Abstract:
Home Stay is one type of accommodation sectors in tourism industry. It allows to tourists
stay with local families in the destination and become familiar with local style.
Padavigampola Village is situated in Rambukkana, Kegalle district, Sabaragamuwa Province.
It is the first home stay village in Sri Lanka. The objectives of this research were to identify
both positive and negative effects of the home stay project and giving recommendations to
promote home stay concept furthermore.
Field observations, interviews, questionnaires used as data collecting methods and those
collected data were analyzed analytically because both qualitative and quantitative data were
gathered during the study. Most of villagers had a good attitude about this project because of
the positive benefits. Creating job opportunities, community development, generating income
for villagers, improve quality of life and ensure environmental sustainability are some
positive benefits. Comparing the outcome of home stay concept, benefits are abundant rather
than the negative impacts. Establishing information centre, introducing new activities and
new concepts for visitors, involving private sector, encouraging host community, regular
monitoring and feedbacks, conducting awareness programs are some recommendations for
improving positive effects and minimizing negative impacts for promoting Home Stay
concept.
