Abstract:
Tourism has the greatest pro-poor impact on rural communities because the customer comes to the facility or product which is creating room for direct sell fostering the creation of the economic effect on the host community. Accordingly community based tourism emerged as a possible solution to the mass tourism in developing countries which thus became a strategy for community organization in order to enhance the living condition: The research exploited the opportunities for livelihood enhancement through community based tourism in Haputale, located in Badulla district. The research comprises of a mixed approach, in which, the secondary research was conducted by reviewing literature from academic; literature resources and the primary data was gathered by conducting face to face interviews. The sample consisted of 50 respondents from the community for quantitative survey and 5 respondents for the interview including a government official. The research aimed the objectives of identifying the current practices of tourism in the community, investigating the barriers and identifying the community perception of tourism. The results indicated that, the livelihood of Haputale community had been enhanced due to community based tourism. Mainly small enterprises such as food outlets are more evident in the community. The analysis showed that community perception on tourism is average and the future development opinion is to develop tourism. Moreover in the light of the findings, the researcher suggested steps to be taken by the government in order to enhance the community livelihood and suggestions for the future research.
