English Language and Tourist Satisfaction

face linguistic communication and Tourist blessednessThe holiday build uprry manufacture in the last dickens decades developed operatively in Malaysia. Malaysia has trustworthy 24.6 trillion disco biscuiting cars from all over the world in the year 2010, (Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, Tourism Minister of Malaysia) and in a report added by WTO, Kuala Lumpur( the capital city of Malaysia), was among the top 10 Most vi investd cities by derive of international visitors in 2010.All countries atomic enactment 18 looking for ways to take bulge much tourists. Beca routine of this, tourist bliss has been a priority subject of seek in recent years. Understanding what drives gladness for a tourist is mavin of the more(prenominal) or less relevant aras of look for (Prebensen, 2006), as satisfied tourists tend to cast across their positive sustains to opposites and to resound their visit (Aln, Rodrguez Fraiz, 2007)Although thither are m all definitions of expia tion, Reichel (1978) defines tourist satisfaction as the result of comparison between a tourists experience at the destination visited and the expectation about the destination. tally to Feng (2007) ), satisfaction is maven of the nearly relevant variables when analyzing tourist behaviour, as it regularises the choice of destination, the consumption of convergences and serve, and the stopping point to return.M whatsoever factors are involved in making of a estate a tourist preferred destination. Both the government and the private sectors intrinsic work hand in hand. The people in the front preeminence must be capable of making the visitors feel that they have chosen the right vacation destination. Thus the emphasis on actors line progression is understandable. Language non only is a means for establishing a dialogue save in addition is a tool for fostering relationships.There are at least 1400 million people who live in countries that side has an decreed status , so it is not surprising that one out of vanadium portion of the race of the world speak incline at the aim of competence and the rest are still in demand of encyclopaedism this speech communication ( David Graddol, 1997) check to Malaysias Government official website, 54366 visitors arrived from Europe from January to September 2011, 14725 visitors from northern nigh America and 21445 visitors from Oceania (Australia- New Zealand). Most of these travellers come tongue is side and on that point are Asian and Afri mess tourists, who recognize slope as the Language of the world.If these tourists can communicate in their m other(a) dustup or any other vocabulary which has more usage, they can feel at hearth in those destination countries. It gives them confidence and makes them feel safe, resulting in increased levels of satisfaction.1.1 literary argument of the problemAs it mentioned, an definitive component in the tourism assiduity is tourists satisfaction. The leve l of tourists satisfaction plays an eminent role in promoting the image of the domain as a top tourism spot.Many researches reveals that the level of tourist satisfaction with a voxicular trip is the result of different factors (Peter Olson, 1996) which are generally assessed as a comparison between the tourists perception of the products and services he receives and the expectations generated out front and during his trip (Barsky Labagh, 1992).The Hotel Industry comprises a major part of the Tourism intentness.The hospitality exertion has a main tendency which is to depict necessarry or desired products and services to travelers.Tourists do not just numerate for the facilities and attractions. They want to be treated right and well. Thats why a unsloped command of English language is always regarded as an as devise for personnels working in the tourism intentness specially in the hotel industry.The importance of English is undeniable since for so many a(prenominal) ye ars English is considered as the most important medium of communication of the world generally.It is the language of power, prestige and achievement . This language as a globular language can founder doors throughout the world ( Philipsson, 1996)Although Malaysia has two official languages, English and Malay, our focus is on English because most visitors do not speak Bahasa Melayu, the national language.Most Malayan residents, who speak English, speak it as a second language but many tourism fundamental interactions march on in English.Numerous studies have been carried out to measure the degree of tourist satisfaction, but real few cover have focused on analysing the possible relationships that this variable has with application of English language by tourism round.Consequently, the main aim of this paper is to question if English language proficiency of the mental facultys working in the hotel industry has any concern on the level of tourists satisfaction with hotels in Malaysia or not.1.2 query questionTo what extend English language proficiency of the hotel modules can sustain the level of the tourists satisfaction in Malaysia.1.3 Objective of the studyTo examine whether the English language proficiency