Abstract:
Tourism industry is one of the largest and growing industries in the world. It has
become one of the major income generation industries around the globe and it is
the third highest foreign exchange earner in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has become a
renowned tourist destination of the world because of its natural and man-made
attractions and scenic beauty. Especially Sri Lankan beach sites are the major spots
that tourists visit. Among the beach sites, Hikkaduwa beach is one of the main
tourist destinations in the country. Therefore, many tourists who visit southern Sri
Lanka make sure not to miss Hikkaduwa. Yet, the tourists are unable to get leisure
experience as they hope due to harassment by locals at the attraction. Therefore this
study investigates the types of harassments faced by tourists at Hikkaduwa and how
harassments impact on destination experience of tourists. The data for this study
were collected at Hikkaduwa itself. A total of 100 survey questionnaires were
collected from tourists and 14 interviews have been conducted including the
interviews from 8 foreign tourists, 2 tourist guides, 3 community members and 1
security officer. The mixed methods approach has been used. The study is
conceptualized using the tourist harassment (independent variable) and
destination experience of tourists (dependent variable). The first objective of the
study was to identify the nature of tourist harassment at Hikkaduwa beach site.
Findings of the study show that 66 percent tourists have experienced some form of
harassment. They were harassed mainly by different parties like vendors, tuk-tuk
drivers, some beach boys etc. The study also reveals that the major tourist
harassments are exorbitant charging, cheating, begging, vendor persistence, sexual
harassment etc. The second objective of the study is to identify the impact of
harassment on destination experience of the tourist. According to the results, the
tourist harassment had significant impact on the destination experience of the
tourist. The tourist harassment conduces to dissatisfaction among tourists and also
diminishes the image of the destination as well. This will reduce the future arrivals
of tourists due to negative word-of-mouth. The study also observes the possible and
pragmatic suggestions to overcome the tourist harassment and most of the local
respondents’ opinion was that the involvement of responsible parties is necessary
for issuing IDs for tuk-tuk drivers, beach boys and beach sellers for recognizing
them as important stakeholders in the value chain by making them aware to become
tourist-friendly service providers.