Tourism dynamics in Sabaragamuwa:

Abstract

Sri Lanka is one of the most attractive and popular tourist destinations in the world which has 65.610 km? land area with 21.2 million population. It consists of many different ethnic groups and religious communities. It had a great history with a methodical lifestyle and a self-sufficient economic system. However, the natural beauty and rich history build strong tourism impact to the economy. After 2009 tourism has become one of major income source to the country worth of 4.5 billion dollar in 2019.Sabaragamuwa is one of the poorest province which 0.527 prosperity level below than average country standard. Eventhought Sabaragamuwa province has rich culture and beauty scheme international tourist attraction is very low compare to the other provinces. Based on the literature review, researcher identified six factors which significantly tourism. These factors were namely political, cultural, socioeconomic, technological, environmental and Entrepreneurship, finance, and human resources . Based on these key findings the proposed conceptual framework for the study was postulated by the researcher. The proposed conceptual framework comprised of six independent variables and one dependent variable. Primary data was collected to test the hypotheses and identify the factors effect to tourism in Sabaragamuwa province. A questionnaire survey composed of 40 questions was used to collect quantitative data from tourists and 10 open ended questions used for measure qualitative data from government heads related to tourism in Sabaragamuwa province. The data was collected from a sample of 384 tourists. Quantitative data collected from the study was statistical instruments to analyze descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. Findings from the study indicated that the all six independent variables have a significant impact on tourism in Sabaragamuwa province in Sri Lanka.