The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic On Adventure Tourism Sector In Sri Lanka from Service Providers Perspective: A Case Study of Kithulgala Sri Lanka
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Date
2017
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Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The world’s largest and fastest growing tourism industry is also a major source of income for large
number of countries, including Sri Lanka. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is
considered to be the worst pandemic of the century, many countries around the world, have to face
major social, economic and health problems. To control the spread of the virus, many countries
have begun implementing health care policies recommended by the World Health Organization,
including lockdown and imposing travel restrictions. as an industry related to the human
movements Tourism Industry suffered a severe setback with COVID-19 pandemic. Adventure
tourism is an engagement rather than passive experience and it is a niche market in the tourism
industry that contributes greatly to the Sri Lankan economy. There are thousands of people
contributing to this adventure tourism sector by providing various types of services. while selecting
Kithulgala as a research conducting area, this study aimed at identifying the impact of COVID-19
pandemic on Kithulgala adventure tourism sector service providers and develop resilience and
survival strategies under new normal condition. semi-structured interview method used to collect
primary data and target population was the Kithulgala tourism sector service providers. Sample
consist of 15 respondents including various service providers who are existing in Kithulgala and
convenient sampling technique was used to select the sample in qualitative approach. Data are
analyzed using content analysis method. The findings of the study revealed about the Social,
physical, financial and policy impacts as the impacts of COVID-19 and government support, safety
measures and team collaboration as the resilience and survival strategies according to respondents.
Moreover, the study recommends to increase the government involvement to develop infrastructure
facilities and promotion activities, in addition to the tourism industry, introduce other sources of
income, introduce vocational training opportunities, introduce to an insurance scheme that can
cover the damage to their business in such an emergency situation and organize risk reduction and
emergency protocols awareness programs.
Key words: Tourism industry, COVID-19 pandemic, Adventure Tourism, service provider,
Kithulgala
Description
Keywords
Hospitality, Tourism and Events Management degree programme (HTE)