GREEN PRACTICES AMONG HOMESTAY OPERATORS IN SELANGOR, MALAYSIA

Abstract

Homestays are a form of community-based tourism that offers local experiences of village lifestyle to travellers. In addition, it is a human-oriented services industry. An increase in tourist arrivals (both domestic and international visitors) to Malaysia has seen a yearly increase in the number of accommodations available, especially environmentally friendly ones. However, being environmentally friendly is a challenge for the tourism industry, especially with regard to the accommodation sector. Previous studies have also found several factors that complicate green practices among homestay operators. Among them are lack of green information and knowledge, lack of professional advice, the uncertainty of outcomes, lack of verifiers, lack of resources such as workforce and equipment, lack of support from owners and management, high maintenance cost, managerial attitudes, employee support, customer attitudes, and quality of service. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of environmental knowledge towards green practices among homestay operators in Selangor, Malaysia. In this study, 147 homestay operators were selected using simple random sampling among 16 homestays in Selangor, Malaysia, registered with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia. The analysis of this study used SPSS software for descriptive and inferential tests such as T-Test and ANOVA Test and AMOS software to build Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The T-Test and ANOVA Test show that there are not many differences in the green practices implemented among homestay operators based on age, gender, and education level. In addition, the findings also indicate that environmental knowledge has a positive and significant relationship with green practices among homestay operators. This result means that the green practices are not different based on the demographic factor as long as they have sufficient environmental knowledge. This research will significantly impact hospitality management through environmental knowledge and help academicians identify new indicators that contribute to green practices in homestays in Malaysia.