Abstract:
Tea is known as one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. Sri Lanka is the fourth largest tea producer and the leading tea exporter. Therefore, it has helped the island position globally. Offering a cup of tea has been identified as the way of expressing the hospitality in Sri Lankan culture. Being one of the major pull factors in Sri Lanka tourism, it attracts thousands of tourists to the country every year. Tea has become a way of living in the community in hill country and it also has become a popular travel destination of the country. So, tea tourism can be used for destination branding while offering its benefits to the host community. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify the tourists' behavior in tea tourism and their attitudes and perception related to the current tea tourism practices in the country. In addition to that the study discusses the current status of the tea Tourism in Sri Lanka with reference to its problems and prospects. The study has conducted following the qualitative and quantitative data collection approaches. The study population was the both tourists and tea suppliers and, 90 respondents were selected as the sample through the purposive sampling technique. Both primary and secondary data were gathered and pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the tourists. Discussions and interviews were conducted to gather the data from tea suppliers. The descriptive statistics and factor analysis were utilized to analyze the data. The results revealed that even though there are many potentials to attract tourists for tea tourism while generating economic benefits to the host community, however, the tea tourism is not properly planned and managed. The tea tourism is a vast concept and it practices in Sri Lanka poor way. The tourists on tea tourism are not facilitated at least the basic expectations and needs. Moreover, seventy five percent of the respondents highlighted that tea buying and tea drinking are the most possible activities done with available facilities at the tea tourism destinations. There is not much value addition and develop tea as a complete tourism product. However, it is advisable to strengthen and motivate tea suppliers by educating them on importance of tea tourism to the destinations and through that minimal facilities can be established to attract and retain tourists on tea tourism.
