Research Project: Sri Lanka's Tourism Potential and Development

This research project evaluates the potential of Sri Lanka to become a prominent tourist destination. It begins with a background on the nation's tourism industry, tracing its historical development and government initiatives. The study explores potential tourism attractions, including cultural heritage, natural landscapes, and strategic location. A market analysis of the Sri Lankan tourism and hospitality industry is conducted, examining the impact of technology, hotel development, and pricing. The research identifies challenges such as transport infrastructure, internet access, and human resources. The methodology includes semi-structured interviews with industry managers. The findings suggest that despite hindrances, Sri Lanka possesses significant potential. Recommendations are provided to promote the sustainable growth of the tourism industry, and the study concludes with a discussion of the findings and recommendations.

Running head: HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
Hospitality Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Abstract
After the independence of the nation, the promotion of the tourism industry initiated and the
government of Sri Lanka decided to develop the tourism sector as a separate sector of the
economy of the country. The purpose of the research will be to evaluate the potential of Sri
Lanka to be one of the most popular tourist destinations across the world. The semi structured
interview based primary data collection method has been used as data collection method of this
research. The target participants of this research are the managers of tourism and hospitality
industry of the Sri Lanka. Among the potential participants 5 respondents have been chosen
through convenient sampling. This research has found that the tourism industry of Sri Lanka
possess the potential to become one of the most popular tourist destinations. The mention worthy
hindrances includes lack of effective transport infrastructure and internet, lack of efficient human
resources and high price ranges of hotels and resorts.

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Table of Content
Chapter 1: Research Background....................................................................................................3
Chapter 2: Review of Key Literature...............................................................................................5
2.1 Potential tourism attractions in Sri Lanka’s Tourism industry..............................................5
2.2 Market analysis of the Sri Lankan Tourism and Hospitality industry...................................6
2.3 Challenges that are hindering the flourish of the tourism industry.......................................8
2.4 Opportunities to develop the potential of becoming an eminent tourist destination.............9
Chapter 3: Methodology................................................................................................................10
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................10
3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................10
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................11
3.4 Research Design..................................................................................................................11
3.5 Population Sampling............................................................................................................12
3.6 Data Collection Process.......................................................................................................12
3.7 Data Analysis Process..........................................................................................................13
3.8 Ethical Consideration...........................................................................................................13
3.9 Summary..............................................................................................................................13
Chapter 4: Analysis and Findings..................................................................................................14
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................14
4.2 Narrative analysis................................................................................................................14

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4.3 Discussion............................................................................................................................18
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations............................................................................19
References:....................................................................................................................................22

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Chapter 1: Research Background
The tourism industry of Sri Lanka is emerging in a rapid manner. The nation has been
one of the most popular places of attraction for the foreign travellers from time immemorial. In
410 AD, the Chinese travel Fa Hien had visited Sri Lanka and during the 12th Century Marco
Polo has labelled the nation as the best island across the world on the basis of its size. The
initiatives of the Sri Lankan government to enhance the market of its tourism industry dated back
to 1937 when the Cylon tourist bureau was established. However the mentioned Bureau closed
down during the war II. However, after the independence of the nation, the promotion of the
tourism industry initiated and the government of Sri Lanka decided to develop the tourism sector
as a separate sector of the economy of the country. Since then a massive enhancement of the
tourism industry has been noticed. According to researchers, The location of the island is highly
advantageous that is in between the West Asia an South East Asia and thus is easily
communicable. In spite of being a beach destination, the nation possess the potential to provide
the tourists with culture, nature, agro, community, religious and spiritual attractions. Along with
the advancement in technology, the hospitality industry of the nation is developing. With
technological advancement several beautiful resorts, hotels as well as spas have opened in the
nation. Along with this, the affordability of hotels as well as other hospitability factors is found
to be much affordable in the nation. Along with this he fluctuating price of oil is imposing fuel
charges to cover high costs which are unfortunately getting passed to the consumers. This in turn
is lowering the urge of the consumers to travel during the peak season for both leisure and
business purposes. Along with this, the decreasing strengths of the Sterling Pound against the
Euro for the United Kingdom are resulting in disappearing of the notion of cheap tour in Europe.

