TOURIST MOTIVATIONS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE FOR SRI LANKA

Abstract

Tourism has been within the top six foreign exchange earners in Sri Lanka until the COVID-19 pandemic forced all kinds of travel restrictions around the world. According to information available from the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA, 2017), the number of tourists to Sri Lanka based on the expectations of cultural and religious experiences has been declining even during pre-pandemic years. However, the country’s rich cultural heritage has always been one of the main reasons for Sri Lanka to be considered a famous destination, especially by tourists from Western countries. The findings of this research are expected to provide insight into what motivates tourists visiting Sri Lanka, especially since there is a declining trend of ritualistic living throughout the country. Catering to those motivations not only will improve tourism but also will help promote the value of the country’s heritage. The cultural heritage and anthropological evidence of a nation’s evolution have been strong motivating factors for educational tourism within certain age groups. Before the numbers started to go down, Sri Lanka experienced consistent growth in inbound tourism especially due to valuable archaeological sites highlighting the evolution of the nation’s cultural and religious framework. The thirst for knowledge and curiosity the explorers from the West have been having about the ancient cultures and civilizations of the East has always been a primary component of selecting destinations. When identifying the nexus between cultural heritage and tourism a host of journal articles between the years 2000- 2018 were selected for systematic review to blend the knowledge about the motivating factors of the tourists to Sri Lanka and the kind of enticement created by the cultural heritage of the country. It is difficult to understand the motivational factors behind the choices tourists make when picking their destinations. It is even harder concerning the cultural and religious sector since the motivating factors can range from just curiosity to academic work in economics, history, sociology, and anthropology among other things. Though it indicates a drop especially after the year 2013, the total number of tourists arriving in Sri Lanka did not decrease within that period, the trend to visit Sri Lanka for educational and health purposes and sports has been on the rise since the year 2014 (Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, 2017, p.66). However, the country’s rich cultural heritage has always been one of the main reasons for Sri Lanka to be considered a famous destination, especially by tourists from Western countries.