Browsing by Author "Marasinghe, M.M.G.K."

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    Impact of Information Technology on Service Standards in MICE Tourism in Sri Lanka
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2020) Dilshan, W.M.M.P.S.; Ranasinghe, J.P.R.C.; Nawarathna, A.M.D.B.; Marasinghe, M.M.G.K.
    The Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions (MICE) industry is an important and growing segment of the tourism industry with great potential. Further, with its exponential growth, many international MICE organizations are using information technology to maintain service standards within the industry. Hence, the objectives of the study were (i) to identify the present situation of using information technology, (ii)to identify the current issues and barriers associated with information technology, (iii) to identify benefits to the company by using information technology, (iv) to examine the factors affecting in improving information technology on service standards in MICE tourism in Sri Lanka. Primary data were collected through structured interviews, using a purposive sampling technique, from 12 MICE managers out of 28 event management organizations in Sri Lanka. All these organizations had membership of Sri Lanka Association of Professional Conference, Exhibition and Event Organizers. Qualitative data analytical method was employed and the collected data were transcribed and analysed by using thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed that present situation of using information technology was not adequate and costly, difficult to convince, tech-savvy employees, and lack of government support as current issues and barriers associated with information technology on service standards in MICE tourism in Sri Lanka. Further, technologized MICE events could be used by organizers as a tool for gaining competitive advantages, cost reduction, time-saving, increase efficiency, and maintaining a good relationship with clients of the company which is affected by service standards in the MICE tourism industry. Moreover, this study identified price factor, government support, tech-savvy personals, and accurate database management system as factors affecting to improve information technology on service standards in MICE tourism in Sri Lanka. Keywords: MICE tourism, Information technology, Service standards
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    The Study on Impact of Negative Online Reviews on Hotel Image in All Inclusive Hotels with Special Reference to Riu Hotel Ahungalla
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2019) Marasinghe, M.M.G.K.; Liyanage, V.S.
    The hospitality sector has become the major sub sector of the tourism industry which is growing rapidly at present in the global context. At present, due to the digital transformation online customer reviews have become the most important information source in guests’ decision-making in Hospitality industry. This study investigated the impact of negative online reviews on hotel image with special reference to Riu hotel in Ahungalla. In this research, the researcher followed qualitative research design and used secondary data through social media such as Trip advisor, Booking.com and Facebook page to collect data. Qualitative data have analysed through content analysis and thematic analysis using Microsoft Excel software. By using thematic analysis method, main themes were identified such as service, staff, price, loss reputation, destruction of trustworthiness, bad image of hotel’s service quality, decrease the brand value etc. Poor service, untrained employees, loss of trust, higher price were mainly found reasons for negative online reviews. According to the analysis, the negative online reviews were having a major impact on the hotel image negatively. Hence, the study recommend that hotel management should make efforts to improve the vibe of the property by improving the inner decorations, promoting positive service and provide unique service to give value to the price, and having professional & friendly employees.
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    The Study on Impact of Service Quality on Guest Loyalty in Hotel Industry: (with special reference to five star hotels in Kandy district)
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2018) Marasinghe, M.M.G.K.; Kaninarathne, A.C.I.D.; Sutha, J.
    Sri Lankan tourism industry is rapidly growing at present. Therefore tourism was able to upgrade its rank to the third among the important sources of Foreign Exchange Earner of the national economy. Within that, the hotel sector mainly contribute to the GDP of the country. In this context, this study investigated the impact of service quality on guests' loyalty in hotel industry with special reference to five star hotels in Kandy District. The researcher selected all the three five star hotels in Kandy District and collected data from 120 guests who visited those three five star hotels using convenience sampling method and questionnaire is used as the data collecting technique. The SERVQUAL model has been used to measure the service quality as it proved as a best yardstick to measure it. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis were used to analyse the data with the support of SPSS 21.0. Existing level of service quality and guests' loyalty is in agreed level according to the descriptive statistics. According to the correlation analysis, there is a positive relationship between all service quality dimensions and guests' loyalty in hotel industry. In addition to that multiple linear regression analysis confirmed the positive impact of service quality towards guests' loyalty. Since the study found that service quality is a key driver of guests' loyalty in hotel industry, study provides recommendations and suggestions for practical implementation in hotel management based on research findings. It suggests that empathy, tangibility and reliability of a service are key consideration as these factors strongly influence on guests' loyalty according to the analytical results. Hoteliers should improve the service based on these factors and its indicators to enhance their loyal customer base since it affect to the profitability of the hotel. The quality service is mainly affect to the guests’ loyalty.
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    Study on Impact of Service Quality on Guest Loyalty in Hotel Industry (With Special Reference to Five Star Hotels in Kandy District)
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2017) Marasinghe, M.M.G.K.
    Sri Lankan tourism industry is rapidly growing at present. Therefore tourism was able to upgrade its rank to the third level as one of the largest source of Foreign Exchange Earner of the national economy. Based on this circumstance, mainly hotel sector contribute to GDP of the country significantly. This study investigated the impact of service quality on guests' loyalty in hotel industry with special reference to five star hotels in Kandy District. The researcher selected all the three five star hotels in Kandy district and collected data from 120 guests who visited those three five star hotels according to the Convenience sampling method and questionnaire is used as the data collecting technique. The SERVQUAL model has been used to measure the service quality as it proved as a best yardstick to measure service quality. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used to analyse the data with the support of SPSS 21.0 version. Existing level of service quality and guests' loyalty is analysed in this research by using descriptive statistics. According to the Correlation analysis, there is a strong positive relationship between service quality dimensions and guests' loyalty in hotel industry. In addition to that multiple linear regression analysis has confirmed the positive impact of service quality towards guests' loyalty. Since the study found that the service quality is a key driver of guests' loyalty in hotel industry, this study provide recommendations and suggestions for practical implementation for hotel management based on the research findings. It suggest that empathy, tangibility and reliability of a service is key consideration as these factors strongly influence on guests' loyalty. In addition to that all the five service quality dimensions should be consider due to the positive impact of them to guests' loyalty in hotel industry.
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    Study on Impact of Service Quality on Guest Loyalty in Hotel Industry (With Special Reference to Five Star Hotels in Kandy District)
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2017) Marasinghe, M.M.G.K.
    During the last decade tourism has become a booming industry in Sri Lanka. As a result, higher educational institutes such as universities tend to focus their attention towards the development of the tourism industry by offering various tourism related courses for the students. These courses have been designed to create graduates who will reinforced tourism industry in proper manner by considering contemporary requirements and the output of these courses will be directly or indirectly involved with the tourism industry. In order to obtain better results through this education system relevant to tourism sector, it is important to evaluate whether the students can implement their new business ideas in proper manner. Hence a study was carried out to identify the barriers to start up a business for the graduates who has been already followed up tourism related courses. Among the population of students who have already followed up tourism related degree programmes in Sri Lanka, 120 graduates in three universities, Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka and Rajarata University of Sri Lanka were selected as the sample. Data were collected using the self-administrated questionnaires. The collected data was analyzed using principle component factor analysis method. Results revealed that, though all the graduates are having or had business ideas, most of them tend to find jobs in the industry without starting their own businesses and three major factors have been identified as the barrier to graduates to start a business. They are aversion to risk, socio cultural influence and negative perception. Thus, based on the above factors it can be recommended that, obtaining the attention of financial institutions which reinforce the upliftment of tourism industry graduates through the universities, conducting the programs to reinforce students minds with a good perception towards entrepreneurship to mitigate aversion to risk, discouraged the negative perceptions and devise strategies, practices to encourage such people.