Faculty Of Hospitality Management Tourism Essay

Based on the problem statement and research questions, questionnaires will be distributed to respondents of 100 local tourists and 100 international tourists participating in the Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme using non probability, convenience sampling method.

Results that will be obtained based on local and international tourist’s satisfaction participating on the marketing mix of the Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme will be determined.

Homestay programme was first introduced back in 1970’s in Kampung Cherating Lama, Pahang. The founder of such accommodation was famously known as Mak Long. Types of basic accommodation Mak Long has provided for the guests during those days consist both breakfast and dinner and served at home (Amran, 2008). It is believed that in the late 1980s, the homestay programme then has been transformed into Japanese youth stay where they learned the rural way of life of the locals (Ibrahim and Razzaq,n.d. ) . (Kalsom and Ashikin, 2006) homestay programme in Malaysia was introduced in 1988 by the formerly known as Ministy of Culture, Arts and Tourism Malaysia later known as Ministry Tourism of Malaysia.

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Today, homestay programme in Malaysian context is defined as the rural-cultural- community based tourism product (The Star, 2009) and is seen to have potential in providing income and employment for the rural community as a whole. Thus, as stated under the Ninth Malaysian Plan, an amount of RM 40 million allocated to the Ministry of Tourism to upgrade infrastructures needed in the rural areas (Ibrahim and Razzaq,n.d.). (Ninth Malaysian Plan, 2006-2010) the government’s priority is on development of rural communities and two strategies undertaken include minimizing the obvious gap in income between the rural and urban areas. As stated by the Ministry of Tourism Malaysia (2010) “Until May 2010, a total of 227 villages and 2984 participants registered under Ministry of Tourism Malaysia”.

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1.1) Background of study: Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme

It was believed that Santubong was once famous for its trade and this information is backed up by the remnants of English, Hindu and Chinese influence here. Based on the claim made by the local community of Santubong, Santubong was originally known as Kampung Teluk Pasir Putih (White Sandy Bay Village) as given by the Chinese settlers trading at the time. The most unique feature of the legendary mount Santubong is the womanly figure lying on her side (Sarawak Museum).

Santubong is considered as the largest archaeological site in Malaysia compared to Lembah Bujang in Peninsular Malaysia due to thousands of ceramic together with 40,000 tonnes of iron were found in 1947 by curator, Tom Harrison (1947-1966) . This place was believed to be important area for merchants and iron mining from eleventh to thirteen century.

Santubong Village, a Malay fishing village strategically located at the river mouth of the Sarawak with the legendary mount Santubong as the backdrop makes this village a unique one. About 40 minutes’ drive from the Kuching city centre to reach Santubong Village, this Santubong village is rich with famous landmarks that can be found around the village. Popular list among tourists are the mysterious Sultan Tengah Tomb (First and the last Sarawak Sultan), the Legendary Mount Santubong surrounded by myths. Other historic landmarks that exist until today are the James Brooke Bungalow. The very famous history marked here as well where Wallace the famous scientist penned his theory on speciation and biography here, ‘Batu Buaya’ (Curse crocodile stone), ‘Teluk Sepang’ (Raden Merpati landed in Santubong), ‘Bongkisam’ (An old iron mine), ‘Batu Gambar’ (Pictorial Rock) and ‘Pulau Kera’ (Monkey Island).

(Source: Sarawak Museum,n.d.).

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1.2) Problem statement

There have been several researches done previously on the benefits and positive contribution through the homestay programme. However, this study will focus on determining the effectiveness of each components of marketing mix such as product, price, place and promotion by Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme against tourist satisfaction.

1.3) Research objectives

The objective of the study is to determine the effectiveness of each components of marketing mix such as product, price, place and promotion against tourist satisfaction are as follows:-

To determine tourist satisfaction against product in Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme.

To determine tourist satisfaction against price offered by Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme.

To determine tourist satisfaction against promotional strategy offered by Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme.

To determine tourist satisfaction against the place in which Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme is located.

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1.4) Research Questions

How effective are the components of marketing mix used by Kampung Santubong homestay programme against tourist satisfaction. The traditional components of marketing mix in are as follows:-

How to determine tourist satisfaction against product in Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme?

