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8/19/2019 Journal Manajemen Pariwisata
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Factors influencing tourist visitation in
marine tourism: lessons learned from
FRI Aquarium Penang, Malaysia
Salmi Mohd Isa and Lizana Ramli
Salmi Mohd Isa and
Lizana Ramli are oth
ased at the !raduate
School of "usiness,
#niversiti Sains Malaysia,
Penang, Malaysia$
Received %& A'ril (&%)Revised * +anuary (&% Acce'ted %- +anuary (&%
.he authors /ould li0e to than0Mohamad Sau'i Ismail for giving them the o''ortunity toconduct the study in theFisheries Research Institute1FRI2, Penang$
Astract
Pur'ose 3 .o estalish tourist visitation to ne/ tourism areas is in most cases de'endent on tourists4
ehavior$ Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the 'rimary com'onents of the marine tourism
o'eration$ Such ehavior is usually enacted in the form of destination a/areness, destination image and
motivation$ 5ord of mouth is li0ely to influence tourist to visit$ .he 'ur'ose of this 'a'er is to e6amine the
factors that may influence tourists to visit marine tourist destinations$
7esign8methodology8a''roach 3 .he study has utilized self3administered questionnaire survey and the
target 'o'ulation are the visitors that came to FRI Aquarium$ .he survey 'eriod /as from August (&%(
to Se'temer (&%($ .otal of %9- res'onses /ere collected during this 'eriod$
Findings 3 .his study demonstrates that destination a/areness, motivation and 5M are factors that
influence the tourist to visit the FRI Aquarium$ Interestingly, destination image ho/ever, has sho/n
insignificant relationshi' /ith tourist visitation$ 5M also found to e has a full mediating effect for
a/areness to/ards tourist visitation$ For e6am'le, efore visit, visitor may require some information
eforehand and /ord of mouth is a direct medium to transfer the information$ A 0ey im'lication for FRI
Aquarium is that it might e /ise to assess such variales for their mar0eting strategies$
Research limitations8im'lications 3 First, the sam'le /as otained from one marine aquarium in
Malaysia$ .he com'arative studies et/een aquariums are im'ortant to understand if there are any
similarities and differences$ It /ould e etter to conduct the survey in other local aquariums such as the
#nder/ater 5orld, Lang0a/i and the ;L Aquaria, ;uala Lum'ur$ Second, a longitudinal study is
relevant to further investigate the factors that /ill influence the visitor visitation$ .hus, future study shouldgather data from those /ho had visited the aquarium several times$ .his a''roach might im'rove the
destination image results, /hich in this study sho/s insignificant relationshi'$ .hat said,
ac0no/ledgements of these limitations also suggest a ne/ direction of future research$
Practical im'lications 3 FRI Aquarium is suggested to create more a/areness to the 'ulic y 'lacing
an advertisement via mainstream and social media$ onsequently, the
findings hel' to understand ho/ these factors can 'rovide alternative sources of mar0eting to attract the
long3term economic sustainaility of the FRI Aquarium in marine tourism$
;ey/ords 5ord of mouth, Malaysia, Motivation, 7estination a/areness, 7estination image,Marine tourism
Pa'er ty'e Research 'a'er
Introduction
.he tourism industry has ecome the largest service industry in the gloal economy 1Ferreira
et al$, (&&-? Som and "adarneh, (&%%2$ In Malaysia, the industry has emerged as one of the
country4s 0ey economic sectors$ Malaysia is rich in natural and cultural diversity$ 7ue to its
'o'ularity, e6tensive findings demonstrate that Penang is the most visited state in Malaysia,
/ith almost si6 million hotel guests re'orted in (&%( 1Ministry of .ourism Malaysia, (&%(2$
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7:I %&$%%&*8I+>.
