Marien Life Tourism in Sri Lanka

Executive Summary
Sri Lanka is an island with a rich cultural heritage, diverse landscapes, and a significant number of wildlife reserves. Today after three decades of ethnic unrest, tourist activities in Sri Lanka have shown promising signs of recovery, by becoming the fourth largest foreign exchange earner in Sri Lanka and contribute significantly to the economic growth and development of the country. Sri Lanka has immense growth potential in this industry if the correct blend can be presented to the world.

The main focus of the report will be on ‘Nature and Adventure Tourism Industry’ in Sri Lanka. The selected industry is a niche market in the tourism industry focusing on wild life, nature adventure trekking, mountain biking & cycling, rain forest exploration, diving surfing, whale/dolphin watching etc. With the developing tourism industry the focused niche market has a huge potential to grow in the years to come.

Firstly, to keep the focus narrow down in to one specific area, we will be mainly discussing about the “Marine Life Tourism” in Sri Lanka, and how it contributes to the growth of Nature and Adventure Tourism Industry as a whole. Therefore, Industry will be analyzed deeply, to get a better understanding about different customer segments and how the demand and supply mechanism works in today’s context. After analyzing the Characteristics of the Industry, Strategic Approaches will be used to evaluate the Structure of the Industry. PEST Analysis will be conducted to get a clear picture about the future of the Nature and Adventure Tourism Industry. Through analyzing all the above mention factors, we can identify the Key Success Factors and, the predictable scenarios’ which we have to be ready for the upcoming trends in the market.

In order to collect required/ relevant information, we have mainly consulted the three main players in the Industry such as Walkers Tours, Jetwing Travels, and Aitkenspens Travels who specializes in catering to niche nature and adventure seekers, and also the small player such as Boarder Land, LSR, and data have been gathered through desk research, interviews, questioners, with the relevant parties and relevant site visits.

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction 3

1.1 Objectives of the report 3

1.2 Overview about Nature Tourism in Sri Lanka 4

2.0 Demand Factors 6

2.1 Factors Affecting the Demand for MLT – Foreign Tourists 6

2.2 Demand from Locals for MLT 12

3.0 Supply Factors in Marine Tourism 13

4.0 Suggestions & Improvements 18

5.0 Scenario Planning 21

6.0 Reference 23

ANNEXURE 1 - SWOT ANALYSIS 25

ANNEXURE 2 - Value Chain Analysis of Marine Tourism in Sri Lanka 26

ANNEXURE 3 -PEST Analysis 27

ANNEXURE 4 – Porter’s 5 Forcers Analysis 28

ANNEXURE 5 – Questionnaire for Local Market 29

1.0 Introduction

Sri Lanka is an island located in the Indian Ocean, which is in the size of 65,610 square kilometers, with a total coastline of 1,700 kilometers. As a small island compared to any other nation, Sri Lanka is blessed with a wider range of bio-diversity hotspots in the world. With the born ability for the hospitality, Sri Lankan tourist industry has attracted many tourist over the years, after the end of civil war in the country, according to the data presented by Sri Lanka Tourist Board, it clearly shows more than 135% increase in total arrivals to the country in contrast with Year 2010 (January-June). Therefore it clearly shows signs of a growing and a money generating industry.

Today Nature and Adventure Tourism, has become one of the fast growing sectors, as the discovery and spotlight hit on Blue Whales, Dolphin Watching, Mineriya Elephant Gathering and Yala National Park which gives the chance to experience worlds one of the best leopard sanctuaries. Therefore, in the below report we’ll be mainly focusing on Marine Life Tourism (MLT) sector from a strategic perspective to get a better understanding about where the Industry is today and what the future could hold.

1.1 Objectives of the report

Is to identify:

← MLT and its contribution to Nature Tourism in Sri Lanka

← Demand and Supply factors influencing the market

← Future Trends

← Suggestions for improvements

1.2 Overview about Nature Tourism in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is an ideal destination for Nature and Adventure tourism activities; the country offers a wider range of activities such as nature trails, hiking, cycling, bird watching, whale/dolphin watching, photography or wild life safaris are just the beginning of the list. There are many travel companies offering eco tourist activities for varying budgets. Today Sri Lanka has become a Natural Hotspot because of the beauty, mystery, spirit and uniqueness of the nature.

According to our primary research data and interviews with the professional’s in this sector, currently nature tourism is only getting less than 5% from the total arrivals to the country. This is due to tourists preferring to go for round tour packages visiting all the major sight’s whilst covering the national parks. Therefore direct arrivals for this sector are low, but at the same time there is a clear indication of growing demand. Currently, UK is the major buyer of Sri Lankan Nature Tours, and major competitors in the region being India, Malaysia and Indonesia.

3. Marine Life in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is blessed with a splendid beach and a rich marine life through the costal line. Turtle Hatcheries’, Coral Life, Deep-sea Fishing and Dolphin/Whale watching are the main MLT activities which are popular in the market. The discovery of Dolphin and Whales in Indian oceans, generated interest, locally and internationally. Popular network agencies from UK and Australia such as BBC has come down to do special documentaries about these endangered species in our oceans.