How to determine tourist satisfaction against price offered against promotional strategy offered by Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme?

How to determine tourist satisfaction against the promotional strategy offered by Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme?

How to determine tourist satisfaction against the place in which Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme located?

1.5) Scope of Study

This research is undertaken to determine the effectiveness of each components of marketing mix such as product, price, place and promotion by the Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme against tourist satisfaction. This research of study will mainly focus at the Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme located at Santubong, Kuching Sarawak.

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1.6) Limitation of Research

1.6.1)Insufficient resources

Insufficient resources due to lack of relevant previous researches done through online scholarly journals. Most online journals are on payment basis and only few free articles or journals available online.

1.6.2) Time constraint

Limited time to conduct research since distribution of questionnaires in targeted area falls during the month of Ramadhan, the fasting month for the Muslims and also on the festive month, Hari Raya. Some of the local community participated in the Santubong Homestay Programme may not have time to entertain guests.

1.6.3) Tourist

Tourists participation response to the questionnaires distributed may vary. Some tourists may be willing to participate in this research and some may not.

1.6.4) Seasonal factor

Due to the nature of product of homestay programme, during low season, number of tourists participating in the homestay programme may be affected.

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1.7) Significance of Study

This study help in contributing valuable information to all homestay operators in Kuching on the influence of tourist satisfaction against the marketing mix adopted by homestay programmes in order to enhance homestay programmes in the future. In fact, using tourist’s satisfaction as a tool to determine on the elements of the marketing mix such as the product, price, promotion and place can benefit homestay operators on providing the best homestay product/ service by differentiating themselves from each other, hence, the sense of uniqueness to attract more tourists in participating in the homestay programme especially in throughout Kuching.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1) Definition of terms

2.1.1) Homestay Programme

The term homestay programmes are varied in different parts of the world thus, according to Barke (2004) “In defining the term homestay programme, there is no single accepted definition in the International studies”. Lane (1994) stated homestay as a rural community based tourism product, hence falls under rural tourism category.

2.1.2) Tourist satisfaction

Tourist satisfaction is defined as (Klaus,1985,pg 21) ‘the accumulated experience of a customer’s purchase and experiences’

2.1.3) Marketing mix

(Perreault, Jr.and McCarthy, 2004, pg38) marketing variables are separated into product, price, promotion and price leads to an easy formulation of marketing strategy.

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2.2) Homestay Programme

(Akbar, Bael, Hassan Baguley, 2003) homestay programme in Australia is the type of accommodation for international students to reside in and is believed to help them with culture adaptation. Homestay is comparable to bed and breakfasts and more affordable compared to rental type accommodation (Akbar, Bael, Hassan, Baguley, 2003). In Malaysia context of homestay programme natural setting, Both (Kalsom, 2009; and Tourism Government, 2008) mentioned homestay programme takes place in a “kampung” or village setting where guests have the opportunity to live together in the same house with their “adopted families” and learn the traditional way of lives of the host family. (Kalsom, 2009) added Malaysia homestay programme differed from other type of homestay programme where host-tourists participation is emphasized through involvement in local activities.

(Tourism Government, 2008) homestay programme in Malaysia is owned by homestay operators that are granted with a license to participate in the homestay programme. Meaning to say, not all home owners have the privilege to take part in this homestay unless they abide to a list of criteria established by the Ministry of Tourism for all participating homestay operators. The list of criterions pertaining to hygiene, criminal record, clean toilet, adequate number of accommodation in terms of separate bedrooms, accessibility to main road and no communicable disease are highly regarded. Generally, homestay development policy in Malaysia is aimed to fully utilized natural resources at “kampung” level, conservation of the socio cultural and artistic customs of the village as well as its uniqueness.

However, there are several evidence clearly shows that there are similarities in some elements of the homestay programme. For example, the homestay programmes in countries like Australia, Malaysia, and Kwam Emakana community in South Africa stated that the culture exchange between the host and the guests does exist through accommodation provided by the host family.