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Penang, /hich is also 0no/n as the Pearl of the rient, is /ell 0no/n
among local and
foreign tourists for its natural eauty and modern each resorts$ Since
Penang is an island
surrounded y sea /ater, it has 'articularly strong 'otential in marine tourism
1!haderi et al$,
(&%(2$ !loally, the gro/th rate of marine tourism has een found to e6ceed
other forms of
tourism 1Cagles and Mc>ool, (&&(2$ In relation to this, it has een
re'orted that marine
tourism has ecoming increasingly com'etitive and even saturated 1Eoon
and #ysal, (&&D?
urrently, FRI
is in search of alternative sources of mar0eting to ensure its long3
term economic
sustainaility$ Among 'ossile alternatives includes the estalishment of
visitation 'attern,
since it is considered a relatively reliale and 'otential source of increasing
the mar0et share
of the marine tourism industry$
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7evelo'ment of the research hy'otheses
Cstalishing tourist visitation to a ne/ tourism area is, in most cases,
de'endent on tourist
ehaviour$ Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the 'rimary
com'onents of marine
tourism o'eration$ Such ehaviour is usually enacted in the form of
destination a/areness,destination image, and motivation$ As noted y ;iss and "ichler 1(&&*2,
/ord3of3mouth
15M2 is li0ely to influence tourists to visit$ ur study com'rises the first
attem't to e6amine
the factors that may influence tourists to visit marine tourism destinations$
7estination a/areness
.he conce't of destination a/areness is mostly investigated under the
to'ic of tourism
decision 'rocesses 15oodside and Lysons0i, %-*-? !oodall, %--)2$
A/areness might not
al/ays lead to 'urchase ecause it acts as 'roduct curiosity 1Fesenmaier
et al$, %--)2$
.ale I 7omestic and international tourist arrivals to Penang from (&&D to (&%&
.ourist
Eear Local total International total verall total
(&&D (,(@9,D)( D($% (,&*,)99 9$-,)D%,-&-
(&&@ (,D@(,-9* D$ (,%D(,(D@ D$@,9%D,()
(&&9 (,9*9,(@& D)$9 (,)--,)D% @$)D,%*@,@%%(&&* ),-@,(-) DD$ (,*%%,%9D $@
@,)&9,@*(&&- (,-*(,@*9 D&$& (,-99,@( D&$&D,-@&,)(-
(&%& (,-(,D -$% ),&*,)(& D&$-D,--&,*@(&&D3(&%& %9,&)-,(- D($ %D,9),%(% 9$@)(,D%(,%D
PA!C %& =IB.CRBA.I:BAL+:#RBAL:F>#L.#RC,.:#RISMAB7
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!artner 1%--)2 vie/ed a/areness as /hat someone 0no/s or thin0s they
0no/ aout a
destination$ Mean/hile, 5oodside and Lysons0i 1%-*-, '$ *2 descried
a/areness as
GGunaided recall from long3term memory and aided recognitions44$
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!unn 1%-**2 suggested that image formation ha''ens in seven stages$
"ased on the
stages, he created a destination image frame/or0, /hich consists of t/o
levels, namely,
organic images and induced images$ rganic images are images or
information from
resources that have not een directly lin0ed to destination 'romoters such as
geogra'hy
oo0s and school lessons, magazines, television, 5M, ne/s, movies,
ne/s'a'ers and
other media$ It is a 'otential tourist4s im'ression of a destination efore
visiting$ Induced
images are images 'ro=ected or influenced y destination 'romoters
and tourist
organisations using 'laned mar0eting and communication methods such
as travel
rochures or advertisements$ It is not only formed y 'romotional material,
ut also y
actual visitation to the area$
Later, !artner 1%--)2 claimed that destination images are formed y cognitive,effective and
conative$ .hese three com'onents interrelate to determine the overall image$
>ognitive
com'onent is the sum of a 'erson4s 0no/ledge aout a destination, /hich may
e organic or
induced$ .his is the a/areness, 0no/ledge or elief that 'eo'le have aout a
destination4s
attriutes$ Affective com'onent re'resents an individual4s feeling to/ard a
destination
1"aloglu and Mc>leary, %---2$ .he conative com'onent is the outcome of the
cognitive and
effective stages and decides a 'erson4s intention$ According to the latest
guidelines for
tourism mar0eting 1Lo'es, (&%%2, the develo'ment of the image of a tourist
