Browsing by Author "Kapugeekiyanage, K.W.P."

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    Analyzing the Potentials of Promoting Rail Cruise Tourism in Sri Lanka; with Special Reference to Up-Country Rail Line
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2015) Kapugeekiyanage, K.W.P.
    Up country rail line is a unique rail line which the journey starts at 14 feet elevation at Colombo and then ascends to the summit level of 6226 feet above sea level. The length of the railway line from Colombo to Badulla is about 180 Miles and enriches with beautiful sceneries. In terms of engineering marvel and scenery, this line - especially the UVA railway line from Peradeniya via Gampola, Ulapane, Nawalapitiya, Nanu- Oya, Ambewela, Ohiya, Idalgashinna, Haputhale, Diyathalawa, Bandarawela, Damodara and Hali-Ela to Badulla is considered to be one of the finest train journeys in the world. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the potentials to promote luxury rail cruise tourism in up country rail line in order to attract more tourist through novel tourism strategies. Specific objectives include examining the possibility of developing rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka and what are the main challenges of implementing rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka. For this mixed-method research, Key Informant Interviews were conducted with the officer at Sri Lanka Railway officers and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority to collect qualitative information while a survey with 100 tourists was conducted to collect quantitative information essential for the study. The respondent was selected based on Convenient Sampling and a structured questionnaire were sued to collect the data. Mainly, descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to accomplish the objectives of the study. The result of the study revealed that Sri Lanka has potentials to promote rail cruise tourism and tourists had a positive perception about rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka. However, results also reveal that there is a number of barriers related to infrastructure, organizational and technological barriers in relation to promoting rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka. In conclusion, the study emphasizes the possibility of promoting rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka and hence government intervention to resolve the barriers related to rail cruise tourism is highly recommended. Keywords: Rail-cruise tourism, Niche tourism, Sri Lankan railway, Sri Lanka Tourism
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    Analyzing the Potentials of Promoting Rail Cruise Tourism in Sri Lanka: Special Reference to Up-country Rail Line
    (Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka, 2020) Kapugeekiyanage, K.W.P.; Deyshappriya, N.P.R.; Idroos, A.A.
    This study attempted to identify the potentials of promoting luxury rail cruise tourism as a novel tourism strategy in the up-country rail line to attract more tourists. Apart from that, the study also examined what were the main challenges of implementing rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka. There are many tourist destinations such as Nine Arches Bridge, the Damodara Railway Loop, Nanuoya-Idalgashinna station which are located along the upcountry railway track. Therefore, the initialization of such rail cruise itinerary will attract many tourists to those cities and that will generate thousands of revenues to the Sri Lanka Railway as well as to the GDP of Sri Lanka. Both the empirical and knowledge gaps are filled by this research. The study used explanatory sequential mixed method. Data were collected through key informant interviews and a survey was conducted for 100 tourists using a convenient sampling technique. Mainly, descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to accomplish the objectives of the study. The database was developed in the SPSS software interface. The result of the study revealed that Sri Lanka has the potentials to promote rail cruise tourism and tourists had a positive perception of rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka. However, the study also emphasized that there are several barriers related to infrastructure, organizational and technological barriers in relation to promoting rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka. In conclusion, the study highlights the possibility of promoting rail cruise tourism in Sri Lanka, and hence government intervention to resolve the barriers related to rail cruise tourism is highly recommended. Keywords: Rail-cruise tourism, Niche tourism, Sri Lankan railway, Sri Lanka tourism