IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225) EXPLORING TOURIST’S AWARENESS AND DESTINATION LOYALTY IN

Dr.S.Rajamohan1, Professor Alagappa Institute of Management Alagappa University Karaikudi - 630 004

S.Shyam Sundar2 M.B.A., M.Phil, (Ph.D) Assistant Professor AR School of Business Dindigul - 624 206 Tamil Nadu India

Abstract

The study area of Madurai has vast potential for tourist attraction and it has separate identity and famous for its culture, heritage and historical places. The foremost of attractions in Madurai is temples .This destinations give massive opportunities for sightseeing, pleasure and leisure, to the various types of tourists. Accordingly, development of tourism in all its variety, the state government is promoting the different types of tourism such as pilgrimage tourism, heritage tourism, festival tourism, business tourism, rural or village tourism, educational tourism and medical tourism. Awareness of the tourist reveals the standard of the tourist providers’ services and the potential of the tourist facilitators. In this scenario, the present study deals with the tourists’ awareness on the various tourist places In Madurai.

Keywords: Tourists, Service providers, Tourism facilitators.

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225) INTRODUCTION

The tourism service providers and facilitators main responsibility is to provide and create awareness about recreational facilities, accommodation facilities, hygienic food availability, short travel transportation and some other amenities like currency exchange, guide facilities, shopping facility and safety provisions. The recreational facilities and safety conditions at a place promote the stay of the tourists. Even one day extension of tourist stay has been created multiplier benefit to the business society. Tourist awareness plays a vital role in tourism and it creates business for long term sustainability. Awareness of the tourists reveal the standard of the tourist providers’ services and the potential of the tourist facilitators.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To analyze the tourists awareness on various tourist places in Madurai. 2. To assess the tourists awareness on various tourist places in and around Madurai 3. To analyze the tourists opinion towards various facilities offered by Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The primary objective of this empirical paper is to explore the awareness of the tourist on the various tourist places in and around Madurai. The study is based on both primary and secondary data. Madurai was selected as the area of the study because of the Madurai is a land of magnificent temples that remain intact exposing the marvel and glory of the Dravidian art, culture, architecture and customs. For data collection, disproportionate stratified random sampling technique has been used. The numbers of tourists visited into Madurai and the various tourist places in and around Madurai has identified by the researcher .hence, the details have collected from Madurai tourist office. From the record, 10 years average of tourist arrival into Madurai is 1035189. Based on it, the sample size is fixed by the researcher. According to the Rao’s soft online sample size calculator at 5 per cent significance level of the proposed size sample has been derived as 385 tourists s from the population of 1035189.

DATA ANALYSIS Before analysing the data provided by the samples, it is advisable to obtain some insights into the demographic characteristics of respondents participating in this study since it provides a background for the analysis .Only a few demographic characteristics such as gender, age, marital

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225) status, education, and nature of business, nature of ownership and size of business were used in this study, all of which were expected to be important in the interpretation of the results. TABLE: 1

DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF THE RESPONDENTS (n = 385)

CHARACTERISTICS CATEGORY FREQUENCY PERCENTAGE Gender Male 247 64.2 Female 138 35.8 Age Below 20 34 8.8 20-35 83 21.6 35-50 107 27.8 50-65 88 22.8 Above 65 73 19.0 Educational Illiterate 48 12.5 Qualification Upto 12th std 126 32.7 Graduate 122 31.7 Professionals 89 23.1 Marital Status Married 219 56.8 Unmarried 87 22.6 Widower 36 9.4 Widow 43 11.2 Religion Hindu 295 76.6 Christian 65 16.9 Muslim 14 3.6 Jain 11 2.9

Source: Primary Data The sample consisted of slightly more male respondents (64.2%) as compared to female respondents (35.83%). Respondents spanned the range of age categories tourists who belong to below 25 and above 65 are less in percentage because they may be students and age old group respectively. Respondents who belong to above 20 and below 65 are more in percentages..Respondents were also asked to provide information regarding their education, about 32.7 per cent of them are completed school level education. The analysis revealed that majority

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225) (56.8 percent) of the respondents belongs to the married group. It is clear from the Table that majority (76.6 percent) of the respondents are Hindus.

