Issues and Opportunities of Rural Area Development with Community Tourism in Sri Lanka

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for my research supervisor, peers, fellow classmates, interview participants, the people I met in Sri Lanka and my family whose enormous and endless support has been a source of constant inspiration and guidance throughout the completion of this dissertation.

DECLARATION

I [your full first name and surname], declare that this dissertation and its whole content and research responses is the result of my individual unaided effort, and no part of this dissertation has been either submitted or published before. This thesis reflects my individual opinion in terms of the findings of the research on the issues and opportunities of community tourism in Sri Lanka, and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of my college.

Signature:

Dated:

ABSTRACT

In this dissertation, I strived to explore the issues and opportunities of community tourism in Sri Lanka. The research also analyses the natural and artificial resources, aspects of attraction of the destination sites, capacity of communities, infrastructure facilities, administrative and policy environment and tourism development institutions in Sri Lanka, in order to achieve results for opportunities and issues of community tourism in Sri Lanka. The remote vicinities of many developing countries have various exceptional attractions for international visitors, which is due to their unspoiled landscapes, culture, flora and fauna, unique rural products, peaceful lifestyle and various historical monuments. Therefore, tourism industry helps in providing small-scale and labour-intensive production opportunities for the rural communities of the developing country. The tourism industry can also be considered as an employment generator sector for the rural community, as well as, a sector that utilizes the marginalized skills and resources of the village community. The research comprises of qualitative approach for the study, in which, the secondary research is conducted by reviewing literature from academic literature resources and the primary data was gathered by conducting one-to-one interviews with government personnel. However, this research is mainly conducted for study purpose, and no inducements were offered to the participants of the results.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

DECLARATIONIII

ABSTRACTIV

LIST OF TABLESVII

LIST OF FIGURESVIII

CHAPTER 01: INTRODUCTION1

1.1Background of the Study1

1.2Purpose of the Study2

1.3Rationale of the Study2

1.4Aims and Objectives4

1.5Research Questions5

1.6Structure of the Research5

CHAPTER 02: LITERATURE REVIEW7

2.1Sri Lanka and Tourism: An Overview7

2.2Conceptual Overview: Community-based Tourism9

2.3Community-based Tourism in Developing Countries11

2.4Planning and Monitoring of Community-based Tourism in Developing Countries13

2.41Community Involvement14

2.42Setting Objectives15

2.43Practical Arrangement16

CHAPTER 03: METHODOLOGY18

3.1Research Philosophy18

3.2Research Design18

3.3Data Collection19

3.4Qualitative Research21

3.5Assumptions of Qualitative Research21

3.6Confidentiality22

3.7Validity22

3.8Ethical Considerations23

3.9Summary24

CHAPTER 04: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS26

4. 1Interview Analysis26

4. 2Benefits of community tourism to the local community39

4.21Economic Benefits40

4.22Social Benefits40

CHAPTER 05: DISCUSSION42

5.1Tourism Potentials in Rural Areas43

5.11Agro-based Tourism44

5.12Adventure Tourism44

5.13Health Tourism44

5.14Nature-based Tourism45

5.15Culture-based Tourism45

5.16Spiritual and Heritage Tourism45

5.2Limitations of the Study46

5.3What I have learnt as a researcher46

CHAPTER 06: CONCLUSION47

6. 1Recommendations47

APPENDIX52

Appendix 1: Interview Questions52

List of Tables

Table 1: Gender of interview participants34

Table 2: Tourism experience of interview participants35

Table 3: Role of Participants in tourism Sri Lanka36

List of Figures

Figure 1: International tourists' arrivals in 2000 and 2001 as per regions19

Figure 2: Essential steps in planning of community tourism21

Figure 3: Gender of the interview participants35

Figure 4: Tourism experience of interview participants36

Figure 5: Role of Participants in tourism Sri ...