CONTRIBUTION OF HOTELS AND TRAVEL AGENTS TOWARDS DEVELOPING ECO·TOURISM ACTIVITIES IN KANDY DISTRICT.

Abstract

Recognizing the significance of eco-tourism, Sri Lanka has been quick to jump on theenvironmental bandwagon and it had declared the year 2000 as "The year of Ecotourism",and the stage is being set for that purpose. . Kandy is a major tourismdestination and it was declared a "World Heritage City". This study was to investigatethe existing eeo-sites and activities centered around the Kandy region, potential eco-sitesand their promotional activities, community benefits, programs launched by classifiedhotels and travel agents. Study also included views from 100 foreigners and 50domestic travelers on the existing eco-tourism programs in the area .. A survey revealedthat only five classified hotels were interested on eco-tourism activities. The popular ecositesidentified by hotel managers and tour guides were; Knuckles range, Udawattakelesanctuary, Royal Botanical garden at Peradeniya, Mount Hunnasgiriya, Mahaweli riversides and Hantane mountain range. All the hotels and travel agents included in the studypromote bird watching, sight seeing, walking and hiking!trekking. Activities likecamping, cycling and motor boating are done on guest's request while some hotels andtravel agents conduct butterfly watching, dragonfly watching and visiting remotevillages. It was found that nearly 75% of the activities are organized by travel agents.Identified potential sites were Victoria and Randenigala forests, Dunumadalawa reserve,remote villages like Kalapuraya, Rock child estate, Ambuluwawa bio-diversity complex,Digana forest reserve and Kitulgala, Athough they are not fully explored for eco-tourism.Community benefits from the eco-tourism were found to be least or none except few jobopportunities provided by few hotels. However, attention of key stakeholders forcommunity benefits is of paramount importance. Analysis of foreign market profilerevealed that their purpose of visit is sceneries, cultural and archaeological sites, ecovisitsand other were 68%, 49%, 40%, and 18% respectively. Similarly proportion of thedomestic market were 32~~, 36%, 4% and 28%. Both foreign and local visitors showedthe same trend on the preferred activities; walking 24%, sight seeing 24%, birdwatching 19%, cycling 8%, hiking! trekking 12%, canoeing! motor boating 7%, camping5%.