A case study on tourism developments in Arugam Bay tourism destination from stakeholders’ perspective

Abstract

Tourism industry in Sri Lanka has been evolving following the end of the civil war. In order to cater the ever increasing demand, significant investments are taking place in the identified tourism site and location. However, there has been no comprehensive assessment on these aspects in many places including Arugam Bay. In this backdrop, the paper aims to assess and identify the potential of tourism resources in order to promote and attract tourism and to have more tourists in the area. This research carried out through survey using structured interview among 100respondents comprising many tourism related stakeholders in the study area. A focus group discussion also carried out to validate the findings of the survey. The research concluded that Arugam Bay has the potential resources to promote as a tourism destination yet, many resources are unutilized and underutilized.Among those attractions, respondents preferred to develop were small independent businesssuch as gift shops, cultural and folk events, prearranged attractive, flexible tour packages, guide services, concerts, arts and crafts, dances, and festivals. And also, they supported information for tourists to attract more tourists to their communities.