Comparison of characteristics of Asian and non-Asian tourists visiting eco-lodges in Sri Lanka

1Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 2 Department of Forestry and Environmental Science, Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka. 3 Department of Decision Sciences, Faculty of Management Studies and Commerce, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka. 4 Department of Economics, Faculty of Arts, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.


INTRODUCTION
The ecolodge industry has its roots in the late 1980s when negative environmental and social impacts of mass tourism activities became apparent, causing consumers around the world to demand so-called "green" tourism offerings (Sanders and Halpenny, 2001).Ecolodges are intended to be accommodation facilities that support environmental conservation, while providing economic benefits to host communities.Russell et al. (1995) defined ecolodge as a "nature-dependent tourist lodge that meets the philosophy and principles of ecotourism".It further offers natural resource-oriented activities and opportunities for learning about the environment (Lai and Shafer, 2005).Although there is no universally accepted definition for ecolodges, many contemporary tourism scholars (Weaver, 2001;Fennell, 2001;Mehta et al., 2002;Kawan et al., 2008;Raju, 2009;Erdem, 2013) have endorsed the core values and concepts described by Russell et al. (1995) in their definition of ecolodge, while promoting "ecolodge" as an industry label.Despite the heterogeneity in definitions, the demand for alternative accommodation options such as ecolodges is on the rise and ecolodges have evolved into one of the fast-growing sectors in the world's tourism accommodation business (Sumanapala et al., 2015).
Concurrent with the ecolodge industry, the literature on ecolodges is also growing.Several studies have profiled the characteristics of ecolodge patrons.Based on a visitor survey at two ecolodges in Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia, Weaver and Lawton (2002) described three distinct ecotourist segments on the hardsoft spectrum.The hard-core ecotourists were found to be comparatively young, highly educated and not belonging to high-income brackets compared to other ecotourists.Soft-ecotourists on the other hand, demanded more comfort and facilities, guided tours and exhibited less commitment to environmental conservation.These were typically highly educated and high-income groups.Weaver and Lawton (2002) further described a visitor segment termed 'Structured' ecotourists, resembling characteristics of both hard and soft ecotourists, with high levels of commitment to the environment, yet expecting high levels of services and facilities.Kwan et al. (2008;2010) investigated demographic characteristics, trip characteristics and travel motivations of ecolodge patrons in the Cayo District of Belize, and found that ecolodge patrons had some demographic characteristics similar to those of ecotourists described elsewhere (Chan and Baum, 2007;Sumanapala et al., 2015): middle-aged, highly educated and employed with high levels of income.Experiencing tropical forests and wilderness or undisturbed nature was the primary travel attraction motive of their visitation, while learning and exploring nature were top-ranked social motives.In the framework of push and pull motives, Chan and Baum (2007) explained that ecotourists are attracted by destination attributes such as natural attractions, wildlife, local lifestyle and where ecolodges are located ("pull" factors), and "pushed" by a social-psychological desire to escape from their routine of normal life by visiting ecolodges.Accordingly, ecotourists' motivational factors can be explained by employing "seeking" and "escaping" as motivational dimensions of leisure behaviour (Chan and Baum, 2007).Most published studies on ecolodge occupants have been conducted in North and Central America and Australia.Such studies in Asian regions are scarce in literature.In the Sri Lankan context, Sumanapala et al. (2015) surveyed 220 ecolodge occupants in 12 selected ecolodges and found that the majority of respondents were between the ages of 26 and 55 years, highly educated and having moderate to high incomes.In terms of trip characteristics, the majority of the respondents stayed in ecolodges for 1-3 days, and travelled with spouse or family.Natural and cultural features were among the main "pull" motives for selecting the destination.Internet, travel guide books and word-of-mouth were the major sources of information in selecting accommodation.
With rising demand, the ecotourism market is becoming more heterogeneous and previous studies on ecotourists have described different segments of ecotourists based on their demographic, behavioural and motivational characteristics (Kerstetter et al., 2004;Perera et al., 2012).As such, ecotourism operators, including the ecolodge business, are facing the task of meeting diverse expectations of ecotourism products.Given the diversity of ecotourists and those who seek accommodation in ecolodges, there is a strong need to further distinguish market segments in order to better understand different types of ecolodge occupants.This study attempted to further describe ecolodge patrons in Sri Lanka's ecolodges and differentiate market segments based on geographical origin.