destination is
ased on consumer rationality and emotion and also as a result of t/o main
com'onents:
Perce'tual and cognitive 3 the destination image is evaluated y the
attriutes of its
resources of attractions /hich motivates tourist to visit the destination? and
Affective 3
referring to feelings and emotions raised y tourist destinations$ .he overall
image of the
destination is a comination of oth com'onents$
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Similarly, "aloglu and Mc>leary 1%---2 demonstrated the relationshi' of
visitation intention
/ith variety of information received, /ill induce the destination image$
7estination image has
also een sho/n to e closely tied to the cognitive image com'onent, as it
leads to visitation
1!artner and Ruzzier, (&%&2$ .hus, destination image is also im'ortant in
determining tourist
decisions to visit$
Motivation
Research has found that motivation is one of the most im'ortant travel
decision3ma0ing
factors 1alle et al$, (&&@2$ S/anson and rom'ton 1%-9-2 em'hasised further that oth
'ush and 'ull
factors sha'e tourist motivation and in choosing a vacation destination$
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($ Motivation Pull Factors$ Pull factors are e6ternal motivation factors to
travel 1#ysal and
+uro/s0i, %--2$ .hey are ased on the attractiveness of the
destination$ It is the
attractiveness of the destination and tangile characteristics such as
eaches and
cultural8historical resources, among others, that motivate a 'erson to
travel 1#ysal and
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consumers communicate their o'inions to others in an unofficial /ay after they
have used a
'roduct or ta0en a service$ Cventually, 5M influences other 'eo'le4s
'urchasing ehaviour
1;im, (&&-2$ 5M can e 'ro=ected as either 'ositive or negative$ Positive
5M occurs
/hen testimonials of good ne/s and endorsements of the organisation areuttered 1"uttle,
%--*2$ It is /hen a 'erson encounters satisfactory services? 'ositive 5M
/ill ha''en
1Suss0ind, (&&(2$
In relation to this, ;iss and "ichler 1(&&*2 commented that 5M is one ty'e
of mar0eting
technique$ .his technique has een used to increase rand a/areness y
self3re'lication
and message diffusion$ .his sho/s that there is a relationshi' et/een
a/areness of the
'roduct or destination /hen a 'erson has een e6'osed to informal
information such as
5M$ Informal sources such as relatives and friends have een sho/n toinfluence image
formation among tourist destinations 1>rom'ton, %-9-? "eerli and Martin, (&&2$
.his sho/s
that images /ere induced y the use of 5M as /ell$ Sundaram and
5ester 1%---2
suggested that consum'tion e6'eriences and motivation are closely related in
the 'rocess
of 5M transmission$ Moreover, a study y !odes and Mayzlin 1(&&2 found
that there /as
a 'ositive feedac0 mechanism et/een 5M and 'roduct sales$ .hey
found that 5M
leads to more 'roduct sales, /hich, in turn, generate more 5M and, ultimately,
more sales$
Similarly Milman and Pizan 1%--D2 found that the negative comments that
visitors hear from
others could create lo/ interest in visitation$ According to +eong and +ang
1(&%%2, 'ositive
5M also 'lays an im'ortant role in 'ro=ecting a 'ositive image /hich leads to
intention to
ehave$ "o=anic 1%--@2 argued that it is im'ortant to have a 'ositive
image in tourist
decision3ma0ing$ In addition, Allso' et al$ 1(&&92 commented that
communication such as
5M can 'ersuade y reason and motivate y emotion$ According to them,
research that
/as done on consumer motivation and decision3ma0ing can ma6imize
'ersonal relevance
on the cognitive and emotional dimensions$ .herefore, 5M is an im'ortant
source of
information 'rior to visit, /hich has an im'act on tourist visitation$
Follo/ing this rationale, therefore:
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a/areness and tourist visitation in marine tourism$
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.ale II Summary of research instruments
Bo$of
ariales Sourcequestions
A/areness Milman and Pizan 1%--D2? ;onecni0 and Ruzzier 1(&&@2?
