Abstract:
Tourism play an important role as one of the core source of foreign earner in overall economy in a country. Year by year, tourism is growing continuously and it is a one of the fastest growing economic segment in the world. Tourism development has been identified as a key performance indicator in tourism industry. This study focused on the evaluation of the relationship between residents' characteristics and tourism development in Mahiyanganaya with special reference to the Mahiyanganaya. Residents' characteristics was the independent variable and under this that there were four sub independent variables. Tourism development was the dependent variable and below that there were two sub dependent variable. There were mainly three objectives based on this research and those to identify the existing residents' characteristics and tourism development in Uva province, to identify the relationship between residents' characteristics and tourism development and to recognize most significant characteristic influence on tourism development in Uva province. A sample 150 tourist was drawn using convenience sampling. Primary data were collected by using self-administrated questionnaire and questionnaire consist 35 questions from six sub dependent variable. Data were collected through questionnaire filled by respondents. Data were analyzed by using SPPSS. Descriptive statistics, correlation and regression were used to analysis the data to achieve objective of the study. Finding revealed that there is a positive relationship with residents' characteristics and tourism development. Further finding reveal that active engagement, knowledge about tourism are significantly influence on tourism development while length of residency and residents' experience are not significantly influence.
Key words: Residents' characteristics, Resident support, Tourism development.