Sampling frame
The sample frame for this study included tourists who stayed at least one night at sixteen selected ecolodges in Dambulla, Kandy, Rathnapura and Hambantotha areas in Sri Lanka.The ecolodges were selected based on the subjective criteria of (i) the business is advertising itself as an ecolodge, (ii) the ecolodge management's endeavour to work with local community (iii) appear to cause minimal disturbance to surrounding natural environment (or making attempts to enhance natural resources), and (iv) offer interpretive guidance to visitors to educate them about surrounding natural and cultural environment (Sumanapala et al., 2015).However, the selected ecolodges showed heterogeneity in terms of lodging style, dining, amenities, nature-related activities, and quality of the interpretive guidance provided.

Research tool
A structured three-page questionnaire was the primary research tool used in this study.The first section contained questions on travel motivation and consisted of 14 motivational items that urged visitors to experience the stay at an ecolodge in Sri Lanka.These items were selected based on previous literature (Eagles and Cascagnette, 1995;Wight, 1996).The second section contained 25 ecolodge attributes and the respondents were asked to rank their satisfaction with each attribute.The ecolodge attributes used in the questionnaire were adopted from past studies (Atkinson, 1988;Callan and Kyndt, 2001;Callan and Bowman, 2000;Chu and Choi, 2000;LeBlanc and Nguyen, 1996;Oppermann and Chon, 1997;Wilensky and Buttle, 1988;Eagles, 1992;Hawkins et al., 1995;Mehta et al., 2002;WTO, 2002;Kozak, 2001;Akama and Kieti, 2003;Nepal, 2007) and modified to fit the Sri Lankan context.Each attribute was ranked on a 7-point Likert scale.Last section consisted of questions on travel characteristics and demographics.
During the period January 2014 to January 2015, the questionnaire was self-administered at sixteen selected ecolodges.Following the procedures used in Kawan et al. (2008;2010), the front-desk staff of the ecolodges were briefed by the researcher in advance about the study requirements and visitors were provided with the questionnaire during the check-in.Visitors were further informed that participation in the survey was voluntary.Occupants of each registered room at the ecolodge received a questionnaire.When there were two or more guests in one room or cabin, only one questionnaire was given.The guests sharing the same unit, decided who should respond to the questionnaire.On completion of the questionnaire, the respondents were asked to put the completed questionnaire in a drop box at the front desk during check out, or return it to the front desk.Those who declined to participate in the survey were treated as non-respondents.Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20.0) was used for data analysis.

Limitation of the study
This study focuses on only sixteen ecolodges.Therefore, the sample size is relatively small.On the other hand, selection of attributes for each of the categories is based on actual knowledge and past research.There may be other attributes that are important to patrons in ecolodges.This study is a first attempt to explore this industry but its findings are likely to be useful for ecolodge managers and policy makers.

RESULTS
A total of 450 questionnaires were distributed among the sixteen ecolodges.At the end of the data collection period, a total of 362 were completed.After eliminating invalid questionnaires, this accounted for an adjusted response rate of 69.0%.

Age group
Both groups showed similar age groups during the ecolodge occupancy (Table 1).More than 60% of respondents were of the age group 26-55 and from Asian regions; 70% were from Non-Asian regions.Previous studies revealed that the age category is very similar (Roggenbuck and Lucas, 1987;Lucas, 1990;Lindberg, 1991;Cheng, 1993;Hung, 1995;Wight, 1996;Ceballos,1996;Meric and Hunt,1998;Fennell and Nowaczek, 2003;Tao et al., 2004;Nepal, 2007).This finding shows that the participation of over 55 groups of Non-Asians and Asians is comparable.

Party composition
Predominant are tourists that arrive with a friend or spouse (38.3% from Asia, 39% from non-Asia, respectively) (Table 3).The least frequent category for both the Asian and non-Asian group was in organised groups.

Travel characteristics
The following section reports the travel characteristics and motivations of ecolodge patrons.There are three variables: (1) length of stay, (2) ecolodge motivation and (3) important ecolodge attributes.Both groups show similar length of stay patterns (Table 4).Non-Asian patrons were more likely to stay more than eleven days compared to Asian.It may be a characteristic of non-Asians to enjoy relaxing or enjoy the ecolodge environment and service, without rush.

