirely depend on the degree of uniqueness of the same and any dilution or susceptibility of such unique cultural values would tarnish the homestay as a product and also a whole system as a society. Protecting and preserving local customs, cultural values and social background would guarantee an attractive homestay business in the future. Hence a key role of homestay operators is to preserve socio-cultural values of the society on which the homestay progamme thrives, and depends.

Guests' Role in the Homestay Programme

Guest being the key stakeholder of this business has a significant role to play in running an effective homestay programme. They are the ones who receive the real experience and their genuine comments on the experience received and points to improve are vital to the good health of the programme. Even though the operators individually cannot expect form their clients to promote themselves in the source markets, the central body of marketing which is far stronger is the word of mouth by previous clients. Hence guests role in transmitting information of the homestay experience remain powerful at any timein any product.

E.g. “..we have to remember that the whole homestay programme is in the hands of guests.they can play the key role in marketing homestay.' (Respondent 20,Personal Communication, April 8 2012).

Based on guests valuable comments the homestay operators can take corrective actions to improve and meet their expectation. The other important contribution expected from homestay guests is to inform the potential clients in their own countries about the product and give the maximum contribution by word of mouth which is a very strong form of marketing. E.g “..they can take the massage to their country and tell them to come...”that promotion itself enough for homestay.”(Respondent 7, Personal Communication, April 4 2013) They also can guide the programme towards the one they expect with their directions and requests. The cultural clashes being natural in a cross application of two cultures a high level of patience and tolerance is expected while experiencing the local traditions and customs. This would preserve and allow them to experience the local culture as it is. E.g “... they also need to understand that they are at a home and need to live with the culture...'(Respondent 6, Personal Communication, April 06 2012). Hence the cultural tolerance is a key role expected from homestay tourists.

Government's Role in the Homestay Programme

Government being the central body above all stakeholders could play the facilitators role while formulating applicable rules, regulations needed to run an effective homestay business. Predominantly, government has to support and guide through its tourism bureau to set the applicable homestay product to be offered for guests. The required knowledge for marketing and product designing should be decided by diverse approaches of research. Among the key role the central promotional agent for the homestay progrramme and the assistance to site level promotions are predominant.

Formulating a set of standards to apply in the homestay business and a facilitating a solid evaluation and monitoring programme is a must to run standard business operations in homestay. E.g “standards also a problem...there should be a way of monitoring them.” (Respondent 1, Personal Communication, March, 18 2012). Further the government has a significant role in preventing guest being exploited, mislead and being abused. A strict rules and regulation and a solid programme to monitor and act on such issues is principal role of the government as the facilitators of the programme. E.g.”. required legal coverage to control unnecessary exploitation of guests.” (Respondent 20, Personal Communication, April 8 2012). Taking the control of cartels particularly in certain areas to prevent both local people and guests being exploited is another role of the government.

The other imperative role of government in connection with homestay is to facilitate a central promotional agency for homestay Business Island wide. A proper planning is essential for anything to continue without barriers. Hence a proper planning at provincial level is in need for a better role of the government. Moreover the government needs to act as the central agency through which the entire homestay programme is directed e.g ..” a proper planning and management system should be there to run a complex social programme like this..” (Respondent, Personal Communication, March 18 2013)

Government also has a significant role in improving common facilities in the homestay zones. Water, electricity and access roads to zones and facilities should be properly developed in order to facilitate the homestay operations. E.g ‘..no good toilets here..government must develop such common facilities.” (Respondent 7, Personal Communication, April 6 2013) Moreover, government needs to financially assist rural people to improve their houses to accommodate guests in their houses.

E.g . “..a business opportunity for small people by our own resources government has to involve actively in the programme through tourism to manage this well” (Respondent 1,Personal Communication, March 18 2013).

The involvement of tourism offices at provincial level should be activated to make the homestay programme alive and the cleaning of public places, garbage clearance should also be regularized by relevant authorities of the area. Government also can use homestay business to build the capacity among the poor in remote rural villages. E.g to construct a house and a bath room a massive cost today If at least as a loan scheme it is vital funds..”(Respondent 1, Personal Communication, March 18 2013 )A project to strengthen their economic capacity by running homestay could be introduced by the government to materialize this. A centralized management office to coordinate all issues related to homestay must be established. Government also has a role to play in training and developing the operators to operate a better homestay. Skills development in both service and business operations would pave the way for a successful homestay business at rural level.

A licensing system has to be introduced and this should properly put into operation. E.g “. good organization to coordinate homestay. licensing, proper evaluation... punishments to if below the standards are must for a better homestay.” (Respondent 8, Personal Communication, April 25 2013). A systematic quality assurance and grading through the central coordinating office must be formed. In addition the government has to introduce and put into action minimum quality standards for homestay operators. E.g “.a standardization programme to make sure all homestay units give at least a minimum level of facilities..”(Respondent 1, Personal Communication, March 18 2013)This will prevent improper places while assuring a minimum quality service and facilities t guests.

