IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/soueco/v10y2009i2p471-492.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Practice of Ecotourism in Sri Lanka

Author

Listed:
  • Ranjith Bandara

    (Ranjith Bandara, Department of Economics, University of Colombo, Colombo 3, Sri Lanka. Email: ranbandara@gmail.com)

Abstract

There has been little assessment of ecotourism operator compliance in Sri Lanka towards the ecotourism guidelines set by the International Ecotourism Society (IES). This study presents the results from a survey of a sample of 15 ecotourism/ecolodge operators chosen from seven selected locations in the four provinces of Sri Lanka. This study shows that there is lack of understanding about the true policies of ecotourism. The majority of operators in the sample seem to practice more of nature-based operations, whilst others have a combination of nature and adventure-based tourism, but not proper ecotourism. Moreover, there is no enthusiasm towards the practice of ecotourism in its true sense and the current situation of the country with a low number of tourists, too, contributes towards it. Some of the ecotourism practices were not evident as it was expensive to implement them, yet, the simpler cost effective practices, too, were not given much consideration. Thus, the overall findings of this study overwhelmingly suggest that the authorities of tourism industry and various other stakeholder groups and conservers should work hand in hand to develop innovative ecotourism programmes which will create a market for Sri Lanka as an ecotourist destination in the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Ranjith Bandara, 2009. "The Practice of Ecotourism in Sri Lanka," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 10(2), pages 471-492, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:10:y:2009:i:2:p:471-492
    DOI: 10.1177/139156140901000209
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/139156140901000209
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/139156140901000209?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lisa C. Chase & David R. Lee & William D. Schulze & Deborah J. Anderson, 1998. "Ecotourism Demand and Differential Pricing of National Park Access in Costa Rica," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 74(4), pages 466-482.
    2. Hadker, Nandini & Sharma, Sudhir & David, Ashish & Muraleedharan, T. R., 1997. "Willingness-to-pay for Borivli National Park: evidence from a Contingent Valuation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 105-122, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Olimpia Iuliana BAN, & Paul IACOBAÅž, & Alexandru Mircea NEDELEA, 2016. "Marketing Research Regarding Tourism Business Readiness For Eco-Label Achievement (Case Study: Natura 2000 Criåžul Repede Gorge-Pä‚Durea Craiului Pass Site, Romania)," EcoForum, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 5(1), pages 1-27, January.
    2. Thanne Mafaziya Nijamdeen & Jean Huge & Hajaniaina Ratsimbazafy & Kodikara Arachchilage Sunanda Kodikara & Farid Dahdouh-Guebas, 2022. "A social network analysis of mangrove management stakeholders in Sri Lanka's Northern Province," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/349602, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Greg D. Simpson & Daminda P. Sumanapala & Nilakshi W.K. Galahitiyawe & David Newsome & Priyan Perera, 2020. "Exploring Motivation, Satisfaction and Revisit Intention of Ecolodge Visitors," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 26(2), pages 359-379, December.
    4. Olimpia Iuliana BAN & Paul IACOBAÅž & Alexandru Mircea NEDELEA, 2015. "Marketing Research Regarding Tourism Business Readiness For Eco-Label Achievement. Case Study: Natura 2000 Criåžul Repede Gorge-Pä‚Durea Craiului Pass Site, Romania," Revista de turism - studii si cercetari in turism / Journal of tourism - studies and research in tourism, "Stefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Romania, Faculty of Economics and Public Administration - Economy, Business Administration and Tourism Department., vol. 20(20), pages 1-3, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Verbic, Miroslav & Slabe-Erker, Renata, 2009. "An econometric analysis of willingness-to-pay for sustainable development: A case study of the Volcji Potok landscape area," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(5), pages 1316-1328, March.
    2. Gurluk, Serkan, 2006. "The estimation of ecosystem services' value in the region of Misi Rural Development Project: Results from a contingent valuation survey," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 209-218, December.
