Ramayana Trail as a Cultural Tourism Product in Sri Lanka; New paradigm for Destination Marketing

Abstract

Tourism is the most booming sector in service economy where the novel paradigms are popular among tourism destinations that lead to huge competition. Ramayana Trail is an untapped market which symbolizes eminent synthesis of Sri Lankan and Indian cultural values. Ramayana Trail features novelty nature in tourism industry which has been recognized by the least. Further there are more than fifty Ramayana related sites located in Sri Lanka. Hence it is crucial to promote this trail in order to persuade tourists for diversified experiences. The objective of the study is to identify the potentiality to promote of Ramayana Trail as a cultural tourism product with special reference to Uva and central province through the investigation of tourist‘s profile, existing awareness and destination attributes. Sample size was 120 tourists and for data collection semi structured questionnaire and interview method were adopted. The findings reveal that the existing level of awareness on Ramayana Trail is low among foreign tourists. However, Indian tourists are aware about the legend but not the Ramayana sites. Attraction has been identified as the most significant destination attribute and promotion of Ramayana trail as a cultural tourism product has been recommended through government intervention and websites, blogs and social media marketing tools.