Community's Role in the Homestay Programme

Community,the stakeholder who is much strong and being able to do a much bigger impact over the homestay programme is expected to play a tremendous role in the homestay programme to offer a better product to visitors. Particularly, community itself is a part and partial of homestay product. In terms of a host community, it has to play a crucial role for a better homestay experience to guests who visit them and their area. Since, the absence of activities for homestay guests during their stays is a key issue, community can initiate attractive activities which are indigenous in nature and such activities could be promoted for homestay tourists. Correspondingly, the following comment explains the significance of tourists to the area. Community also need to understand the importance of tourist arrivals to the area, the significance of their economic contribution by way of paying different charges during stay and so on.

E.g “..there should be activities for them ... they just don't come to see and go...we have events and we need to offer such events to tourists. " (Respondent 27,Personal Communication, April, 8 2012).

Hence, community leaders can involve in making decisions to sustain and improve homestay accommodation business in the area. Community members have an important role to play by protecting the tourists from unnecessary exploitations. E.g “.. .not only the person who get guests..neighbors.. school, three wheel park and all of them need to understand if homestay doing well they also will get advantages..” (Respondent 7, Personal Communication, April 4 2013). Community members need to understand their role in this connection very clearly and act on it. The understanding of the significance of homestay to the area, its promotion and support to long term success is the key role of community members.

E.g. “. the villagers should be well organized to do better homestay with required activities to tourists." (Respondent 6,Personal Communication, April 06 2013).

Furthermore, a healthy and receptive attitude towards tourism should be among community members. They need to get-together and act collectively to improve and sustain the homestay business in their localities.

4.9. Chapter Summary

Chapter four reserved for the analysis and discussion of primary and secondary data focusing the set research objectives and research questions to be answered. In view of that, the first part introduces the chapter followed by a detail discussion on the demographic characteristics of tourists under this study. The third section of this chapter details the significant attributes of the homestay product of Sri Lanka. The next section of chapter four reserved for the analysis of motivation of homestay tourists followed by the explanation on attribute satisfaction. The sixth section details the summary of overall satisfaction of homestay tourists and next section tests the hypotheses of the study. The final section of this chapter discuss in detail the issues and challenges as well as potential solutions and stakeholder roles and responsibilities in view of homestay operators using a qualitative narrations.

CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

This section discusses the concluding remarks of the study and finally the recommendations would be made based on the findings of the study. Firstly the conclusions are drawn for the objectives set for the study followed by the conclusions for hypothesis testing. The next part details the recommendations for each section namely motivation, attributes and overall satisfaction perspectives. The fourth section of this chapter discusses the conclusions and recommendations for the final objective. Particularly, the issues challenges and potential solutions of homestay operators are discussed in this section. Finally the research potentials for future researchers are discussed in this chapter.

5.2 Conclusions

In the light of the analytical results from the chapter four, conclusions are drawn pertaining to the objectives set for this study.

(1) To identify the critical attributes of homestay product in Sri Lanka from a demand perspective.

Washroom facility seems to of significant in homestay selection decision for majority of guests and most of them prefer it to be a sit-down toilet inside the house. Bedroom and housekeeping is also of equally significant in homestay selection decision. Having a host family is of pivotal for homestay according to the findings of the study and majority of homestay guests prefer to stay with host family. The other critical factor found to significant in homestay selection decision is the accessibility for internet. Many a guests prefer WIFI access at the homestay.

(2) To uncover the key characteristics of motivation of tourists who come to experience Sri Lankan homestay.

Motivation for homestay was explored in two different approaches and they were push motives and pull motive in this study. Among the push motivation factors away from home and seeing, excitement and relaxation had the highest contribution to the motivation of tourists toward homestay. Furthermore, escape and safety were of limited capability to motivate tourist toward homestay. Among the pull motivation factors for homestay tourists Atmosphere, Activities, Nature and beaches, Culture and cleanliness were of significant in motivating tourists to select homestay accommodation.

(3) To examine the current product-market match for the homestay operations in Sri Lanka from tourists' satisfaction perspective.

The attribute satisfaction of homestay tourist elucidate that the living culture and the customs, warm hospitality, local food, value for money and diversified attractions are able to highly satisfy homestay tourists. Contrarily, entertainment facilities and night life, information materials, free educational programmes, concern on environment protection and availability of customized packages contributed to low level of satisfaction of homestay tourists. The overall satisfaction of homestay tourist is also of high level for all nine homestay regions which were under this study.

(4) To explore the perception on homestay of the host families.

The in-depth interviews with homestay operators highlighted that most of the operators are small scale entrepreneurs who are running the business with few rooms at home. Earning an income for living, interest as well as investment option were key motivators for them to enter into this business. Inexpensive accommodation, freedom, away from home, experience local food and culture were key factors for tourists to come for homestay. Community benefits out of homestay were employment, business opportunities and relationships with tourists. The key issues of homestay operators' were lack of funds to improve facilities, cultural conflicts, and conflicts with the community. Different stakeholders' roles are different to make homestay programme a success. Better understanding and awareness, ethical practices for business are some key roles of operators while proper planning and management, standardization, rules and regulations to govern homestay programme, central marketing and monitoring are key roles of the government. Sharing information, awareness and understanding, support and promoting the area for tourist are key roles of community members. Better understanding, being aware of local customs, promoting the homestay with word of mouth and active involvement are key roles of guests in homestay.

