Abstract:
Beach Tourism plays a major role as a source of income generation by the local community near to beach in any tourism destination. Especially in island like Sri Lanka, beach tourism exists in different forms such as selling local products, organizing of water based activities, sex tourism, spa tourism, food tourism etc. However, it brings both benefits and costs to the local community. Therefore, this research focuses to identify the Local community development through beach tourism while identifying the scope of beach tourism in Sri Lanka. The research was conducted in the qualitative research method. The research area consisted with Charty beach, Thalasevana beach and Casuarina beaches in Jaffna as the beaches attract higher number of tourists annually. This particular study is representing the sample of the local community, tourists, service providers & the government officers in Thalasevana, Casuarina & Charty beaches. The collected data was analyzed applying the thematic analysis method with Microsoft Excel 2010 software. The research finding gives the idea on the impact and acceptance of beach tourism by the local community through beach tourism. Findings of the study revealed that, there is a fact that beach tourism is profit maker, accepted by the local community and help to develop their living standard.
Key words: beach tourism, local community, perception, strategies
