Potentials for promoting ecotourism in Knuckles mountain range, Sri Lanka: as a sustainable solution for environment degradation

Abstract

Ecotourism deals with living part of the natural environment and it focuses on socially responsible travel, personal growth and environmental sustainability. It’s intended to offer tourists insight in to the impact of human beings on the environment and to foster greater appreciation of people’s natural habitats. Similarly, Knuckles Mountain Range is one of the most important biodiversity hotspot in Sri Lanka and many attractive places have located within this area. Therefore, this article provides a comprehensive overview of the capabilities of the ecotourism industry in this range. Field observation method was used to collect field information and secondary data also appropriated for this paper. This data has been analysed by qualitatively. Data analysis revolved that biodiversity, climate, water resources, land forms and traditional villagers have identified as factors those are proper capabilities of the ecotourism. The findings suggested that the Knuckles Mountain Range is one of the major ecotourism venues of Sri Lanka and finally proposed, these capabilities can be used for regional development and environmental sustainability.