of the staffs working in the hotel industry can mixture the level of tourists satisfaction in Malaysia.Chapter 2 Literature Review2.1 sizeableness of TourismTourism is a driving force for economic ripening in Malaysia. Tourism creates employment opportunities for Malaysian residents and brings money into the economy. Tourism industry in Malaysia creates high effects in the economy of this country as well as development unity and national integration (Gom , 1991)If tourism industry harvesting in Malaysia continues, it could push forward the countrys engine of growth which is manufacturing sector. International tourism can bring high amount of revenue. This realise revenue has a very important role in developing Malaysias economy (Sadi a nd Batels 1997)Tourism Industry has helped Malaysia in developing its fictitious character of behavior and its socio-economic status. An evidence of that is the upward trend of tourism and hotel industry in Malaysia until 1997 (Poon showtime 2005) . Today this industry is experiencing a year to year growth in unlike exchange earnings.In the 70 decade government put lots of efforts to develop several objectives much(prenominal) as growing the earning from foreign exchange , change magnitude the return of employments and the level of their income, developing regional areas and increasing revenue made by the government (Khalifah and Tahir 1997).From the tourism receipts (tourism revenue) contribution, there exists a steady growth. For example, tourism receipts increased from RM17.40 jillion in 2000 to RM24.20 trillion a year later and accordingly increased nevertheless to RM25.80 billion (2002), RM29.7 billion (2004) and RM32.00 billion in 2005. In 2006 Malaysia received RM 36.3 billion (USD10.4 billion) in tourism receipts. (The Financial Express 2007).A append of 24.6 million tourists arrived in Malaysia and spent RM56.5 billion in 2010 compared with 23.6 million tourists spent RM53.4 billion in 2009. Tourism is the 2nd largest industry in the country after manufacturing and has been growing since 2000 with international arrivals increasing by 9% per year. (New Straits propagation 2011)The tourism industry in Malaysia is an important foreign exchange earner, alter to economic growth, attracting investments and providing employment. The focus of the government is to enhance the countrys typeset as a leading foreign tourist destination, epoch promoting domestic tourism. (The Malaysia Governments Official gate 2012).2.1.1 Importance of HotelsThe hotel industry in Malaysia is expanding rapidly due to the increase of foreign tourist. Tourism statistics of Malaysia has recorded MYR49.6 billion (about USD14.2 billion) earning from tourists in 2008, wi th 31.2% of the total tourist expenditures glide slope from travel accommodations (Euromonitor International, 2009).Without a dubt one of the main components that bequeath put tourists in a positive mood and also affect their satisfaction is Accommodation.(Ekiz, 2009) .Here, hospitality establishments in general and luxury hotels, is documented well to be very important.(Heung and Lam, 2003). Malaysian hotels accommodated 68,886,154 guests in 2008 and had an average occupancy rate of 66%. The come in of rooms supplied during 2008 increased by 3.4% (total of 165,739 rooms), while the take of hotels increased by 0.6% (total hotels 2,373) as compared to 2007 selective in changeation.( Malaysia Statistics)According to Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board (2010) a total of 61,363,396 hotel guests were hosted in 2009, corresponding 60.9% occupancy rate. Hotels and restaurants alone provided employment for 1.7 million people, alike to 16% of the total employment in 2009 (Economic Planning Unit, 2010).Form the selective information mentioned above it is clear that the average occupancy rate in Malaysia hotel industry is significant even in the years 2008 and 2009 that the world was experiencing a turning point period. As a result of the economy recovering , it is expected that this industry leave face a strong growth in the depend of tourists and occupancy rates .It should be mentioned that ,the growth of this industry has a significant impact on other related activities ,too. Food and beverage, entertainment and also shopping in Malaysia are some of those other activities.(Poon and Low 2005)2.2 Tourists SatisfactionOliver (1981) claims that tourist satisfaction can be seen as a tourists post-purchase evaluation of the destination. In many studies, satisfaction is distinguished as an antecedent of faithfulness ( Kozak, 2001 Jang Feng,2006). Although Oppermann (2000) states that studies on tourist satisfaction and destination liegety have not been thoroughly in vestigated, Chi and Qu (2008, p. 624) claim that customer satisfaction has always been considered an essential credit line goal because it was assumed that satisfied customer would buy more. Although measuring stick tourist satisfaction is not simple, several studies have been conducted to examine the influence of customer satisfaction on loyalty (Gummesson, 1993 Anderson and Fornell, 1994 Um et al., 2006 Hui et al., 2007). Gotlieb et al. (1994) assert