DOMESTIC TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH EAST DRY ZONE: STAKEHOLDERS' PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Tourism is a mainstream economic activity in Sri Lanka. However, Sri Lanka currently has less attention to domestic tourism and focuses on international tourism. Domestic tourism statistics are scarce, from tourist counts to profiling in Sri Lanka. The tourism industry in Sri Lanka has recently undergone its worst crisis in history, with all the tourism stakeholders reporting little or no business. Except this, a limited number of tourism businesses occur in the off-season also. Therefore, it is beneficial to develop the domestic tourism industry, which international tourist arrivals may decline under these circumstances. Domestic tourism development is essential to continue tourism in Sri Lanka successfully. The selected area is the South East dry zone, the most popular tourist zone among domestic tourists, including Kataragama sacred city, Yala and Udawalawe national parks. The Researcher used the qualitative approach, and the data were collected through in-depth interviews as the primary data collection method by using convenience-sampling methods from 20 respondents. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive techniques. The study found the salient features of domestic tourism as visiting religious and leisure purposes, less length of stay (one night), travelling weekends and holidays using private transportation, seeking familiar low- cost accommodations with minimal expenses, and less awareness of travel preparation and concern leading destination. Lack of adequate sanitation and infrastructure, unavailability of awareness programmes and low-cost quality lodges and restaurants, transportation and accessibility difficulties, the effect of prices, less government support and coordination, behaviour and characteristics of domestic tourists are identified as problems to develop domestic tourism. Enhance government intervention to develop facilities, develop programs and create propaganda methods among domestic tourists, and establish recreational activities in addition to the attractions. Building relationships among tourism service providers, administrative parties, and proper training and awareness for service providers are emphasized as recommendations for develop domestic tourism from this study.