Abstract:
Spa and wellness tourism is a global phenomenon where almost all tourist
destinations promote spa and wellness tourism as their marketing and
economic strategies. Sri Lanka as a popular tourist destination caters to this
trending market too. There are only 15 registered spa and wellness centers
in the southern province which is quite controversial to the real count of the
existing centers along the Southern coastal line starting from Hikkaduwa,
Galle, Unawatuna, Weligama to Mirissa where it provides a considerable
density of the spa and wellness centers in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study
identified the issues and challenges faced by spa operators in the selected
area. The qualitative research approach was used and a case study research
design was chosen as the research design. The primary data were collected
through nine semi-structured interviews with spa and wellness center
operators employing the judgmental sampling technique. The thematic
analysis highlighted the challenges in five different areas such as lack of
government involvement in regulating the spa and wellness centers,
difficulties in recruiting female therapists, the bad community image
towards the industry, unprofessional operators, and negative expectations
of local customers as the existing issues. Finally, the researcher
recommended strategical and effective solutions to protect and enhance spa
and wellness tourism in Sri Lanka.
