Browsing by Author "Thennakoon, T.M.P.S.I."

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    Analyzing the Relationship of Factors Affecting on Tourists’ Buying Behaviour of Handicraft Products (With Special Reference to Galle District)
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2020) Darshani, K.L.R.; Thennakoon, T.M.P.S.I.; Damunupola, A.K.A.
    Handicraft products are one of the important products which can market in the tourism and hospitality industry. The handicraft industry can be benefited from gaining understanding about the tourists’ buying behaviour of handicraft products. The main purpose of this study was to analyse the factors that affecting on tourists’ buying behaviour of handicraft products. Marketing mix factors, situational factors, and personal factors were considered as the influential factors of the buying behaviour of handicraft products. This study was focused on the Galle district of Sri Lanka. This quantitative study was mainly based on primary data that were gathered using a questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. The target population for this study was the local and foreign tourists who visit handicraft shops in Galle District and from which a sample of 100 was selected (10 tourists from 10 selected shops) using convenience sampling method. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis were used to analyse the data collected. Results disclosed that marketing mix factors, situational factors, and personal factors had a positive relationship with tourists’ buying behaviour of handicraft products whereas the marketing mix factors showed the highest relationship and the situational factors the least. The study revealed that there is a need for introducing modern technology for creating a properly established market. Besides, it should re-establish the art and craft villages and giving incentives to encourage locals for their creations. Further, is influential vital to conduct training programs and workshops for traditional craftsman to uplift the quality of their products and to attract the market. Keywords: Tourist, Handicraft, Buying behaviour, Marketing mix, Situational factors, Personal factors
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    Identifying Potentials to Promote Kalawewa as a Tourist Destination
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2019) Herath, H.M.L.M.; Thennakoon, T.M.P.S.I.; Dilshan, N.W.T.
    Sri Lanka is a country rich with natural, cultural and historical attractions while some of the destinations are not much popular among tourists visiting Sri Lanka. Kalawewa is an area rich with different tourist attractions like Kalawewa reservoir, Aukana Buddha statue, Kalawewa national park, Vijithapura and Reswehera ancient temples. According to previous literature it has defined that this area has numerous resources and it only utilized small fraction of total by the tourism industry. This study aimed at identifying potentials to promote Kalawewa area as a tourist destination and the objectives of the study are identifying the current tourism situation, identifying potentials and developing potentials to promote and increase the retention period of tourists. Data for the study were collected using semi structured questionnaires distributed among sample of 100 tourists who visited Kalawewa and 100 community people live in the area using convenience sampling method. The main analytical technique of the study was exploratory factor analysis. If Kalawewa area is promoted as a main destination for tourists, the main influential factor of the tourists is preferred activities and ancillary services and in community most influential factor is financial support and tourism education. This study recommended to develop infrastructure facilities, ancillary services, provide financial support and other related facilities, provide more knowledge and awareness about tourism industry with the support of public and private parties and build good private and public partnerships among the organizations and also by increasing the awareness using different kind of marketing materials and the use of advanced technology will increase the number of tourists’ arrivals and retention period of tourists. Finally this study has identified the potential factors to promote Kalawewa area as a tourist destination.
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    Impact of the Working Environment on the Job performance of Operational Level Employees in Hotel Industry
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2021) Dharmawansha, B.G.K.M.; Karunarathna, A.C.I.D.; Thennakoon, T.M.P.S.I.
    Job performance is a significant element in the hotel industry. The organization must be able to provide a safe & comfortable working environment, attract & retain & enhance the performance of existing employees. Therefore, this study aims to identify the impact of working environment factors on job performance. The foremost objective of this study was to identify the relationship between physical environment factors & psychological environment factors with motivation. Furniture, sound, spatial arrangement, temperature & color were identified as physical environment factors while supervisor support & quality of leadership were indicated as psychological environment factors. The study was based on the quantitative research approach & operational level employees in three, four & five-star graded hotels in Western Province, Sri Lanka were investigated using a sample of 200 employees. The convenience sampling method was used to select the representative sample. A self- administered close-ended questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the field. The data were processed and analysed using descriptive analysis & multiple linear regression analysis in SPSS and structural equation modelling in Smart PLS. The findings of the study provided evidence on the impact of the working environment on employees‟ job performance. Findings revealed that furniture, spatial arrangement, temperature, lighting & color as the physical environment factors have a positive effect on employee performance while sound factors hurt employees‟ job performance. Furthermore, supervisor support impacts employees' job performance more than the quality of leadership as psychological environment factors. The finding indicates that motivation as a mediator significantly impacts 40.6% of physical environment factors on the employees‟ job performance while 50% of psychological environment factors impact the job performance of the employees. It indicates that motivation has a more significant impact on the psychological working environment than the physical working environment through the employees' job performances. Based on the findings, the study recommends that hotel management & government or any other authorized parties should design the workplace in a comfortable & attractive way to support employees‟ satisfaction and well- being while enhancing job performances. Keywords: Job performance; Mediator; Motivation; Physical environment factors; Psychological environment factors
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    Perceived Potentials to Promote Bird Watching in Mannar District, Sri Lanka
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2019) Dolfina, S.K.; Wijesundara, W.G.S.R.; Thennakoon, T.M.P.S.I.
    The Gulf of Mannar has biodiversity-rich ecosystem to attract nature loving tourists to Sri Lanka. Bird watching is one of the favorite activities in the tour packages of nature loving tourists even though, bird-watching in Sri Lanka is an untapped niche tourism. Sri Lanka has a great potential for bird watching tourism. Mannar is one of the bird watching tourism markets. Recently, close attention has been taken by bird watching tourism as an environmental friendly way of generating income for the local Community. By identifying the empirical gap, this study focused to identify the tourists’ profile while observing the prevailing nature of bird watching and to identifying the potentials to promote bird watching in Mannar district. The data was collected through a questionnaire with a sample of 100 tourists visited Mannar district employing convenience sampling method and semi structured interviews were conducted with 20 government bodies, service providers and residence of bird watching area. The mixed method was employed to analyse the data. The findings of the study shows that, the most of the bird watchers who were male are educated and high income earners. The majority of them are around 40 - 49 age group, travelling with the purpose of bird watching than the other purposes. Further, Mannar having a rich potentiality for promoting bird watching because of the availability of variety of birds and bird watching areas, knowledgeable guides, accessibility and infrastructure, good weather condition and bird watching information source etc. Moreover, government and other responsible bodies should focus on bird watching in tourism planning and development in the destinations.