Symposia & Conferences
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Item The Effectiveness of Word of mouth in Generating Tourists to the Destination of Sri Lanka: A study with Special Reference to the City of Kandy(4th International Conference on Social Sciences 2018, Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Senarathna, T.M.C.D.; Wijesaooriya, M.W.A.T.N.Tourism sector is one of the most important foreign exchange generating industries in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, the industry is highly based on services compared to other major industries in the country. Therefore, it generates a large amount of direct and indirect job opportunities to the Sri Lankan job market and contribute tremendously to resolve many problems in the country. Most tourists travel to Sri Lanka by finding details using different sources such as internet, books, magazines, and with the help of word of mouth through friends and relatives. Here, the word of mouth is simply what happens when a tourists’ interest in a destination’s product or service is reflected in their day-to-day conversations. If the travel experience is satisfactory to a tourist, the word of mouth creates a positive image of a destination. Majority of tourists rely on their friends and relatives’ words on travel experiences to get the best experience. The research problem of the study was “is the word of mouth a considerable factor in generating a large flow of tourists to Sri Lanka”. And also the main objective of the research was to identify the effectiveness of word of mouth in attracting tourists to the destination of Sri Lanka. The study was mainly based on quantitative and qualitative data, and randomly selected 50 tourists in the city of Kandy were interviewed and used structured questionnaires and conversations to gather data while referring to internet, books and magazines were also done. While 58 % of tourists responded that they have highly depended on their friends’ and relatives’ responses in selecting the destination of Sri Lanka to get maximum satisfaction out of the travel, 36% of the respondents referred to web-sites and social Media to explore the beauty, activities, regulations, people, history and culture of the particular destination to travel. Therefore, the word of mouth is playing a vital role in generating a high level of visiting by tourists to the country and services, facilities and friendliness of people highly contribute in creating a positive word of mouth with regard to Sri Lanka. Therefore, it is easy to create a positive word of mouth and well attracted image on the island of Sri Lanka by offering well-organized services and diversified products beyond the satisfaction, updating tourism relevant web-sites using heart touching photographs, documentaries and informationItem A Study of the Tourism Industry’s Impact on Visitors’ Satisfaction with a Special Focus on Anuradhapura(Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Senarathna, T.M.C.D.Anuradhapura is one of the remarkable and ancient cities in Sri Lanka. It is a highly popular destination among historical sites in Sri Lanka leading to cultural tourism, one of the fastest growing tourism niche markets in mass tourism. It encompasses exquisite scenery, religious monuments, tanks, and monasteries etc. Annually, a large number of tourists travel to Anuradhapura to experience the historical value it offers. But there are several problems related to visitor satisfaction when it comes to facilities in the sacred city of Anuradhapura. The research problem of this study was to examine how visitor-satisfaction among those visiting Anuradhapura can be created. The other objectives were to recognize the deficits and issues encountered by the visitors at the site. The research was based on both primary sources including field observations, interviews and structured questionnaires and secondary sources including reports, magazines, websites etc. The site and its periphery were explored and the visitor-related facilities were observed to identify the current situation of the site. The research sample consisted of 20 domestic visitors and 50 foreign visitors who were randomly selected at the site during weekends in Anuradhapura. Visitors were interviewed with structured questionnaires to identify their perception, knowledge and comments regarding the site. The destination attracts domestic visitors more than foreign visitors. Many of the foreigners are from China and the other major markets are German, India and Thailand. Many of the domestic visitors are not entirely aware of the archaeological and historical value of Anuradhapura and visitor-related services and infrastructure facilities also are not at a satisfactory level for the well-being of travelers. In addition, there are many problems related to languages and an adequate experience is not delivered.