that positive satisfaction has positive influence on tourists repurchase intention. Similarly, Baker Crompton (2000) Petrick et al. (2001), and Jang Feng (2006) have highlighted that satisfaction is the primary antecedent of revisit intention.Importantly, there is an agreement among several scholars that satisfaction provide a ground for revisit and positive word of mouth recommendations which are the indicators of loyalty (e.g. Kozak Rimmington, 2000 Yoon Uysal 2005 Chi and Qu, 2008). In another view, Um et al. (2006, p. 1141) state that revisit intention has been regarded as an extension of satisfaction rather than an initiator of revisit decision making process. Kozak (2001) pointed that level of satisfaction as one of the most dominant variables in explaining revisit intention. Accordingly, in tourism destinations researches, it has been widely underlined that tourist satisfaction, loyalty and revisit intention have strong relationship (eg. Yoon Usal, 2005 Awadzi Panda, 2007), while a few studies disapproved the positive relationship between tourist satisfaction and revisit intention ( e.g. Um et al., 2006).2.2.1 Other Variables Affecting Tourists Satisfaction with HotelsTourists satisfaction with a hotel is a result of many aspects, such as their perception of product elements experienced as well as their expectations before- and during their stay. People go on holiday to satisfy one or several of their of necessity, whatever these needs are. To achieve satisfaction people try to behave in a ratio nal way. (Nina K. Prebensen) Some variables which affect tourists satisfaction are 2.2.1.1 LocationWhen traveling, youll chitchat that the locations of your hotels exit play a big role in your overall enjoyment of the trip. Thats because a well-located hotel testament significantly cut down on the amount of time you waste in traffic or trying to navigate an unfamiliar place. For business travelers, centrally-located hotels will increase productivity by allowing them more time to work and meet with colleagues. Location is an important causality for selecting a hotel, especially for economy and mid-scale guests. ( Jonathan Barsky Lenny Nash 2003 )2.2.1.2 FacilitiesComfortable hotels and accommodation facilities play a very important role in popularizing any tourist destination. If a person, who is quite far away from home, gets to enjoy the same facilities and comforts as he enjoys at his home, accordingly he is bound to become prone to the place. On the other hand if the t ourist ends up at a place where the hotels and accommodation facilities are not satisfactory, it is quite likely that he might never return to that place. (Suman Ahliya 2008)2.2.1.3 PriceIn his article, Jerry Garner mentions that more a good deal than not, price is the major factor influencing satisfaction with a hotel. The more money saved on the cost of the hotel, the more you have for other things, such as souvenirs, dining out and even extending your stay.2.2.1.4 BrandIn hospitality industry, it takes time to get the trust of your organize market unless your business is under the umbrella of a well-established surname. As you gain trust from your target market, brand loyalty and customers satisfaction will follow. This will include loyal customers and sales promotion for your hotel. However, a good reputation is defeated if quality is not included in the purchase. (Joyce Ira 2010)2.2.1.5 Cleanliness and HygieneKnutson (1988) argued that tourists considered cleanliness as im portant in selecting a hotel for the first time and revisits. Lockyer (2002, 2005) noted that cleanliness was highly rated by hotel guests as the main hotel selection determinant. Callan (1998) stressed that cleanliness of hotel room has been identified as the most important factor. Dolnicar (2002) promote argued that hygiene and cleanliness was one very decisive factor influencing tourists satisfaction.2.2.1.6 lymph node ExperienceThe experiences of guests during their hotel stay directly impact repeat visits and recommendations (personal and online reviews, e.g., TripAdvisor). A positive/negative guest experience can impact a hotels reputation and may trigger recommendations or reviews about that experience. Guest experience factors which include past experience, reputation, recommendations, and online reviews, are critical to selecting a hotel by the majority of hotel guests. ( Jonathan Barsky Lenny Nash 2003 )2.2.1.7 Safety and SecurityKnutson (1988) mentioned that void tra vellers were mainly concerned with a hotels safety and security. This concern might stem from the idea that leisure trips often involve families, and these travellers have a high sensitivity to what may occur around them when their families are involved. Marshall (1993) and Clow et al. (1994) revealed that security was cited as one of the most important criteria in selecting a hotel. Tourists want to be safe and specify in their accommodation, and are willing to pay for this. The safety and security establishment may differentiate one property from its competition, hence becoming a competitive strategy that helps a hotel to gain tourists confidence and trust. Ananth et al. (1992) found that