Local community perspective of tourism in world heritage sites, case study of Galle Fort, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Local community participation is essential in order to archive sustainable measures in tourism development. Local community as a nucleus of destination, they must incorporate actively in tourism planning as well as beneficiaries of local enterprisers. That cannot archive without an agreed vision of related stakeholders and agreed vision must reflect the triple bottom line guiding principles together with comprehensive stakeholder management plan. Success of local community involvement is a result of their decisions represent by interests and perspectives. This study is focus on local community perspective towards tourism and pertaining issues relate to their support in destination development. Galle fort is one the key tourism destinations in Sri Lanka, which has been declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988. The main attraction of Galle fort is its colonial architectural heritage depicts more than five hundred years of history. Local community of Galle fort undergone several issues relating to unplanned tourism development as well as strict regulations imposed by heritage conservation authorities. Literature review suggests that community attachment positively influence their participation while it?s indirectly influence by environmental attitude. Research study carried through quantitative approach involving 253 respondents representing among five neighborhoods of Galle fort. The outcome of the research suggests recommendations for comprehensive stakeholder management plan in order to archive sustainable measures in tourism destinations of world heritage sites.