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Thus global tourists are getting more inclined towards visiting tourist places located in
developing as well as underdeveloped countries.
In spite of the above mentioned advantages, the nation is not evidencing tourist presence as high
as its competitors in the eastern parts of the world. A good number of factors are that are
adversely influencing the growth of the Sri Lankan Tourism industry. The purpose of this
research is to explore the potential of Sri Lanka as an eminent tourist destination. The research
question of this research includes “Does Sri Lanka possess the potential to become an effective
tourist destination?”
The chief aim of the research will be to evaluate the potential of Sri Lanka to be one of the most
popular tourist destinations across the world
The objectives of the research are as follows:
1. To explore the potential tourism attractions in Sri Lanka
2. To evaluate the current supply chain availability in the Sri Lankan hospitality industry
and conduct current market analysis of the Sri Lankan Tourism industry
3. To identify the challenges that are hindering the flourish of the tourism industry in Sri
Lanka
4. To recommend necessary actions and strategies to pursue the sustainable growth of
tourism industry in Sri Lanka

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Chapter 2: Review of Key Literature
2.1 Potential tourism attractions in Sri Lanka’s Tourism industry
The Sri Lankan Tourism development Authority has classified the mention nation into
several regions that are suitable for the tourism developed. These regions include the Colombo
and Greater Colombo Resort Region, the south Coast Resort Region, the East Coast Resort
region, West Coast Resort region , High country Resort region and the Ancient Cities resort
region. The classification of the mentioned region has been done in order to provide attention for
development to each of the sector separately and thus ensure parallel development of each of
them. According to Claster et al. (2013), one of the major advantageous factor that is responsible
for the enhanced number of tourists in Sri Lanka includes inclination of the global tourists to
visit tourists destination located in developing as well as underdeveloped nations. According to
Hyndman and Amarasingam (2014), one of the major strengths of the Sri Lankan Tourism
industry includes its geographical location. The strategic location of the nation in the Indian
Ocean on the major air and sea routes between Europe and the Far East is an advantage to the
country’s positioning as a global logistics hub.
Considering the fact that the country has experience decrement in tourist visit during the
civil war, one of the major opportunities associated with the tourism industry odd Sri Lanka
includes both the Northern ad astern providences of the nation are now free from any kind of
civil war and is thus easily accessible. Thus a good number of the hotels and restaurants are
opting for opening their business in Sri Lanka (Kirillova, Gilmetdinova and Lehto 2014). Due to
its highly communicable location, the nation has always been tourist destination for centuries.

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Another major strength of the mentioned tourist destination includes its rich natural tourism that
include its unique combination of golden beaches, affluent cultural heritage, diverse landscapes
as well as a significant number of wildlife destinations.
Athukorala and Jayasuriya (2013) have pointed out that the political stability of the
nation post civil war is stable enough to attract global tourists. In spite of the fact that the
mentioned nation is not a perfect democracy as a result of this institutional erosion and law and
order situation, after the civil war, no major political conflict of issues have taken place in Sri
Lanka. The nation possesses a strong presidential system with concentrated political power of the
president. According to Byrne and Klem (2015), a politically stable nation possesses the
potential to attract tourist due to higher security and safety rate. More is the political stability if a
nation less is the chance of getting victimized due to sudden terrorist attacks or political
conflicts. Fernando, Bandara and Smith (2013) have pointed out the facility of the opening of
the untapped east as well as east coast beaches a hitherto undiscovered part of Sri Lanka that is
teaming with untouched beaches, idyllic villages along with cultural treasures galore would be a
great attraction for travellers. Along with the above mentioned strengths , the commitment of the
government to promote the tourism industry by investing financial in the same can be considered
as another major factor that possess the potential to enhance the popularity of the nation amongst
both local as well as international tourists.
2.2 Market analysis of the Sri Lankan Tourism and Hospitality industry
With the advancement in technology, the Sri Lankan Tourism and hospitality industry is
developing. The political stability and active cooperation from the side of the government has led
a good number of international hotel chains to establish their business in Sri Lanka Over the
years, a good number of well furnished resorts, hotels as well as spas have opened in the

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mentioned nation. Incorporation of the diverse culture of the country along with various tourists
establishment offer the visitors with an unique yet memorable experience. According to Greg
Dogan, President and CEO of the Shangri La International Hotel Management limited, the
management of the hotel chain has decided to build a number of hotels in Sri Lanka including a
seven-star luxury hotel in Colombo. According to Jayawardena (2013) the government of the
nation has already invested a huge amount of money in order to upgrade the existing hotels. A
goo number of renowned hotel chains have decided to invest in vivid constructional projects For
instance, the well-known Hong-Kong-based Shangri-La Asia Ltd has already begun their work
on a 500-room seven-star luxury hotel in Colombo within the cost range of 500 million dollars
and the National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation has announced of their
investment in another hotel project that is next to the Shangri-La project at the same cost.
Kamble and Bouchon (2014) have pointed out that while the availability of hotels and
resorts have got enhanced in the nation, the high price range is making default for tourists who
belongs to middle class population of the society visit the nation. The hotel accommodation of
the nation is highly overpriced compared to its market competitors. This in turn has resulted in a
major competitive disadvantage for the nation. While the price range is slightly lower for the
three star hotels compared to the 5 star hotels of Sri Lanka, the accommodation facilities of the
three Star ones does not possess the potential to attract more and more consumers to the
mentioned nation
Along with lack of infrastructure, another major issue faced by the tourist visiting the
mentioned nation is lack of 24*7 internet service across the nation. In this era of modernization,
people need to get connected with the world even during their leisure period (Lokuhetty,
Jayawardena and Mudadeniya 2013). When it comes to tourists who visit Sri Lanka for the

