Browsing by Author "Fernando, M.J.R.S."

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    Identifying the Potential for Tea Tourism in Nuwara Eliya District from Clients’ and Operatos’ Perspectives
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2014) Fernando, M.J.R.S.
    Tea is a major beverage in any hospitality organization moreover it is rapidly becoming a growing niche tourism market. As a result, demand for the satisfaction of tea related tourism services increased and catering to such requirements became a popular way of income generation. There is tendency towards learning tea aspects experiencing health benefits of tea plant. Many countries which are possessed with tea related resources are making great efforts to brand those destinations related tea tourism. This expresses the capability of Nuwara Eliya, the tea home of Sri Lanka as a tea tourism destination This research focused on identifying the potentials of tea tourism in Nuwara Eliya district from both tourist and supplier point of view. The profile of visitors, tourists' expectations and attitudes on tea tourism, tourists' views on strengths of Nuwara Eliya as a tea tourism destination and the destination capabilities of Nuwara Eliya from suppliers' perspective were taken into consideration to identify the potentials of tea tourism. All the findings demonstrate that there is a huge raw potential for promoting tea tourism as a beneficial niche market in Nuwara Eliya. Sixty of foreign tourists were given questionnaires and five tea tourism establishments have been interviewed to achieve the objectives. As this is a new area of research in Sri Lankan context the personal and visitor profile of potential tea tourist as well has been recognized. This study was based on places provide tea tourism experience located in Nuwara Eliya that account for highest availability of tourists according to the indications of Sri Lanka Tourist Board and according to the evidence gathered through an initial investigation. The numerous potentials have been identified which will be in capable of promoting tea tourism.
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    Identifying the potential to develop Nuwara Eliya as a tea tourism destination Demand and supply perspectives
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2015) Fernando, M.J.R.S.; Ranasinghe, J.P.R.C.
    It is in the areas of tea services, tea attractions, tea tours and tea destinations that tea is clearly directly connected to tourism, as contemporary tourists seek out unique and authentic experiences related to the consumption and appreciation of the beverage called’ tea’. As a result, demand for the satisfaction of tea related tourism services increased and catering to such requirements became a popular way of income generation. Many countries which are possessed with tea related resources are making great efforts to brand those destinations related to tea tourism. According to Jolliffe (2007), in Sri Lanka, tourism related to tea has been recognized as a potential strategy for the diversification of tea plantations and the encouragement of sustainable development in tea-producing regions. Ceylon Tea and Tourism are inseparable words as Sri Lanka’s tea growing areas are undoubtedly the most beautiful places in the island (Ceylon Tea Land, 2013). This expresses the capability of Nuwara Eliya, the main tea region and one of the main tourism regions in Sri Lanka, to combine tourism and tea (Gunasekara & Momsen, 2004). The literature survey emphasizes the importance of carrying out a research focusing on both demand and supplier perspectives to get a broader picture since most of the existing studies are based on supply perspective. Therefore this research focused on identifying the potentials of tea tourism in Nuwara Eliya district considering the profile of potential tea tourists, expectations of tourists who travel to a tea related destinations and the capabilities of Nuwara Eliya as a tea tourism destination from both demand and supply points of view. Methodology A mixed approach was used for this study including both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Since this is a new area of investigation and lack of recorded data about tourists who visit tea tourism destinations in Nuwara Eliya district, Convenient Sampling Method was used in this study. Sample was based on tea estate bungalows and tea establishments namely Heritance Tea factory hotel, Labookele tea centre, The Tea Cup, Blue Field Tea Centre and Tea Trails which are located in Nuwara Eliya area, as a reasonable amount of tourist arrivals are reporting from particular locations and they were recognized tea tourism suppliers in Nuwara Eliya according to SLTDA (2014). Sixty of foreign tourists were given questionnaires and five tea tourism establishments have been interviewed to achieve the objectives. Therefore the actual amount of members of the sample was sixty nine including those 64 tourists and the five establishments or the suppliers. Data analysis techniques used were exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Graphical representations and Friedman mean rank analysis of SPSS version 21. Transcriptions were developed and coded to summarize data which were collected by the interviews. Results Findings depict that both genders (yet females show a significant higher percentage of 65%) have visited tea related attractions, who belong to 31-40 age group, and they have a positive attitude towards tea drinking (76%), and it was revealed that they often drink tea (73%). The majority of the visitors found in the survey were full time employed. This percentage is very higher which is 78% while the majority of the tourists (75%) told that they are willing to pay more than $50 for tea tourism activities and products. 94% tourists were aware about Nuwara Eliya prior to their visit and the general perception on Nuwara Eliya as a Tea Tourism destination among tourists was higher (79%). The ranking they gave for Nuwara Eliya related to tea tourism is a prominent among other international competitors (a mean rank of 1.35). “Tea related attractions” group was identified as the most important destination capability for developing tea tourism in Nuwara Eliya which explained 23% of the variance (eigen value is 5.097).