Identify the Potentials to Promote Special Interest Tourism in Kurunegala District: With Special Reference to Cultural Heritage Tourism
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Date
2019
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Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
Cultural Heritage Tourism is the type of Special Interest Tourism and is one of the fast growing segments in Tourism. This trend is evident in the rise in the volume of tourists who seek adventure, culture, history, archaeology and interaction with local people. Kurunegala boasters with four ancient kingdoms in its periphery bearing a significant historical importance. The cultural quadrangle Program established under the central cultural fund is also based on these four ancient kingdoms namely, Kurunegala, Yapahuwa, Dambadeniya and Panduwasnuwara. But up to now it is not a district which popular among foreign tourists. The objective of this study is identifying the potentials to promote Kurunegala as Cultural Heritage Tourism destination. One hundred foreign tourists, who are visiting Cultural Heritage Sites in kurunegala District, were selected using convenient sampling technique and self-administered questionnaire was distributed among tourists to collect primary data. Descriptive analysis is used to identify the visitor profile of potential cultural heritage tourists to destination. Researcher identified location’s Cultural heritage attractions, Location’s Environmental features and its attractions, Basic Tourists’ needs, supporting services as destination attributes to promote the Cultural heritage tourism by using Exploratory Factor Analysis. The most significant attribute is Location’s Cultural Heritage Attractions. Tourism Itineraries together with all destinations and its attractions in kurunegala district, logo and slogan for the district, Plan the tour packages including kurunegala, communicate uniqueness of the destination can be recommended to promote the destination attributes identified. Since Location’s Cultural heritage attractions are most significant, Researcher recommends maintaining preserved and clean sites, excavating more past historical works and implementing sound signage and naming system.
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Keywords
Tourism Management, Hospitality Management, Human Resource Development