THE AWARENESS OF THE RESPONDENTS ON THE VARIOUS TOURIST PLACES IN MADURAI

Madurai is one of the ancient cities of South India with a glorious history. It is famous for its world acclaimed Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple. Owing to its rich cultural heritage and architectural splendor, the city is often referred to as the 'Athens of the East'. The holy city finds reference in the great Indian epics - Ramayana, Kautilya’s Arthasastra. Megasthanes, Marcopolo and Ibn Batuta visited Madurai and all of them mentioned about their visit in their travelogues. Due to its historical background, the temple city of Madurai attracts thousands of pilgrims and visitors every year from India and abroad. However, the researcher has recorded the opinion of the respondents regarding the aware on the various tourist places in Madurai.

The personal factors like gender, age, marital status, occupation, religion and educational qualification have more influence on the level of awareness about the various destinations. Out of all these personal factors, education is the most important factor because the education and the level of awareness are closely related. There is huge difference between educated and uneducated in the way of attitude, perception, behaviour, preferences and awareness towards any destination. The educated one could gather information about destination and available recreation facilities from various sources like magazines, journals, internet and so on. But uneducated has not aware much of level. In order to assess the level of awareness of the respondents, the ANOVA has been used.

The ANOVA is a method which separates the variation ascribable to one set of causes from the variation ascribable to another set of causes. Moreover, ANOVA is a method of splitting the total variation of a data into constituent parts which measures different sources of variations. The total variation is split up into two components such as variation within subgroup of samples and variation between the subgroup of the samples. These variations are tested for their significance by the F-test.

For computing F- value the following formula has been used Between column variance F = ------Within column variance

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225) Here the null hypothesis is that there is no significant difference between education and the level of awareness of the respondents.

**A- Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, B -Thirumalai Nayak Mahal, C - Gandhi Museum, D- Mariamman Teppakulam (Vandiyur), E- Koodal Azhagar Temple, F- Arulmigu Athi Chokkanathar Temple, G - Thirupparankundram, H- Kochadai Ayyanar Temple and Muthiah Temple (Village Deitie), I- Keelakuilkudi (Jain Tourist Spot), J- Alagarkoil, K- Yoga Narasingaperumal Temple, L-Arittapatti (Jain Tourist Spot),M- Kongar Puliangulam (Jain Tourist Spot),N- Thirumarainathaswamy temple(Tiruvathavur), O- Arulmigu kalamega perumal temple(Thirumohur).

TABLE: 2

EDUCATION AND THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS OF THE RESPONDENTS ON THE VARIOUS TOURIST PLACES IN MADURAI Significant Educational Sum of Mean Particulars df F Level Result Qualification Squares Square 0.05

5.888 3 Between Groups 1.963 A 1714.101 381 .436 .727 Not Significant Within Groups 4.499 Total 1719.990 384

Between Groups 4.350 3 1.450 B Within Groups 1410.647 381 .392 .759 Not Significant 3.702 Total 1414.997 384

Between Groups 4.962 3 1.654 C Within Groups 918.014 381 .687 .561 Not Significant Total 2.409 922.977 384

Between Groups 15.072 3 Within Groups 5.024 Not D 824.887 381 2.320 .075 2.165 Significant Total 839 384

Between Groups 14.823 3 4.941 E Within Groups 716.227 381 2.628 .040 Significant 1.880 Total 731.049 384

Between Groups 44.444 3 14.815 F Within Groups 832.247 381 6.782 .000 Significant 2.184 Total 876.691 384

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225)

Between Groups 39.104 3 13.035 G Within Groups 1696.636 381 2.927 .034 Significant 4.453 Total 1735.40 384

Between Groups 2.874 3 .958 H Within Groups 296.866 381 1.230 .299 Not Significant .779 Total 299.740 384

Between Groups 25.511 3 8.504 I Within Groups 600.448 381 5.396 .001 Significant 1.576 Total 625.958 384

J Between Groups 2.222 3 .741 Within Groups 1629.555 381 .173 .915 Not Significant 4.277 Total 1631.777 384

Between Groups 2.012 3 .671 K Within Groups 1051.323 381 .243 .866 Not Significant 2.759 Total 053.335 384