    3. Amirnejad, Hamid & Khalilian, Sadegh & Assareh, Mohammad H. & Ahmadian, Majid, 2006. "Estimating the existence value of north forests of Iran by using a contingent valuation method," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(4), pages 665-675, July.
    4. Rikkie L. K. Yeung & Anthony H. F. Li & Samuel K. Hung, 2015. "Monetising social and environmental costs in infrastructure evaluation: the case of Hong Kong's third international airport runway," Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 207-215, September.
    5. R. M. Wasantha Rathnayake, "undated". "Estimating Demand for Turtle Conservation at the Rekawa Sanctuary in Sri Lanka," Working papers 92, The South Asian Network for Development and Environmental Economics.
    6. Gupta, Monika, 2016. "Willingness to pay for carbon tax: A study of Indian road passenger transport," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 46-54.
    7. Ms. Evridiki Tsounta, 2008. "What Attracts Tourists to Paradise?," IMF Working Papers 2008/277, International Monetary Fund.
    8. Baral, Nabin & Stern, Marc J. & Bhattarai, Ranju, 2008. "Contingent valuation of ecotourism in Annapurna conservation area, Nepal: Implications for sustainable park finance and local development," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(2-3), pages 218-227, June.
    9. Ahuja, Vinod & McConnell, Kenneth E. & Umali-Deininger, Dina & de Haan, Cornelis, 2003. "Are the Poor Willing to Pay for Livestock Services? Evidence from Rural India," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 58(1), March.
    10. Paulo A.L.D. Nunes & Elena Ojea & Maria Loureiro, 2009. "Mapping of Forest Biodiversity Values: A Plural Perspective," Working Papers 2009.4, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    11. Bandara, Ranjith & Tisdell, Clement A., 2002. "Rural and Urban Attitudes to the Conservation of Asian Elephants in Sri Lanka: Empirical Evidence," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 48736, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    12. Bekabil, Fufa & Anemut, Belete, 2009. "Park with People Conservation Strategy: Local Residents Willingness to Pay and Expected Net Losses in Ethiopia," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 50318, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Himayatullah Khan, 2006. "Willingness to Pay for Margalla Hills National Park: Evidence from the Travel Cost Method," Lahore Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, The Lahore School of Economics, vol. 11(2), pages 43-70, Jul-Dec.
    14. Viteri Mejía, César & Brandt, Sylvia, 2015. "Managing tourism in the Galapagos Islands through price incentives: A choice experiment approach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 1-11.
    15. Bandara, Ranjith & Tisdell, Clement A., 2003. "Willingness to pay for different degrees of Abundance of Elephants," Economics, Ecology and Environment Working Papers 48966, University of Queensland, School of Economics.
    16. Jette Jacobsen & Nick Hanley, 2009. "Are There Income Effects on Global Willingness to Pay for Biodiversity Conservation?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 43(2), pages 137-160, June.
    17. Prof Clem Tisdell & R. Bandara, 2003. "Does The Economic Value Of The Asian Elephant To Urban Dwellers Exceed Their Cost To The Farmers? A Sri Lankan Study," Discussion Papers Series 325, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    18. Saengsupavanich, Cherdvong & Seenprachawong, Udomsak & Gallardo, Wenresti G. & Shivakoti, Ganesh P., 2008. "Port-induced erosion prediction and valuation of a local recreational beach," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 93-103, August.
    19. Edwin Muchapondwa & Eyoual Demeke & Samson Mukanjari, 2018. "Recreation Demand and Optimal Pricing for International Visitors to Kruger National Park," Working Papers 743, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    20. Kevin E. Henrickson & Erica H. Johnson, 2013. "The Demand for Spatially Complementary National Parks," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 89(2), pages 330-345.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    JEL: Q55; Developing Countries; Ecotourism; Ecotourism Guidelines; Nature Conservation; Operator Compliance; Sri Lanka;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q55 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environmental Economics: Technological Innovation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:soueco:v:10:y:2009:i:2:p:471-492. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.ips.lk/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.