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This cultural exchange is emphasizing through host-guest participation on local activities, local food and customs. Similar to the Malaysian context of homestay, the Kwam Emakana community also takes part in the community based tourism homestay where it takes place in a rural / village setting. However, not all homestay accommodation of the Kwam Emakana exists in the rural setting since they also provide township accommodation with private homes (Kwam Emakana Community Based Homestay Initiative in South Africa, 2010; pg 152). According to the World Tourism Organization projections cites in (African Business, 2010), homestay programme gains its popularity may drive by the need to find cheaper accommodation and involving holidays from the traveller’s part. In order to have a direct experience of the host culture, guests expected the homestay accommodation including the food and local activities as it is. (Solomon Mburu, African Business, 2010).

2.3) Tourist satisfaction

In tourism, satisfaction is evaluated based on the characteristics of tourism offers and respondents are typically evaluated through satisfaction scale (Kozak, 2001). (Fuchs Weiermair (2003) destination attributes are correlated to a variable measuring total customer (tourists) satisfaction resulting in more valid managerial implications. According to (Zeithaml et al . . .) cited by (Pawitra and Tan, 2003) tourism in nature is different from other area of services, thus there is a need for tourism industry to used SERVQUAL to measure tourist satisfaction for a destination.

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(Kozak and Rimmington, 2000) tourist satisfaction are greatly affected by the tourist motivation to purchasing, consumption and services related to tourism offers. In addition, tourist satisfaction considered as an effective tool in homestay tourism and helped marketers in tourism product positioning (Seubsamarn and Cho, 2009).There was research being done on the relationship between quality, satisfaction, previous experience and loyalty (Baker and Crompton, 2000; Bignee et al., 2001;Pritchard, 2003. Petrick, 2004b; Yoon and Uysal, 2005; Um et al., 2006). Perceived quality leads to consumer satisfaction, thus enhance promotion of the destination through word of mouth and repeat purchase (Brady and Robertson, 2001). This statement agreed also by (Bignee et al. (2001) destination’s image is a major key related to quality, satisfaction, and tourist’s motivation repeat purchase. (Yoon and Uysal, 2005) shows the difference tourists motivation that needs to be applied in multiple dimensions via integrated approaches and the complex nature of satisfaction as well as the theories of measuring satisfaction.

2.4) Elements of the Marketing Mix (4Ps)

The traditional definition of marketing mix which consists of 4Ps was proposed by E. Jerome McCarthy (1960). It’s elements namely; the product, price, promotion and place have been used extensively by marketers all over the world (Wikipedia.org, 2012). Kannan and Srinivasan (2009) implied the marketing mix for any service industry usually comprises of 8ps, where four adopted from the traditional marketing mix and the later are process, physical evidence, people, and productivity.

The first element of marketing mix is the product. In a homestay programme context, what drives tourists to flock to any destination as stated by Maimunah and Abdul Rahim (2009) cited in (Ibrahim and Razzaq,n.d. ) “The motivation factor of the tourists to visit a particular destination is mainly for the product or attractions.

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The products mentioned referred to the supplementary attractions such as the natural resources like nature and habitat of the village setting has to offer, vernacular architecture, traditional delicacies and beverages, arts and crafts, music and cultural activities, historical significance, agricultural activities and special phenomena”. Hence, tourism product / service usually have direct impact on tourist satisfaction. In a service context, a need satisfying only emerged gradually for the customer throughout the consumption process. Meaning to say, a service is seen as a process that leads to an outcome during partly simultaneous production and consumption processes (Gronroos, 2001).

In the context of tourism product which usually related with the service, Ferrell (2005) product is the core of the marketing mix strategy and thus, stockholders involved in the making and production of the tourism product can easily manipulate those products and come up with more unique features in the effort to distinguish themselves from competitors. Same goes to the homestay programme packages offered by stockholders involved such homestay operators of Kampung Santubong with the help of tour operators that bringing in the tourists to the village and active promotion and grants by the Malaysia Tourism Ministry (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2011).

In contrary, this has not always been the case. According to Seaton and Bennett (1996) and Butler and Hall (1998), one of the main issues that are faced by most tourism destinations is the difficulty to distinguish themselves from each other. Technically, most of the tourism product / services offered by these tourism destination operators are similar which by all means they might have lost their sense of uniqueness especially in the eyes of the tourists, their target market (Garrod,Wornell,Youell,Garrod et al. , 2006).