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purpose of visiting the nation, it becomes highly difficult for them to operate their business from
the nation due to lack of internet facilities.
2.3 Challenges that are hindering the flourish of the tourism industry
In spite of the implementation of massive infrastructure development projects, Sri Lanka
still possess a long way to go for catching up with it competitors both in the Asian Tourism
market as well as across the world. Some of its major competitors that possess highly superior
infrastructure compared to the nation include Singapore, Thailand and Japan. Ione of the major
area where the organization is still lagging behind includes its transportation system both though
road as well as railways. According to Wickramasinghe (2014), transportation from one tourist
destination from another is a highly time consuming factors even in this era of technological
advancement and due to the poor infrastructure of the nation. In spite of the fact that the nation id
an island , it is highly crucial for the government to focus on ensuring efficient transport facilities
across the nation to promote and accommodate significant overseas tourism arrivals by sea.
Considering the fact that the highest number of the travellers in Sri Lanka is from India, in recent
days a ferry service has been introduced by Sri Lanka between the nation and India. However,
according to Sandaruwani and Gnanapala (2016), if compared to the sea travelling facilities
available to the global tourists when it comes to Singapore or Thailand that includes expensive
cruises along with other entertainment facilities, the nation is certainly lagging behind to a good
extent. The port infrastructure in both the North as well as East ha got severely damaged due to
the war and hence rapid rebuilding is highly crucial in order to attract global tourists in the
mentioned region.
Karunasena and Amaratunga (2016) have pointed out another major weakness of the Sri
Lankan Tourism industry that is hindering their way of becoming one of the most popular tourist

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destinations across the world across the world includes lack of efficient human resources in the
field of tourism. In spite of the fact tht the tourism industry o the nation is recovering in a
significant way, the mentioned sector is facing shortage of trained employees due to decades of
neglect as a result of civil disturbance. According the report published by the tourism industry of
Sri Lanka in 219, the mentioned industry requires five times the current workforce for catering to
the 2.5 million tourists. Gamage, Lock and Fernando (2014) have pointed out that one of the
chief reasons behind lack of human resource despite the fact that the population of the nation is
not aged is lack of training and educational facilities across the nation about tourism and
hospitability.
2.4 Opportunities to develop the potential of becoming an eminent tourist
destination
A good number of opportunities are present in spite of the barriers and challenges in the
Sri Lankan Tourism industry. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO), global tourism is experiencing growth and diversification and thus has become one
of the fastest as well as largest growing economic sectors across the world. Thus, improvement
of domestic environment will create a huge range of opportunities for the tourist to visit and
invest in Sri Lanka (Semasinghe 2016). The second opportunity enjoyed by the mentioned
industry includes promotion of ecotourism, wildlife as well as health tourism. The nation
possesses the potential to develop the mentioned facilities for the tourists since they possess
natural resources that can attract the tourists to a great extent.

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Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 Introduction
The purpose of this section is to present the process and philosophical approach utilized
for conducting this study with the help of structural framework. The framework of this
presentation of methods is the research onion, which is a conceptual framework of evaluating
methodological scopes and choosing appropriate methods for a research. The presentation of this
methodology section based on the outer layer to inner layer progression in research onion, where
the outer layers denote the abstract part and inner layers denote the tangible part of the
methodology (Kumar 2019). Hence, based on this inward progression the following
methodological discussion includes the research philosophy, approach, design, population,
sampling, data collection and data analysis process. The ethical consideration has been also
presented in this methodology part.
3.2 Research Philosophy
This research is based on exploration of current situation of hospitality industry of Sri
Lanka to find scope of evolving tourism industry. Hence, this research has chosen a research
philosophy that can address issues in structural format while collecting data from a moderate
sample size (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). This research does not need a positivist
approach where it needs to collect data from a large sample of resources. At the same time the
research is not too much interpretivist to evaluate small data with multiple perceptions.
Therefore, this research needs a research philosophy that is an intermediate philosophy between