Abstract:
Tourism industry in Sri Lanka has been
evolving following the end of the civil war. In
order to cater the ever increasing demand,
significant investments are taking place in
the identified tourism site and location.
However, there has been no comprehensive
assessment on these aspects in many places
including Arugam Bay. In this backdrop, the
paper aims to assess and identify the
potential of tourism resources in order to
promote and attract tourism and to have
more tourists in the area. This research
carried out through survey using structured
interview among 100respondents comprising
many tourism related stakeholders in the
study area. A focus group discussion also
carried out to validate the findings of the
survey. The research concluded that Arugam
Bay has the potential resources to promote
as a tourism destination yet, many resources
are unutilized and underutilized.Among
those attractions, respondents preferred to
develop were small
independent businesssuch as gift shops,
cultural and folk events, prearranged
attractive, flexible tour packages, guide
services, concerts, arts and crafts, dances,
and festivals. And also, they supported
information for tourists to attract more
tourists to their communities.