(5) To elucidate the possibilities of improvement of Sri Lankan homestay product in order to meet the demands of present and future visitors.

Both sections of the study elucidated a number of areas to improve and develop in order to make the homestay tourism product in Sri Lanka a better one. Accordingly, poor satisfied areas such as activities, nigh life, infrastructure and entertainment, information material, free educational programmes and availability of customized packages are of important in rectifying.

Central marketing, a directory for homestay units, set of rules and regulations to govern HS, financial assistance, better awareness and education for community and operators, strict rules and regulations to control abuse of guests are some improvements which could improve the quality and appeal of homestay tourism product of Sri Lanka.

5.3 Recommendations

Specific recommendations based on the implications of this study are discussed in detail in the following section. Since the quality of housekeeping and bedroom, toilets and bath room, cleanliness and hygiene and internet access are critical factors it is strongly recommended to operators to focus on quality of rooms and toilets. Furthermore, it will be vital in the years to come, if national or local tourism bureau or national government could support to establish WIFI zones in the homestay regions. The key factors which motivate tourists to homestay were divided to two areas push factors from the guests' inner feelings as well as pull factors from the destination perspective. Seeing, relaxation and excitement were key inner motivators to demand for homestay and operators and community need to strongly focus on providing the guest the opportunity to rest and relax. Moreover, operators are recommended to create new experiences for guest to be exited during their stay. From the destination point of view the key motivators were atmosphere, activities, culture and cleanliness. Environmental sustainability and cultural sustainability are of great significant for the success of the homestay programme. Moreover, community and social organizations must focus on creating marketable events for homestay tourists to involve in during their stay. It was evident that the tourists' satisfaction with the Entertainment facilities and night life, information materials, free educational programmes, concern on environment protection and availability of customized packages were very poor. The community and operators need to focus on nigh entertainment events for homestay tourists while authorities could attend to fulfill educational programmes for both operators as well as guests. Central marketing agency facilitated by the government support could attend to produce information material required to homestay tourists. In addition, proper rules and regulations must be in place to protect natural and cultural environments to make sure the homestay programme is sustainable business for future.

Satisfying tourists' interests in nature, traditions, way of life, and other products associated to them - which may be categorized as cultural in the broadest sense of the word is a prime consideration in the development of a cultural destination such as the homestay programme. This must be fully understood by everyone involved in the programme. Infrastructure and the facilities need to be put into place sufficiently, so as to allow the tourists to understand, learn and appreciate their uniqueness. Among the required infrastructure and facilities are informational signage, information centre and knowledgeable guides to act as interpreters, as well as knowledgeable hosts to function as guides. Although basic guidelines are in place for homestay programme development, access, bathrooms, hygiene and cleanliness, observations made of the homestay programme revealed that there is a lack of monitoring on whether the operators abide to it. This may result in the poor quality of experience given to the tourists. While satisfying tourists' interests and demands may be a top priority, it is also imperative to think about the residents' of the villages where the homestay programme located in. Efforts must be put in place to conserve the areas resources and prevent the saturation of destinations so as not to abuse the product and residents correspondingly. The plan should incorporate the locals to gain by training and employing them and in the process, encouraging them to participate in and support the homestay programme. Like the other tourism products the homestay requires tourists to play their roles in sustaining the community and culture in which the homestay tourist thrives on. Thus a guideline should be established by the tourists in terms of what is expected from them. Among others, a code of ethics should also be developed to guide the tourists and guests on the Do's and Don'ts during their homestay experience at local houses.

Tourism policy should be formulated for enhancing homestay in the rural areas. Proper participation of home stay operators also ensure in this regard. Homestay is potential business operation for the local entrepreneurs. This accommodation will ensure employment opportunities and economic advancement for the local people. There are some initiatives such as proper planning and marketing, research activities, increase customer service and sufficient allocation can ensure socio-economic advancement from homestay accommodation among rural communities.

5.4 Future Research Avenues

Although the study provided the general picture of the impacts of tourists' motivation, attribute satisfaction and overall satisfaction of homestay and issues and challenges faced by operators, the study did not mentioned the impact or the relationships between overall satisfaction and revisit intentions. Since the return visit as well as post purchase behavior is of critical for the destination marketers, future research should investigate the impact the relationship between tourists' overall satisfaction and intention to recommend and revisit to the destination. There is also a need for future research to examine the impact on motivation and attribute satisfaction on tourists' overall satisfaction using a similar research method so that a competitive analysis in a different alternative tourism product could be explored. Community perceptions of homestay and socio economic impacts of homestay are also future research areas in this field.

5.5 Chapter Summary

The first part of this chapter reserved for the conclusions of the study and the conclusions for each objective was discussed. The second section of the chapter discussed the recommendations in the light of research findings. The final section presented the future research avenues which were elucidated from the current study.

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¹ A term used to name a public lodge which was often used by long distance travelers to stay overnight in the past in Sri Lanka. Different people from different locations spent their nigh at a closer by Ambalama free of charge.