Down South beaches of Mirrisa, and North beaches of Trincomalee are the best location to do Whale watching. Whale watching gives a breathtaking experience and can be experienced throughout the year.
Dolphins can be seen in Mirisa, Trincomalee as well as in Kalpitiya beaches. Tourists can enjoy the playful activities of schools of dolphins if they roam the sea during early hours of the day between 6 – 7.30am in above locations.

Tangalle and Kosgoda beaches are the two famous places to visit Turtle Hatcheries. Five different species of sea turtles lay their eggs in the sand every night throughout the year, by visiting these projects in the night of a full moon; one can truly see the influx of turtles in the glowing moonlight.

2.0 Demand Factors

2.1 Factors Affecting the Demand for MLT – Foreign Tourists

Growth in Tourism in Sri Lanka
Since 2010 there has been a growth momentum in tourism, where tourist arrivals increased to 654,476 exceeding the previous record of 566,202 in 2004. The growth is mainly due to the post conflict peaceful environment and the resultant relaxation of travel advisories issued by major tourist generating countries.

Tourist Arrivals for the past 10 years is given below:

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Sources of Tourism Demand in Sri Lanka - Regions
Western Europe emerged as the primary source of region for tourism in Sri Lanka after four consecutive years. But its importance as the major market has declined over the previous years due to the increasing demand experienced from others sources namely South East Asia, Australasia, North America and Middle East. These changes can be seen in the below given table/chart
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← An important factor we need to consider is the economic recession Europe is undergoing at present, which will have an impact on the demand conditions

← Growing Asian markets for tourism which will have a positive impact on the Demand for tourism. However this has less impact on MLT as attractiveness of such concepts within Asian is low.

Top 10 Source Markets
It is important to analyses the demand for Sri Lankan Tourism from different countries. It should be noted that more than 50% of above comes from India & UK.
Contribution/Demand of top source markets towards MLT
In order to analyze the above, we have interviewed Destination Management Companies (Walkers Tours and Jetwing Travels) & Nature Sales Analysts/Naturalists Mr. Chithral Jayathilake & Mr. Gihan Wijerathne to obtain the demand coming from each of these top 10 sources to MLT

← Despite main inflow of foreigners coming from India, their contribution toward MLT is low. This is mainly due to them being cost conscious and their average stay being comparatively low (i.e.5 – 7 days) ← The contribution/demand of UK (2nd largest provider for tourists to Sri Lanka) towards Marine Life concepts is high. ← Focus should be given to tourists from USA, where the demand is comparatively high.

Average Duration of Stay
Tourist nights, one of the important indicators in measuring tourist traffic, has recorded 6,544,760 nights in 2010 recording an increase of 60.6% compared to 2009 where the average duration of stay increased to10.0 from 9.1 nights

24.5% of tourists stayed 3 nights or less whereas 30.4% stayed between 4-7 nights, 33.6% stayed between 8-14 nights and 11.5% stayed for more than two weeks. It is noted that one third of the total tourists have spent 8-14 nights.

Increase in average duration of stay has a great impact on MLT, where it increases the possibility of tourists exploring MLT concepts during their stay.

Purpose of the visit – Foreigners
Demand for MLT depends on the increase of foreigners as well as their purpose. Tourists whose purpose being “Pleasure” can be identified as the target market for tourism and a component of it will be the market for MLT.
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A point to be noted is that in 2010 proportion of tourists with the purpose “pleasure” has slightly reduced compared with 2009. However this will not have a major impact on the demand for MLT due to it being a slight reduction and the increase in absolute numbers of the foreign tourists.
Global demand and growth in world tourism
Global demand is an indicator of economic conditions and the disposable income. In-order to discover the same we have analyzed the total tourists received by each continent.

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Following factors can be identified; ← 2009 was not a good year for tourism; however it has rebounded in year 2010. ← Recovery was slower in Europe than in other regions due to the air traffic disruption caused by volcanic eruption in Iceland and uncertainty affecting the Euro zone. ← European region receives more than half of the world tourism (50.6% ), it has contracted substantially it's share from 53.5% in 2007 to 50.6% in 2010.

2.2 Demand from Locals for MLT

A questionnaire was shared amongst the consumers within Colombo premises to gauge the level of interest and thoughts.(Refer Annexure 5)

Following were identified
A higher Demand for marine life concepts were recorded from the age groups 26 – 35 & 36 – 45 and approx. 80% belonging to the stated age groups have visited at least one Marine Life concept (variation from one concept visited once to more than three concepts visited more than three times)

Comparatively less demand identified for the age group 16 -25 & a much lesser demand identified for the age groups above 46 years.
Top 5 preferences were as follows, 1) Wild Life 2) Beach 3) Cultural Site Seeing 4) Nature Trails 5) Coral Life

Out of the MTL’s taken - Corals and Whale/Dolphin watching had similar demand whilst Turtle Hatcheries and Deep Sea Fishing observed minimal demand at less than 4%.

