Identifying the Potential to Promote Wildlife Photography Tourism in Sri Lanka (Empirical Evidence from Yala National Park in Sri Lanka)
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Date
2021
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Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
Wildlife Photography Tourism is an untapped market for study, it caters tourists who are interested
in Wildlife photography to travel from one destination to another. The ability to influence travel
affects different industries including the tourism market. Therefore, within destinations promoting
the wildlife photography market as a niche tourism market may be a better opportunity for the
tourism industry. However, Sri Lanka is highly ranked in terms of species and endemic species per
unit area, for the key groups of species that wildlife travellers are interested in. Wildlife photography
tourism stands as a special interest tourism apart from the traditional wildlife tourism, which has still
not clearly identified the potential of the Wildlife photography tourism market in Sri Lanka. This
study aims to identify potentials to promote wildlife photography tourism in Yala national park.
Primary data was collected from 15 respondents by using structured interviews and the sample was
selected by using the purposive sampling method. The content analysis method was used to analyze
qualitative data. Abundant potentials, issues and challenges, and market opportunities have been
identified to promote wildlife photography tourism within Sri Lanka. The study's findings indicated
attractions, accommodations, and accessibility as the key attributes of a destination in promoting
wildlife photography tourism in Yala National Park. Besides, the lack of government's contribution
was identified as a major issue to promote wildlife photography as a niche tourism market segment.
Prominent findings highlighted the market opportunity to attract wildlife photographers and this
study was able to identify various types of market opportunities to promote wildlife photography
tourism. Furthermore, based on the salient findings, study advocates to promote wildlife
photography tourism by implementing a proper destination marketing program, innovating wildlife
photography tours by the tour operators, integrating with other niche tourism markets, and gaining a
competitive advantage.
Keywords: Wildlife Photography Tourism; Niche tourism
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Keywords
Tourism Management, Hospitality Management, Hotels Industry, Wildlife Photography