leisure travelers were likely to express concern with regard to a hotels reputation and name familiarity.2.3 English Language2.3.1 What is a Global Language?When a language develops in such a way that it can be prize in every country we can say that it has achieved a global status. when a larg e number of people speak a language and that language is their mother tongue while that language has interpreted up by other countries across the glob we can say that language has gain a global status. In the case of English, united States of America, Britain, southbound Africa, Australia, Ireland , New Zealand, Canada, several Caribbean countries and etc. this language has been spoken as their mother tongue and in some countries like Ghana, Malaysia, Nigeria , India , Singapore , Vanuatu and etc. English has a special status.( crystallizing, 1997)According to Crystal there exist 2 ways which we can help a language to be globalised Firstly, we can make it the official language of a country and use it as the only medium of communication in every domain such as courts, media, education , and politics.Secondly, while a language has no official status we have it as the prior language in the educational system and use it as the language of teaching.2.3.2 A language in customaryIn his book, English as a Global Language, Crystal says that the idea of a single, common language emerged in the 20th century, curiously during the 1950s .Around this time, many international agencies and organizations were being formed. With the numerous languages of the member countries, interpreters were a critical element in the progress of these organizations. Crystal states that half the reckon of international organizations can easily be consumed on translation and version expenses.He also believe that when we have so many languages to translate, we will loose some information with each subsequent translation. He then argues that a global language is very necessary in preserving and conveying important information.2.3.3 English as a global languageIn his book, English as a Global Language, Crystal states that By the head start of the nineteenth century, Britain had become the worlds leading industrial and trading country .This position allowed the British to spread English ar ound the globe. The power of English was further developed by the growth of the fall in States.During the twentieth century, this world armorial bearing was maintained and promoted almost single-handedly through the economic supremacy of the raw American superpower. As English-speaking nations acquired power, so to did their language.English is now the most widely taught foreign language in the world. English currently holds some form of special status in over 70 countries and is spoken fluently or competently by about one quarter of the worlds population ( Crystal ,1997)2.3.4 English language in MalaysiaNowadays people in any countries use English, the cause was the united Kingdom Empire and United State of America as a dominance in economic was another cause later on.This language became the international language because its exploiter had the most political and economic power of the world( Crystal ,1997)English then became more than just international , it changes to be the global language. International languages existed before speared as a result of settlement , inhabitation, migration and colonalization but some factors make English a different international language such as its prestige in the culture , science , technology and so many fields. This helped English to become globalized.(Leitner 1992)In Malaysia English language is assumed a second language. A language as a result of British colonisation. During the colonisation , the English language was used by the British who had a long presence in this adopted land . Since then English has existed in Malaysia for more than 150 years in Malaysia. After Malaysia independency in 1957 , Malay Language replaced the English language( Crystal , 2005)English language unneurotic with Putonghua have approximately 1.5 billions of speakers . So these two languages are the two most spoken languages round the world by the greatest number of people . Tourist from countries that English is the official language like United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand communicate through English. In Europe in 19 countries out of 29 countries, English language was the language which is the most common one( European commission 2006)Chapter 3 MethodologyIn this chapter our first goal is to collect and record everyday English interactions within the tourism industry. posting of interactions between tourism staff and tourists will be recorded in some hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 10 hotels will be observed. All interactions will be observed through naturalistic observation and each interaction involves at least one tourism employee and at least one customer. In all the steps the researcher will make use of the advices of at least 3 official tour guides in Malaysia.3.1 ParticipantsAccording to Gay ( 1987) Random sample distribution is the best singe way to run a representative sample, No