Tour Operators as Catalysts for Sustainable Mountain Tourism Development in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Mountain tourism is an alternative, emerging type of tourism occurring in geograph- ically defined areas characterized by rich biodiversity, challenging accessibility and high sensitivity, necessitating third-party involvement. Despite research on various special interest tourism types, the involvement of tour operators' have often been underexplored. In light of this gap, and as highlighted by Sri Lanka’s tourism strategic report for 2025, there is lack of investigation into alternative, niche, and emerging tourism markets. Hence, the objectives of the study were to identify the push and pull antecedents of sustainable mountain tourism in Sri Lanka and to explore the role of tour operators in the development of sustainable mountain tourism in Sri Lanka. The study adopted a qualitative approach, collecting data through purposive sampling from fifteen tour op- erators via semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that pull antecedents mainly arose as unique selling propositions, and destination’s diversity and push antecedents as personal and external factors. The role of tour operators found that tour operators con- tribute to economic sustainability through marketing, promotion, and new product de- velopment, while better planning, monitoring indicated their role towards environmental sustainability. Finally, it was revealed that tour operators play a major role in networking towards social sustainability. Nevertheless, future researchers could examine private- public partnerships and collaborations and combined tourism products to further develop mountain tourism’s potential, which has not been ad-dressed yet.