The contribution of travel agencies in tourism industry of Sri Lanka: special reference to Negombo Municipal Council area.

Abstract

Globally Travel Agencies (TA) play major role in the development of Tourism Industry (TI). In Sri Lanka, it is indispensable for the TI and its process. Therefore, this study is to explore the contribution of the TA in the growth of TI’s. The study was conducted Negombo Municipal Council (MC), which is situated in the Western coastal belt of Sri Lanka. The Objective of the research is to identify the contribution of the TA in Negombo MC Area and to identify the challenges, which are faced by TA in Negombo MC Area. There were limits to collect Quantitative data. Therefore Qualitative research method was used in this study. Unstructured interview and Questionnaire Survey were used for primary data collection. 29 TAs were randomly selected in Negombo MC Area for the data collection. Moreover, secondary data were collected through DS Division report, MC report, published and unpublished materials. According to the finding of the research, Sri Lankan TI has been received 18% contribution by TA of Negombo MC Area. Although those TA have been facing several challenges such as higher capital cost, planning and developing process, lack of human resource to handle modern technologies, competitiveness among TAs and etc. Many suggestions have been proposed to overcome the challenges by this study.