;onecni0 and !artner 1(&&92? !artner and Ruzzier 1(&%&2
@
7estination image Cchtner and Ritchie 1%--)2? ;onecni0 and !artner 1(&&92?
!artner and Ruzzier 1(&%&2? Hu et al $ 1(&%%2
%)
Motivation Eoon and #ysal 1(&&D2? an der Mer/e et al$ 1(&%%2%@
5ord of mouth +eong and +ang 1(&%%2
isitation 'erformance +eong and +ang 1(&%%2
)
Results
Several as'ects of our analysis are /orthy of mention$ First, the 'rofiles of the
res'ondents /ere
analysed$ .his /as aimed to gather general information on the res'ondents$
"ased on the
analysis, D( 'er cent of res'ondents /ere male and * 'er cent /ere female$
.he ma=ority of
the res'ondents /ere aged et/een (D3) years 1)* 'er cent2$
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analysed for factor
analysis$ Items /ere deleted if they e6hiited lo/ factor loadings 1# &$&2,
had high cross
loading 1. &, &2, or if they had lo/ communalities 1, &$&2 1
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.ale III Summary of questions
>ode Measurements
A5% A state tourist destination A5( C6hiits coral reef life
A5) Located in "atu Maung
A5 'en daily e6ce't on 5ednesday
A5D A research oriented aquarium A5@ Free entry for old citizens, disale 'erson and children elo/ @ years old
7I% 5ell 0no/n and famous7I( 5ell3advertised
7I) Availale via travel agency
7I Casy access via all ty'es of trans'ortation7ID Am'le 'ar0ing s'ace
7I@ Cntrance fee is among the chea'est of all zoos8aquaria in Malaysia
7I9 Friendly and hel'ful staff
7%* Surrounding is restful and rela6ing
7I- onvenient facilities, e$g$ restroom, cafeteria, 'rayer room
M%) alue for my money
M% .o get a/ay from demand at home
M%D C6'loring ne/ travel destination
M%@ S'ending time /ith my friends5M% Received good comments from others
5M( I /ant to share my 'ositive e6'eriences /ith others5M) I /ant to give others the o''ortunity to have a good e6'erience5M I feel good /hen I share my e6'erience /ith others
7AR% I am very satisfied /ith my visit to the Aquarium and /ould visit again and /ill recommend
7AR( In my o'inion, this Aquarium should e su''orted and I /ill sho/ my su''ort y sharing my 'ositivee6'erience to others7AR) I /ould recommend this Aquarium to others
.he analysis had sho/n that all inde'endent variales are 'ositively
correlated to the de'endent variale$
Regression analysis /as used to analyse the relationshi' of each
inde'endent variale to/ards the de'endent variale$ .he result of factors
influencing visitation is sho/n in .ale $ "ased on the analysis, destination
a/areness 1 b ¼ &$%-, ' , &$&D2 and motivation 1 b ¼ &$@(), ' , &$&D2 /ere
found to e in a significant 'ositive relationshi' /ith visitor visitation$
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' , &$&D2 had a 'ositive relationshi' and significant effect on 5M$
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.ale I Result of reliaility analysis
Factor lael Motivation Image A/areness>ommunalities
Increase education and learning e6'erience &$99D&$9((Cnhance 0no/ledge on marine life &$9-@
&$9) Ale to a''reciate natural resources &$9@9&$@&
Place for family recreation and8or having leisure time /ith someone s'ecial &$9D-&$D**
Cntertaining and fun 'lace to go &$*%@&$@**
Ale to rest and rela6ing myself &$@*&$-@
>onvenience facilities, e$g$ restroom, cafeteria, 'rayer room &$@(&$*&C6'loring ne/ travel destination &$9&-&$D%D
Friendly and hel'ful staff &$9(&&$D9&
Surrounding is restful and rela6ing &$9))
&$@@9ronach4s al'ha &$*-* &$99D &$@%)
.ale Result of regression analysis
Inde'endent variales
Standardized "eta
Regression result et/een factors influencing visitation
7estination a/areness
&$%-
7estination image
&$&-D
Motivation
&$@()
Regression result et/een factors influencing 5M
A/areness
&$(@(
7estination image
2 &$&-Motivation
