Abstract:
The main objective of this studywas to investigate the construct validity of a
measurement scale for domestic tourists’ perceived value on the ASEAN vernacular homestay standard, when considering the ASEAN homestay standard for the year 2015 including the vernacular accommodations and surroundings in Ban Mae Kampong community based tourism center, Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is the only Thai vernacular homestay that conformed to the three-main qualifications (1) ASEAN standard homestay, (2) Thai standard homestay and (3) named in the official ASEAN tourism website as a
representative of an ASEAN standard homestay. The reference population was domestic homestay tourists who visited Ban Mae Kampong. A total of 320 tourists completed the questionnaires. An exploratory factor analysis was used to explore the factors, while a confirmatory factor analysis and a structural equation modeling procedure were performed by utilizing the LISREL procedure to assess the factor structure of the domestic tourists’ perceived value of the ASEAN vernacular homestay standard. The results showed that a single latent factor structure was fitted and acceptable. The five factors from highest to lowest loadings were (1) activities (experiential value), (2) management (functional value), (3) host-guest interaction (experiential value), (4) amenities (functional value) and (5) accommodation (functional value). The constructed reliability estimates of the five factors were 0.69, 0.77, 0.68, 0.61, and 0.50, respectively. The results indicate that functional and experiential factors are important determinants of the perceived value of ASEAN vernacular homestay tourism. It is therefore recommended that homestay providers, homestay leaders, and local governments should payattention to the order of importance of these value dimensions to increase overall tourists’ perceived value as well as to better develop position strategies and to preserve the authenticity of this tourism niche.
