Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Sports www.iiste.org ISSN (Paper) 2312-5187 ISSN (Online) 2312-5179 An International Peer-reviewed Journal Vol.44, 2019 1 Exploring Visitor’s Socio-Demographic Characteristics and Their Satisfaction Level on Shalban Vihara and Mainamati Museum: A Cross Sectional Study J.M Adeeb Salman Chowdhury* Department of Statistics, Faculty of science, Comilla University, PO box –comilla-3506,Kotbari,Comilla Kulsum Akter Shapna Faculty of science, Comilla University Abstract Contemporary forms in tourism impose new trends conditioned by an ever-increasing number of tourists travelling in the world today. It is an undeniable fact that tourists are increasingly demanding and that it is not a simple task to satisfy all their needs and expectations. Tourist satisfaction is an important strategic weapon on which success of a tourist destination is dependent. This study was conducted to see whether travelers are satisfied with their visit to Shalban Vihara and Mainamati Museum and also to highlight factors that contribute to tourist satisfaction. The aim of this study is to offer an integrating vision of the relationship that exists between destination facilities, destination accessibility, transportation system, destination attraction, tourist satisfaction. Questionnaires were distributed to 900 visitors and tourists on Shalban Vihara and Mainamati museum, Kotbari, Comilla. Descriptive statistics, Analysis of variance and linear regression were run on the 900 useable data. The results indicate that 66% respondents were repeat visitors and 14% were first timers. Most of the respondents are dissatisfied about destination facilities.Regression analysis revealed that destination accessibility, destination attraction, transportation system have positive result but destination facilities have negative impact on tourist satisfaction. The findings of this study 97% respondents said there is no facilities in this place and majority were dissatisfied overall satisfaction such that food facilities, rest and relaxation etc. The findings of this study could provide clear guidelines for government people, who involve in tourism sector and destination operators to develop better way to travel on Shalban Vihara and Mainamati museum. Keywords: Tourist Satisfaction, Shalban Vihara and Mainamati museum, Facilities, Transportation system. DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/44-01 Publication date:October 31 st 2019 1. Introduction Tourism is a travel for recreation, religious pilgrimage, leisure, family or business purposes, usually for a limited duration. Tourism can be domestic or international. Nowadays, tourism is one of the major sources of income for many countries .Bangladesh is called the darling child of nature for her natural beauty. Rivers, coasts and beaches, archaeological sites, religious places, hills, forests, waterfalls, tea gardens abound in it. The Sundarban, Historic Mosque in city of Bagherhat, Ruins of the Buddhist Vihar at Paharpur are the three world heritage sites in Bangladesh among 1007. Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) looks after the tourism sector in Bangladesh under the ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism. The main responsibilities of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism include providing safe, efficient and reliable passenger and cargo transportation facilities through creating world class civil aviation infrastructure, diversification of the main tourist attractions of the country. To observe the beauty of nature, huge amount of domestic and foreign tourists visit the country and its tourist attraction sites. In 2017, around 106000 (10 lack 6 thousand) tourists came Bangladesh to visit and enjoy its beauty. The total contribution of tourism to GDP was 4.3%, 3.8% to employment and 1.4% to investment in 2017. In order to prevent the disaccords to define “Tourism”, UNWTO defined it as it is indicated below: “Tourism comprises the activities of persons traveling and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”. Shalban Vihara is one of the famous archaeological place which is situated in Kotbari. About eight kilometers west of Comilla town, lies a range of low hills known as the Mainamati-Lalmai range which is dotted with more than 50 ancient Buddhist settlements dating from the 8th to the 12th centuries. Before 1200 years ago the King Bhava Deva, the fourth ruler of the Early-Deva dynasty built that place on 168 square meters of ground. It was the royal palace for the early Buddhist students. brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE): E-Journals