Between Groups 23.569 3 7.856 L Within Groups 396.857 381 7.543 .000 Significant 1.042 Total 420.426 384

Between Groups 30.007 3 10.002 M Within Groups 739.983 381 5.150 .002 Significant 1.942 Total 769.990 384

Between Groups 5.029 3 1.676 N Within Groups 969.968 381 .659 .578 Not Significant 2.546 Total 974.997 384

Between Groups 5.029 3 1.676 O Within Groups 969.968 381 .659 .578 Not Significant 2.546 Total 974.997 384

Source: Primary Data Table 2 elucidates the education of the respondents and the level of awareness about the various places in Madurai. Out of 15 places, the null hypothesis is rejected for the places such as Koodal Azhagar Temple, Arulmigu Athi Chokkanathar Temple, Thirupparankundram, Arittapatti (Jain Tourist Spot),Kongar Puliangulam (Jain Tourist Spot), Since P - value is less than the significant value of 0.05 at 5 per cent significant level. For the remaining nine places, the null hypothesis is accepted. Hence it can be concluded that the education level of the respondents influence the level of awareness on the various places in Madurai.

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225) AWARENESS ON THE VARIOUS EXCURSION CENTRES AROUND MADURAI - FRIEDMAN TEST

The researcher has collected the opinion of the respondents regarding the awareness of the excursion centres around Madurai. There are ten important attractions located around Madurai such as Kodaikkanal, Vaigai Dam, Suruli Waterfalls, Megamalai, Kumbakkari falls, Periyar Wild life Sancutary, , Palani, Sathuragiri Sundaramahalingam Temple and Sirumalai Hills. The respondents gave their opinion in different manners, in which they aware about the places They recorded their opinion by means of rank, 1 being highly aware and 10 being less aware about excursion place. In order to assess the respondents’ priority on these variables, the researcher has applied the Friedman test.

This is a non- parametric test, it is used to find out the mean rank of each variables. Based on the mean rank it is identified how the priority is given by the respondents about the excursion centres. Here, the null hypothesis is that there is no significant difference among the ranks provided by the respondents.

TABLE: 3 OPINION ABOUT VARIOUS EXCURSION CENTRES AROUND MADURAI Significant Std. Mean Chi- Level at Particulars Mean df Deviation Rank Square 0.05 (N=385) Kodaikkanal 1.20 1.136 2.37 Vaigai Dam 3.65 2.212 4.82 Suruli Waterfalls 4.79 2.903 5.96 Megamalai 5.49 3.369 6.66 Kumbakkarai Falls 6.68 3.720 7.85 Periyar Wild Life Sanctuary 3.37 2.435 4.54 1608.781 9 0.000 Srivilliputhur 3.60 2.952 4.77 Palani 2.61 2.538 3.78 Sathuragiri(Peraiyur) 4.69 3.135 5.86 Sirumalai Hills 7.20 3.872 8.37

Source: Primary Data Table 3 shows that the P value is less than 0.05; hence the null hypothesis is rejected at five per cent significant level. Therefore, it is concluded that there is significant difference between the mean ranks assigned by the respondents towards various excursion centres around Madurai. Based on the mean rank, it is found that respondents have known Kodaikannal followed by Palani and

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225) Periyar Wild Life Sanctuary (Thekkady) being in third position. Likewise each centres stands in a position based on the mean rank