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Referring back to the product, since tourism product / service are categorized as services marketing, there is a need to differentiate tourism marketing when compared to other services (Lovelock). In this sense, “The differences between tourism marketing and other type of services include: – the nature of the tourism product itself where it emphasizes on providing recreational experience and hospitality to tourists, tourists must travel in order to consume the tourism product/ service thus making the elements of time and money spent to travel affect tourist’s travel decisions” (Kannan and Srinivasan, 2009). This similar approach also agreed by Seaton and Bennett (1996) whereby tourism product does not permitted the target market which is the tourist to try the tourism product / service before purchasing. In addition to the issue pertaining to the nature of tourism product / service, as implied by Parasuraman et al. (1985); and Schiffman and Kanuk (2000), the nature of tourism product also may influence the perspective of the consumer,the tourists on the service quality.

Promotion is defined as all the methods of communications used by the marketer in order to transfer information about certain product or a service. The methods are sales promotion, advertising, personal selling and public relations (Wikipedia.org, 2012). These methods of promotion are relatively different from each other. Advertising is different compared to public relations because an individual or an institution need to pay for their stories to be advertised is it in the internet, newspaper or television. Public relations are commonly used as a medium for promotional strategy. Such example of PR was the launching of Misompuru Homestay Packages with MASWings by the Federal Tourism Minister, Dato Eng Yen Yen (Daily Express, 2012). It is up to the stakeholders involved on how to promote the destination image in which the homestay programme setting lies. Tourism Malaysia (2010b) is continuously promoting the homestay programme various local activities happening in different homestay programme operators throughout Malaysia (Jamaludin, Othman and Awang, 2010).

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According to Ministry of Tourism Malaysia (2011), “Homestay Programme is an experience where tourists stay with selected families, interact and experience, the daily life of these families as well as experiencing Malaysian culture”.Thus, potential tourists that are keen to participate in the Malaysian version of a homestay programme can easily browse through the official Malaysia Homestay Website: www.go2homestay.com . Information on sales promotion of homestay packages is available there as well (Ministry of Tourism Malaysia, 2011). Other example of the latest promotion effort by the Tourism Malaysia with is the “Homestay Rail”, as stated by the director of the agency from Singapore, Zalizam Zakaria (News Straight Times, 2012). This “Homestay Rail” will attract mainly students and senior citizens from Singapore to participate in the homestays located along the journey between Johor Bharu and the east coast (News Straight Times, 2012).

When it comes to promoting the tourism product such as homestay programme, the destination image plays an important role in promoting the tourism product / services in this case, the homestay programme. The definition of destination image are agreed by both Buhalis (2000) ; Baloglu and McCleary (1999) in which perceptions of any destination held in the minds of tourists. According to Chon (1992) ; Baloglou and Bringmerg (1997) cited in Buhalis (2000) ” Before people go to a destination they develop the image and a set of expectations based on previous experience, word of mouth, press reports, advertising and common beliefs” (JobTrust Incorporated, 2007-2012). However, this will not always seem to be the case, Weirmair and Fuchs (1999) mentioned “Destinations could change their advertising strategies. Advertisement could either emphasise the service process characteristics of its tourism and related cultures by focussing on tourists’ experiences within the destination” (Munar, n.d.).

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Price refers to the amount a customer is willing to pay for the product or service in relation to tourism services context. The price offered for the product / service must complements other elements of marketing mix in order since it will determine whether the profits are favourable which is important for the business survival (Wikipedia.org, 2012). According to Ministry Tourism of Malaysia (2011), the basic cost of spending on homestay packages range from Ringgit Malaysia 150 – 250 inclusive of meals, accommodation, and activities, depending on the activities offered in various homestay programme operators throughout Malaysia. In addition, all cost related information to homestay packages offered from various homestay operators are accessible through the official Malaysian Homestay website, www.go2homestay.com. Place is where the product / service is provided by individual or institution to the customer and the place must be accessible and convenient to the customers. Place is also commonly referred to distribution (Wikipedia.org, 2012). According to Uysal, Chen and Williams (2000) to build a positive destination image in the minds of tourists was not an easy job and served as marketing challenges for stockholders involved.

