Preliminary Study: Green Practices, Awareness and Knowledge about the Environment among Homestay Operators in Selangor, Malaysia

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. Thus, any increase in tourist arrivals will affect this industry and in turn, the environment. In recent years, environmental issues have become among the most significant issues of concern in the world. Since the homestay industry contributes to environmental issues, especially through daily operations which involve a lot of resources, the Tourism Ministry of Malaysia has introduced new initiatives to raise awareness among entrepreneurs regarding the importance of environmental conservation. Therefore, this study explores the reliability and validity of green practices, as well as general level of awareness and knowledge about the environment among homestay operators. This preliminary study uses quantitative methods which include a questionnaire distributed to 100 respondents comprising homestay operators in Selangor, who are registered with the Malaysian Tourism Ministry. The reliability test and exploratory factor analysis of the items in the questionnaire was carried out using SPSS software and the results are expected to be used for further analysis. Keywords— homestay, green practices, awareness, knowledge, Malaysia