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&$D*&
Regression result et/een5M and visitation Mediatingvariale
5M
&$*(@
concluded that 5M has a 'ositive and significant effect on visitor
visitation to FRI Aquarium$ .herefore, #L.#RC,.:#RISMAB7
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inde'endent variales must e in a significant relationshi' /ith the
de'endent variale in the 'resence of mediator$
$ If all of the 'revious conditions are satisfied, the effect of the inde'endent
variale on the
de'endent variale must e less in the third condition than in the second
condition 1see
Figure %2$
In addition, "aron and ;enny 1%-*@2 cited in 2, sho/s that a/areness 1 b ¼ &$%-, ' , &$&D2
has a 'ositive
and significant relationshi' /ith visitor visitation$ Model ) 1Path "2 sho/sthat that 5M
1 b ¼ &$*(@, ' , &$&D2 had a 'ositive and significant relationshi' /ith
visitation$ Model
sho/s that the b is insignificant$ .hese =ustify all four conditions discussed
earlier$ .o fully
verify this effect, a Soel test /as conducted and the result /as significant
1 ' , &$&&%2$
"ased on the results, it can e concluded that there is a full mediating effect
of 5M /ith
regards to relationshi' et/een a/areness and tourist visitation$
.herefore
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Figure % Mediating 'ath
.ale I Results of mediating effect of 5M /ith regards to relationshi' et/een factors influencingvisitation
'erformance
Significant value of de'endent variales measurement
ariales Model % 1Path >2 Model ( 1Path A2 Model ) 1Path "2 Model 1Path A"3>2
7estination a/areness &$%- &$(@( 2
&$&(%7estination image &$&-D 2 &$&-
&$%D9Motivation &$@() &$D*&
&$(D
5M &$*(@&$@D&
Bote: GG&44 sho/s insignificant and '3value , &$&D
:L$ * B:$ % (&% =IB.CRBA.I:BAL+:#RBAL:F>#L.#RC,.:#RISMAB7
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location /ith coral reef life e6hiits$ In addition, the survey also as0ed aout
the res'ondents4
a/areness of the location$ ;onecni0 and !artner 1(&&92, in their study, found
that 'eo'le are
often more a/are aout locations associated /ith a''ealing /eather,
eautiful natural
surroundings, and so on$ .hese findings /ere consistent /ith the results
'roduced from this
study$ .he res'ondents in our study /ere a/are that the FRI Aquarium is a
marine research
destination /hich e6hiits marine life$ In addition, they /ere also a/are that
the aquarium is
located in "atu Maung, Penang$
7estination image and visitation
.he destination image /as sho/n to have an insignificant relationshi' /ith
visitation, /hich /as
something our variales did not 'redict$ Res'ondents /ere as0ed to rate if
the 'lace had
GGfriendly and hel'ful staff44, GGrestful and rela6ing surroundings44, GGclean
environment44, and GGsafe
environment44$ .hese items of measurement could e ans/ered a''ro'riately if
the visitors had
visited the destination efore$ .his is ecause the visitor /ill have to e6'erience
the destination
images efore they are ale to decide on a revisit$ A 'rior study conducted y
Assa0er et al$
1(&%%2, concluded that destination image im'acted revisits and influences
future return
intention$ Similarly, Hu et al$ 1(&%%2, also found that the overall image of a
destination /as
'erceived more 'ositively y return visitors rather than y first3time visitors$ In
relation to this,
the 'resent study focused on first3time visitors to the aquarium$ .hus,further investigation
needs to e underta0en y future researchers on revisit tourists to shed more
light on this issue$
Motivation and visitation
According to
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visitation$ .he results
sho/ed that 5M 'lays a significant mediating role for a/areness$ .his is
ecause in order
for a visitor to e a/are of a tourist destination, he8she needs to acquire the
