Abstract:
The railway tourism has become one of the most attractive niche market tourism segments in Sri Lanka and the tourists’ participation has increased gradually during the last few years specially after ending the terrorism problem in 2009. The railway tourism defines as a niche tourism segment and tourists who visit using trains can engage in different activities such as short train rides, railroad park observations, museum visitations, and special events, such as rail fairs, festivals etc. The main objective of this study is to identify the travel expectations and perceived satisfaction of the railway tourists in Sri Lanka. Further, the study discusses the difficulties and challenges associated with railway tourism operations in Sri Lanka. The study has conducted using both quantitative and qualitative approaches and specially a questionnaire survey with 100 foreign tourists who travelled in Colombo – Badulla route. The study is conceptualized using the railway tourists’ expectations as reliability, amenity, safety & security, personnel comfort, scenic beauty of the route and behavior of natives (independent variables) and the perceived satisfaction of the railway tourists (dependent variable). The findings highlight that there is a positive relationship between the travel expectations and the perceived satisfaction of the tourists and the scenic beauty is the main reasons to have the railway tours and the satisfier in Colombo-Badulla route. However, there are many dissatisfied areas too, therefore, railway authority and the national tourism organizations in Sri Lanka need to plan and work together to promote and manage the railway tourism effectively with more required facilities without just telling and selling to seek merely the economic advantages.