AWARENESS OF THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY TTDC The Tamilnadu State Government operates various Tourism Information Centers with the help of the TTDC at all important tourist places. TTDC was formed with the objective of promoting tourism in Tamilnadu by providing infrastructure facilities of transport and accommodation. To fulfill this objective, TTDC has expanded its activities into three main areas, namely, Hotels, Transport and Fairs. TTDC is at present having 54 hotels across Tamil Nadu. Out of the 54 hotels only 23 hotels are currently in operation. All hotels have been upgraded to ensure comfortable stay for the tourists. The Transport division is having a fleet of seventy coaches operating tours ranging from half-day to fourteen days covering the southern states. Table 4 lists the extent to which the respondents aware about the services provided by TTDC Apart from hotel services, TTDC has been operating variety of tour packages, youth hostels, restaurants, boat houses and telescope houses for the tourists. In order to analyze the respondents level of awareness on the services provided by TTDC, the researcher has developed three point scales (such as yes, no and no opinion). The responses of the respondents are differed from one to another one. In this scenario, to find out the significance of the respondents, the sign test has been used. Sign test is one of the Non-Parametric methods in statistics. It can be used with nominal or ordinal data. It requires less restrictive assumptions concerning the level of data measurement. Moreover, for recording the number of responses of the respondents about the awareness a ‘+’ sign is recorded if the respondents number of responses are ‘yes’ for each statement framed for the study or a ‘-‘is recorded, if the respondents number of responses are ‘no’ for the statement. Using this procedure the number of respondents of all sample respondents are recorded in terms of ‘+’ or ‘-‘signs. The numbers of respondents who have ‘no opinion’ are ignored while applying the Sign Test.

The objective of the study is to determine whether the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ number of opinion of the respondents for variables are equal. This test can be applied for small cases (n< 20) and for large sample cases (n > 20). Here, ‘n’ refers to number of respondents who responded to each impact variable as ‘yes’ and ‘no.’

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225)

Hence, the following formula has been used to test the level of significance. Number of ‘+’ sign - µ Z = ------σ µ = 0.50 n

σ = 0.25n TABLE: 4

RESPONDENTS AWARENESS ON THE SERVICES OF TTDC – SIGN TEST No of No of Sl No Variables N Z Result + Sign - Sign 1 Package tour 133 168 301 0.116 Significant 2 Accommodation services 104 186 290 0.282 Significant 3 Online booking / Mobile booking 222 136 358 0.240 Significant 4 Bread and breakfast stay 48 252 300 -0.68 Significant 5 Concession for senior citizens 223 112 335 0.331 Significant 6 Tourist counters services (Kiosk) 54 246 300 -0.637 Significant 7 Sightseeing tours 129 215 344 -0.25 Significant Source: Primary Data

No of ‘+’ signs = Number of respondents who said ‘Yes’ means they were aware about the service. No of ‘-‘sign = Number of respondents who said’ No’ means they were unaware about the services. N = Number of responses of the respondents on ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Here the null hypothesis is that there is no significant difference between the responses of the respondents on the each variable. It is summarized from the Table that the Z value is within the acceptable region of null hypothesis (Z = -1.96 to Z = + 1.96) for all the variables. This indicates that there is significant difference in the responses of the respondents. Hence, TTDC should create awareness and inform about their services among the tourists and take necessary steps to reach their services to the ultimate users.

CONCLUSION

Tourist awareness is the most important factor that creates multiplier effect in economic field and influencing the tourism development of the area. The economic impact of tourism on destinations determines to depend upon the tourism providers and facilitators marketing skill. The attitude of the tourists flow based upon on the promotional activities of the facilitators. Service providers play an important role to create awareness about the tourist places, tourism products

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IJRESS Volume 6, Issue 4 (April, 2016) (ISSN 2249-7382) International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences (IMPACT FACTOR – 6.225) and tourism related services in a destination. A satisfied tourist only continues the tour and plan to stay the destination; otherwise they leave the place. REFERENCES

1. International Tourism Results and Prospects for 2011, UNWTO, 2011, P.1. 2. Approach Paper to 12 th Five Year Plan, Planning Commission, 2011, P.11. 3. S.Rajamohan,S.Shyam Sundar, Managerial effectiveness of district rural development agency and its various schemes in Tamilnadu, unpublished ICSSR Research Project , July, 2015, P.140. 4. K.Alagesan, A Study on Marketing of Banking Services by the State Bank of India in Madurai Region, Unpublished Ph.D Thesis Submitted to Madurai Kamaraj University, December, 2006, P.243. 5. E.V.Rigin, Supply Chain Management Practices in Health Products of HLL Life Care Limited in Trivandrum, Unpublished Ph.D Thesis Submitted to Alagappa University, February, 2013, P.175. 6. S.P.Gupta, M.P.Gupta, “Business Statistics”, Sultan Chand and Sons Publishers, New Delhi, 2014, P.543.

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