information from
numerous communication sources$ .he information could come from family
memers, friends,
or other sources such as the Internet and revie/s y others /ho have
e6'erienced the
destination$ Sheth 1%-9%2, cited in 1"uttle, %--*2, claimed that 5M /as more
im'ortant than
any other advertising mechanism in raising a/areness in serving the decision
to try a 'roduct$
"uttle 1%--*2 added that 5M influenced a variety of conditions, such as
a/areness,
e6'ectations, 'erce'tions, attitudes, ehavioural intentions, and
ehaviour$ .his 'ossily
e6'lains /hy 5M 'artially mediates the relationshi' et/een motivation
and visitation$ For
instance, /hen a student needs to conduct an assignment on marine
life, they /ill e
motivated to visit an aquarium if they /ere told y their teachers that all
information to
com'lete the assignment could e found in the aquarium$ In addition, if a
visitor is satisfied
/ith his e6'erience, he /ould /ant to share the e6'erience /ith those /ho
are close to him$
7ue to that, he /ould e motivated to s'read the ne/s to assist others on their
decision to visit$
.his is su''orted y >heung and Lee 1(&%(2, /ho found that en=oyment of
hel'ing others is
crucial in affecting consumers4 5M intention$ .his could hel' others /ith
their ehaviours$
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>onclusions
In this study, /e demonstrate that destination a/areness, motivation, and 5M
are factors that
influence tourists to visit the FRI Aquarium in Penang$ om'arative studies et/een aquariums are
im'ortant to
understand if there are any similarities or differences$ Future researchers
might /ish to
conduct a similar survey in other local aquariums such as the #nder/ater 5orld
in Lang0a/i
and the ;L Aquaria in ;uala Lum'ur$ Second, a longitudinal study might e
hel'ful to further
investigate the factors that influence the visitor visitation$ .herefore, future
studies should
gather data from those /ho have visited the aquarium on multi'le occasions$
.his a''roachmight also im'rove the destination image results, /hich in this study /as
sho/n to have an
insignificant relationshi'$ .hat said, ac0no/ledgements of these limitations
also suggest a
ne/ direction of future research$
Recommendations
FRI Aquarium might /ish to create more a/areness among the 'ulic y
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'lacing an
advertisement via mainstream and social media$ .hey should 'romote the
aquarium as a
reference centre for those /ho /ant to 0no/ more aout marine life$ .his /ill
eventually 'ull and
'ush those /ho are interested in marine tourism$ Schools are the est 'lace to
incor'orate this
a''roach$ Pulic tal0s should e given to school children to instil a/areness and
motivate them
to visit$ Moreover, FRI Aquarium should encourage visitors /ho are satisfied /ith
their visit to
give good recommendations and convey their satisfaction to others$ A 'latform,
such as a /e
site /here visitors can e6'ress their satisfaction and share their e6'eriences,
should also e
'rovided$ .herefore, it is suggested that FRI Aquarium design marine life3
oriented educational
'rograms in order to motivate and encourage more visitors to visit
"y 'romoting the 'lace as destination for learning and leisure, marine
tourism is li0ely to 'roduce long3lasting changes in tourist ehaviour$
In sum, /e con=ecture that an understanding of factors that influence tourists to
visit marine
tourism destinations are /orthy of additional research$ >onsequently, /e
ho'e that our
findings /ill hel' further our understanding on ho/ these factors can 'rovide
alternative
sources of mar0eting in order to attract long3term economic sustainaility
of the FRI
Aquarium in marine tourism$
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