Travel motivation attributes
The significance of 14 motivators were used and ranked.The following items are ranked according to the Likert scale from 1 (not at all important) to 7 (very important).The two groups ranked their top four attraction motives as follows: The Asian top four were: (1) Photography of landscape and wildlife; (2) Good opportunity for adventure; (3) National parks/wildness area; (4) The quality of accommodation.The non-Asian top four were: (1) Friendliness, (2) National parks/wildness area; (3) Different local food and (4) Learning local customs (Table 5).These were ranked in a range of 5.79-6.01.
Difference of local food is more important to non-Asian visitors.The Asian group favored photography of landscape and wildlife.For Asian visitors, being physically active is a stronger motivation than non-Asian visitors.

Ecolodge choice attributes
Based on ecolodge choice (Table 6), friendliness of staff (6.17) was rated highest for non-Asian patrons while, staff providing efficient services (5.88) was the top attribute for Asian patrons.Many attributes were more important to the non-Asian patrons than to the Asian patrons including: local food produced with local ingredients, ecolodge design appropriate to local setting, availability of library and material, availability of natural trail facilities, availability of trees and wildflowers around lodge, design sensitive to local environment with minimal negative impact, friendliness of staff, guided wildlife tours and quality of the environment or landscape.

DISCUSSION
In the Sri Lankan context this is the first study that refers to national and international ecotourists travelling in Sri Lanka.Previously many researches were done in North America and Australia.
Numerous studies have investigated the demographic characteristics of patrons.Many of these studies described an ecotourist as older than the average tourist, aged between 36 and 55 (Ballantine, 1991;Eagles and Cascagnette, 1995;Wight, 1996;Kawan et al., 2010).The present study indicates relatively younger patrons (30%), between 26 to 35 years of age.Previous patrons profiling studies in Asian countries such as Thailand (Kerstetter et al., 2004) and Sri Lanka (Perera et al., 2012) found that the ecotourism market segment in these two countries is similarly characterised by young travellers.
In this study, the education level of patrons was high, most of them having obtained at least a first degree, similar to other empirical studies.The greater number of respondents were aged between 16 and 45 years.Most of the Asian ecotourists are likely to travel in small groups but non-Asians tend to travel with another adult (two people).Asians' travel motivation for Sri Lanka was photography of landscape and wildlife, nature-based tourism with the experience of adventure and for non-Asians motivation to travel to Sri Lanka was friendliness of the people of the country, followed by visiting natural areas, different local food and learning local customs.These results indicate that non-Asians conformed more to ecotourism, simila to Strasdas (2001).
The method of selection of a sample population for this research has many advantages: selecting ecolodge visitors as ecotourist is non bias than selecting visitors' natural areas, because as a mass, tourists visit the natural areas as part of their trip.Kawan et al. (2008;2010) and Sumanapala et al. (2015) in their samples, similarly consider ecolodges patrons.This type of research is well suited to develop products and services to support decision making about ecotourism policy.Ecotourism services and product development that cater specifically for the Sri Lankan market will assist in keeping Sri Lankan ecotourism competitive in the world market.One conclusion may be to boost library facilities and ecolodge accessibility.For non-Asian ecotourists, improvements must reassure their personal security and safety measures for protection from external factors such as theft by locals and harm by wild animals.

CONCLUSION
The purpose of this study was to distinguish Asian and Non-Asian ecotourist market segments visiting ecolodges in Sri Lanka.This study contributes to the development of ecolodge industry in the country.The study uncovered the need to ameliorate weaknesses that deter ecolodge patrons and ways to maintain and increase high performance motives to increase visitors' satisfaction.Further, the study identifies attributes that show high satisfaction and less satisfaction among the ecolodge patrons.
Ecolodge owners and managers should consider ecolodge setting, activities and location as the main attributes that contribute to visitor satisfaction.Exposure to unique attributes will strengthen motivation and render price levels less of a consideration.

Table 2 :
Education levels

Table 3 :
Party composition

Table 1 :
Age group

Table 4 :
Length of stay at the ecolodge