Exploring the potential of promoting Sri Lanka as a meditation tourism destination in Sri Lanka's wellness tourism landscape
Abstract
With the growing demand for health and wellness sector, travelers always consider balance between physical, mental, and, emotional well-being of their everyday life leading for meditation tourism to become an integral part of the wellness tourism sector. As Sri Lanka is a country that is uniquely positioned to leverage its cultural, spiritual, and, natural resources, this study explores the potential of promoting Sri Lanka as a meditation tourism destination by identifying its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, alongside with an examination on the roles played by its key stakeholders. This qualitative study which employs an exploratory strategy, underwent semi-structured interviews with 15 suppliers of wellness and meditation tourism, who are registered under the Sri Lankan government body of Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), were considered as the sample. Afterwards, qualitative thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the collected data. The findings revealed that there are notable strengths and opportunities rather than weaknesses and threats in order to promote Sri Lanka as a niche meditation tourism destination. Most of the stakeholders have high power and interest in promoting Sri Lanka as a niche meditation tourism destination and it is noteworthy to state that several stakeholders are find it difficult in promoting Sri Lanka as a meditation tourism destination due to financial limitations, lack of resource flexibility, and constraint of culture. However, they pinpointed the necessity of coordination between the public sector, private sector, and non-governmental organizations to promote Sri Lanka as a niche meditation tourism destination. Overall, the study provides recommendations for improving Sri Lanka’s position in the global wellness tourism market and strategies to attract global tourists specifically for this emerging segment.
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