Rural Tourism for Cultural Preservation: The Case of Hiriwadunna Tourism Village in North Central Sri Lanka

Abstract

Over the past few decades, a rapid growth in rural tourism industry was reported and therefore a direct link has been created between this market segment and cultural preservation. Accordingly, it has now been widely promoted as a preservation strategy for rural cultures since it generates multiple positive impacts on destinations. The main objective of this research was to investigate the contribution of rural tourism on cultural preservation of Hiriwadunna village in North Central Sri Lanka. A constructive, qualitative and quantitative research approach with a mixed method of data collection was employed as the methodology of this research. The study was carried applying longitudinal field research techniques and the analytical phase included both qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. The overall findings show that culture has become the central attraction of rural tourism in the study area and many of the cultural elements therein have been remained unchanged since the village has been promoted as a tourist attraction. Rural tourism in the village was able to create a long lasting relationship between rural culture and cultural attractions which caused on the preservation of the village culture. Accordingly, 47 foreign tourists out of the surveyed total has visited this destination the prime purpose of exploring the way of life and experiencing different aspects of tangible village culture. With perusal of the domestic tourists, visiting village environment and sightseeing is the main motivation for a total 15. This background was clearly evident through the types of tourism related local businesses including demonstrations, traditional transport systems and agricultural activities. Respective numbers involved in such businesses that affected on the cultural preservation are 80, 07 and 05 respectively. Thus, tourism related activities in the study area have been able to become a powerful tool to preserve the village culture which effect on bringing forth important preservation mechanisms on the culture of this peripheral rural destination. 

KEYWORDS: Rural tourism, rural culture, cultural aspects, cultural preservation, peripheral rural destination