technique, not even random sampling , guarantees a representative sample , but the prob business leader is higher for this affair than for any other.20 (males and females) hospitality staff at ten hotels is expiry to be observed. Within hotels, front desk staff, concierges, direction assistants, and food and beverage staff will be observed as the interaction between tourists and hotel staff is important for the researcher.40 tourists (male and female) who stayed at each hotel will be asked to terminated a questionnaire.A linguist will accompany the researcher in every observation makes.3 official tour guides from MTGC (Malaysia Tour pick out Association) will contribute the researcher for getting more information.3.2 Setting ten hotels (3 to 5 stars) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will be selected from the www.agoda.com travel and hotel guide website, this site is organized these hotels by rates, price and region of location. The researcher will subscribe those hotels which are suggested by the official tour guides.3.3 InstrumentationSuskie (1996)believes that reliability and hardines s are very important to bod a questionnaire. However it is troublesome to develop constructing a questionnaire which approaches a consistence level of response.According to Robson (1993) responses are reliable when they are obtained from the same sets of questions answered by the populationThe cogitation instruments are A paper questionnaire containing questions about the level of satisfaction of the tourist who stayed in the hotels will be administered to all tourists with the same sets of questions. A set of 6 open ended questions for the semi-structured interview, will be asked from the hotel staffs, by the researcher. A voice recorder device for the linguist, to help her analyze and rate the English Language proficiency of the hotel staffs is needed too.In addition to the surveys and interviews, as supplements to the information, the origin also tries to gather secondary data from tour guides. These include reports , comments, complaints and discussions by official tour guid es.3.4 DesignA intricate method design can be described as a kind of research in which a researcher combines quantitative and soft research techniques, methods, approaches, concepts, or language into a single study (Johnson 2004).A mixed method design combines the strength of some(prenominal) quantitative and qualitative research approaches.Connelly (2009, pp.31) believes that the goal of mixed methods research is to draw on the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of both types of research.This research involves both qualitative and quantitative data analyses approaches because the investigation resulted in the gathering of a variety of types of information. To be more specific, quantitative data obtained through surveys ( questionnaire) among tourists and qualitative data obtained through interviews.For the Research methodology which has been designed to collect data from a specific population or samples selected from that population we typically take in survey. Questionnaire s or interviews are commonly used for the instrumentation.(Robinson ,1993).To get data from individuals surveys are useful .sample surveys are important tools to collect and analyze data obtained from selected individuals .to conduct and apply basic social science, surveys are broadly accepted as a key tool for the research methodology. ( Rossi , 1983)Questionnaires has some advantages over interviews and other methods of data collecting, they are not expensive and they are much more easier to conduct and to be administered.( Leary 1995)3.5 ProcedureAt each hotel, the researcher together with a linguist will enter the establishment acting as friends and observed the same interactions for 45-90 minutes. Researcher tries to be inconspicuous by both posing as a visitors waiting for someone in the solicit lounge, or by having a food or beverages at the student residence caf or restaurant.After the interactions ended, the researcher will introduce himself to the front desk staff with a semi-structured interview he will ask questions about the number of languages spoken at the hotel and the kinds of customers that regularly stay at the hotel. This data will collect so that possible correlations between price range, target audience, and number of languages spoken at the hotel can be analyzed.Then the linguist will rate the staffs observed. Level of English ratings will be conducted by a speaking rubric which includes six aspects of effective speech vocabulary, pronunciation, grammatical accuracy, flow, and ability to engage in meaningful conversation. Level of Formality will be determined based on four criteria degree of honorifics (e.g., sir madam), use of fool and colloquial terms, jokes, and percent of talk related to business. Notes will be taken about the price range of the hotels and the position (e.g., sales associate, concierge, front desk employee) of the tourism staff involves in the interaction.At the final step, the 3 official tour guides (from Malays ia Tour Guide Association) will check the result and will comment on the findings.