Identifying Potentials for Improving Tea Tourism in Sri Lanka

Even though, tourism industry in Sri Lanka is developing very rapidly, there is a limited evidence of tea tourism. In order to attract potential tourists towards the destinations, existence of required supply components influencing satisfaction and loyalty is vital important. Therefore, the present study aims to assess tourists’ interest on existing tea tourism activities, to identify existing tea tourism related supply components and tourists’ perception towards these components and to determine factors affecting to willingness to pay (WTP) for supply components at tea tourism destinations. The study was conducted in Central, Uva and Southern Province of Sri Lanka. Primary data were collected from 430 foreign tourists through well designed pre-tested questionnaire, during the period of March to May in 2018. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square goodness-of-fit test and Friedman test were used to analyze data.  WTP for supply components was measured by applying Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). An ordinary least square regression model was constructed to determine factors affecting to WTP for supply components. The results revealed that existing tea tourism activities were interested to tourists and the most satisfied supply components were amenities and attractions.  Income, civil status and level of satisfaction on supply components were positively impact on WTP.  Hence, facilities and services should be provided based on their behavioral variation to keep visitors at highly satisfactory level. Based on the above findings, the study concludes that there is a significant potential for improving tea tourism in Sri Lanka and investment in such projects would lead to bloom-up the tourism industry as well.