Abstract:
International tourism has become the world’s largest export earner in
developed and developing countries including Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka stepped
into the international tourism market in the 1960, however because of North
and East separatist war, Covid 19 and economic crisis in Sri Lanka tourism
showed a fluctuation demeanor. Thus, Sri Lanka unable to identify the
attributes which are attract tourists to travel in destination. Kandy is a
charming city in central Sri Lanka's lush the mountains, noticed for its rich
cultural legacy and visual beauty. The city is home to the UNESCO World
Heritage Site Temple of the Tooth Relic, which holds a relic of Lord Buddha's
tooth. As the World Heritage Site Kandy tourism zone is one of the traditional
and powerful competitors in tourism market. When investigating the
competitive tourist market, tourism planners would benefit greatly from
identifying crucial travel destination qualities when selecting their prospective
destination. Therefore, the purpose of this study was identify the travel
destination attributes that attract international tourists to visit Kandy tourism
zone. Sixteen important destination attributes were identified by the literature
review. International tourists, who visit the Kandy tourism zone are the target
population of this study. Sample size was 100 and structured questionnaire
was distributed to participants who were randomly selected international
tourists in Kandy tourism zone. Factor analysis was used to identify the
important destination attributes in Kandy, which were formulated according
to the three ways influences. The results show that, landscape in Kandy,
culture & religious value, hospitality, health, safety and relaxation are more
important attributes in Kandy. Also, the findings revealed that landscape,
climate, culture, religion, and service are more significant to Kandy's overall
image.
