Abstract:
The main aim of this research was to identify the influence of promotional mix factors on the domestic tourists' destination choice with special reference to Dambulla and Sigiriya heritage sites. The objectives of this study are; identifying the demographic factors of the tourists, relationship between domestic tourist destination choice and promotional mix factors and identifying the most significant factor influence the destination choice. The scope of this study was also based on domestic tourists who visited Dambulla and Sigiriya world heritage sites. The study was a quantitative research, using structured questionnaire survey to collect data from 50 domestic tourists who were traveling to Dambulla and Sigiriya heritage sites separately. The descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the result of this research. The findings from the descriptive analysis showed that the majority of the respondents were female for both destinations and Sigiriya had the highest female tourists' arrivals among them. The age category highest number of tourists who were visited the site between 21 — 30 and 31-40 years Sigiriya and Dambulla respectively. Most of the tourists who visited Sigiriya and Dambulla heritage sites had advanced level of education and diploma level of education respectively. The majority of domestic tourists who visited Sigiriya and Dambulla heritage sites are working under private sector and public sector respectively. When considering both destinations, most of tourists visited due to the purposes of heritage and culture, leisure and business. When considering the influence of promotional mix factors on domestic tourist's destination choice, public relations and advertising tools had a relationship with destination choice of tourists in Dambulla destination. In Sigiriya destination, advertising, public relations, sales promotion and personal selling tools had a relationship with destination choice. According to the domestic tourists' destination choice in Dambulla heritage site, public relations were the most significant tool influence on tourists' decision. In Sigiriya destination, advertising was the most significant tool influence on tourists' decision.