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2.5) Theoretical Framework

Tourist’s Satisfaction

Marketing mix (4Ps)

Product

Price

Promotion

Place

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CHAPTER 3: Research Design and Methodology

3.1) Definition of research design

(Micheal. S.Carriger, 2000) stated research design can be seen as as common sense and clear thinking for the management of research to come up with effective strategy in conducting a reaserch.

3.2) Sampling

Research sample is a group of people chosen from the sampling frame by representing the whole population of study (goodresearch.eu, 2012). According to Uma Sekaran (2000), a sample size is a subset of a population being studied and only some elements of the population are treated as the sample.

3.2.1) Population

According to Uma Sekaran (2000), Population is defined as the entire group of people, events, or things of interest that the researcher wishes to investigate. As also stated by Joan Joseph Castillo (2009) “Research population is generally a large collection of individuals or objects that is the main focus of a scientific query”. The target population for this research is local and international tourists visiting Kuching, Sarawak.

3.2.2) Sample frame

A sample frame is referred to the list consisting of the units of the population (MBA Official, 2010). Also stated in (Wikipedia.org, 2012) sample frame may include the individuals, households or institutions which related the population. The sample frame of research is of local and international tourists who are participating in the Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme.

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3.2.3) Sampling design

Non probability, convenience sampling method will be used for this research. Convenience sampling involved collecting information from members of the population who are conveniently available provide to it (Sekaran, 2000). Thus, both the local and international tourists who are most available or most conveniently selected will be asked through questionnaires.

3.2.4) Sample size

A sample size of 200 respondents of both local and international tourists from a convenience sampling method is to be selected on the basis of this research.

3.3) Instrument for the research

These questionnaires are divided into three sections: Section A : List of personal data questions on demographic of tourist will be asked as closed ended questions with using ordinal scale. Section B: Pertaining to the marketing mix of Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme against tourist satisfaction. Using Likert scale closed ended questions consists of “Strongly disagree, neutral (either agree or disagree), agree, strongly agree. Section C: Open-ended questions mainly on recommendations or improvements of the Kampung Santubong Homestay marketing mix will be asked.

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3.4) Data Collection Method

Questionnaire as referred to Wikipedia.org (2012) “…a research instrument represents by sets of questions for the purpose of gathering the data relevant to the study of research”. Questionnaires are to be distributed in a form of survey form to local and international tourists who participating in the Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme, According to BusinessDictionary.com ( ) “questionnaires are a list of a research or survey questions asked to respondents and designed to extract specific information”. Questionnaires are to be distributed to the local and international tourists who are participating and had participated in the Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme and local community of Kampung Santubong

Both primary and secondary data are used in conducting this study. Primary data as mentioned by Karuna (2012) are referred to raw and original materials collected by the investigator which relatively expensive and time consuming as compared to secondary data. Karuna (2012) stated secondary data on the other hand lacks of originality (Preserve articles.com, 2012). Primary data is data collected by the researcher to collect quantitative methods while secondary data referred to as data obtained from sources which are already available such as literature, industry surveys, compilations . . . (socialscience.stow.ac.uk, 2000).

Analysis of Data

3.5.1) Spss

The first version of SPSS (Statistical Package For Social Science) was released in 1968 and was developed by (Norman H, Nie and C. Hadlai Hull (Wikipedia.org, 2012). It is used by every organisation such as government, marketing establishements.

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3.5.2) Pilot test

Pilot study will be conducted earlier to test the reliability and validity of the questionnaires. According to Julie Stachowiak (2008) pilot study is defined as a smaller version of a large study that is conducted to prepare for that study. It is also used as a tool to test an idea or hypothesis.

3.5.3) Reliability test

“Reliability of a measure indicates the extent to which the measure is without bias and offers consistent measurement across time and other items related in the intruement”.(Sekaran, 2001)

3.5.4) Hypothesis statement

H1: Tourists are satisfied with the product of Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme.

H2: Tourists are satisfied with the price of Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme.

H3: Tourists are satisfied with the promotion of Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme.

H4: Tourists are satisfied with the place of Kampung Santubong Homestay Programme.

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