COMMUNITY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN SRI LANKA: A CRITIQUE

In recent years, questions have been raised globally about the contribution of the tourism industry to poverty alleviation and to local social and economic development. This paper critically examines the efforts of community tourism development in Sri Lanka in a situation where the conventional focus on promoting international tourism to maximize economic gains at national level has missed the potential to enhance net benefits and opportunities for the marginalized communities. The study primarily employs qualitative methodology and follows the case study approach. Empowering local communities to become self-reliant in developing tourism and help people to raise incomes and improve standards of living has become a key challenge in this context. In addition, the paper also critically looks at, structural limitations such as policy shortcomings, community empowerment issues, and lack of community participation readiness that limit the success of community tourism initiatives in Sri Lanka. The findings draw attention for the pressing need for a change particularly in the present approach of community tourism development with much focus on policy, planning and responsible participation of stakeholders in order to establish an environment that is conducive for communities to participate successfully in tourism and benefit from it