3.0 Supply Factors in Marine Tourism

Marine tourism is a niche product Sri Lanka caters to in the tourism market. The suppliers of this product can be segregated into: ← Whale & Dolphin Watching ← Deep Sea Fishing ← Turtle Hatcheries ← Corals
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The capacity available to cater to this niche product is made up of graded establishments and smaller establishments that offer a cheaper option to the end consumer.

The below table denotes the capacity available in the respective regions of the country. The Southern Coast being the most preferred location for MTL, has seen capacity fluctuate from a high of 5,600 rooms to a low of 4,400 between 2001 and 2010. This region offers 35% of the total capacity as can be seen below.
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Factors affecting Supply – Refer Annexure 3 & 4
Infrastructure
← The Southern highway - The first toll road project in Sri Lanka, is a 126km-long express highway running from Colombo to Matara and will be further extended to Hambantota. Once the project is finished, the travel time between Colombo and Matara will be reduced from 4 hours to 1.5 hours.

← International Airport Hambantota (Mattala) - This will be the second international airport for Sri Lanka, which is 3.5 km in length, where even the largest aircrafts can land. Hambantota airport will be one of the green airports in the world and will commence its commercial operations in 2013.

These infrastructure developments would enable tourists to save time currently spent on the road and thereby give them the opportunity to experience the finer things Sri Lanka has to offer such as MLT. A tourist who predominantly came to experience the sun and sea would now have time to experience more.

Availability of support functions ← The coastal belt consists of star class hotels which in itself can be a destination worth visiting. ← Mirissa and Kalpitiya, two major locations for whale & dolphin watching, do not have good quality resorts and visitors are expected to stay in the closest available. Given the early schedule needed to watch these magnificent sea mammals, there is opportunity for hotel chains to invest in new projects in these areas. ← Given the increase in both local & foreign tourists to experience marine tourism, there are an increasing number of small support functions coming up. Boat operators are the more common of these support functions and give hotels the option of providing package tours, by making it less of a hassle for the guest to arrange it on their own.

Rivalry in the region ← MLT is fast gaining popularity in Asia and with that there is increased competition. Large numbers of tourists visit China, Taiwan and Japan for whale watching whilst India, Cambodia, Laos, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Philippines and the Maldives have dolphin watching and also a smaller segment for whale watching.

In the Philippines, over thirty species of whales and dolphins can be observed around Central Visayas, Davao Gulf, the northern coast of the province-island Palawan, and in Batanes. The Visayas is particularly known area for dolphin sightings, and is home to one of the larger populations of the Fraser's Dolphin in the world, with seasonality not playing a part.

Future Plans For Expansion of Capacity –Refer Annexure 1 &3
In a report titled “Sri Lanka -2011 Beyond” done by the Research Unit of Commercial Bank, they have identified the below expansion projects which are in the pipe line in order to boost the supply to the industry.

Tourism Development Authority ← Citrus Leisure PLC (Hotel Reefcomber PLC)
Citrus Leisure aims to build a four-star resort with 150 rooms and 28 villas in Kalpitiya. The villas which will have individual pontoons giving access to the sea are to be leased out on 99-year leases to high-net-worth individuals.

← Sri Lanka to get large number of tourism proposals for 10 islets at Kalpitiya
A large number of leisure firms have submitted proposals to build hotels and other leisure facilities in 10 islets off Sri Lanka's North Western coast (Kalpitiya Tourism Development). According to Chairman of Sri Lanka's tourism development authority Mr. Nalaka Godahewa, the islands off the coast of Kalpitiya will be given on 30 to 50 year leases, and investors could engage in 40 approved areas including building, hotels, golf course and boat services

← Vallibel One goes for USD 38 mn five star resort hotel
The leisure sector of the Vallibel One Ltd - Greener Water Ltd is to build a five star luxury hotel in Kochchikade, Negombo at a cost of USD 38 mn.
The company has already invested Rs. 268 mn on a 14 acre land in Kochchikade for this purpose and hopes to build mega 382 luxury rooms which will be offered to customers at an average rate of between USD 136-165. The construction of the hotel is estimated to take 2 years with commercial operations expected to commence in 2013.

← Kuchchaveli tourism zone
A total of 48 hotels are to be constructed on a 500 acre land in Kuchchaveli. The project with a combined strength of 3000 rooms is to be completed by 2016. USD 30 Mn is being spent to build 4 hotels of 5 star grades.
Requests have been received for the construction of 58 hotel projects, of which 26 have already been approved. These include 5 star, 4 star and 3 star hotels.

4.0 Suggestions & Improvements

Refer Annexure 1, 2, 3 & 4 ← Sri Lanka is competing with other countries in Asia on MTL and hence needs to position itself better on the world platform. They need to create awareness across the world on the abundance of MLT, which is not affected by seasonality. Promotional videos on channels such as TLC and Discovery will need to be invested in order to compete with the likes of Malaysia.

← Sri Lanka needs to offer different packages based on the spending capacities of its foreign tourists. For the wealthy segment, they could offer the facility of renting private yachts with state of the art satellite facilities to track the movements of marine mammals and also enable tourists to do deep sea fishing if needed.

← For the clientele who are looking for value for money and cheaper options, service providers could look to work with the local fishing community to improve the standard of boats and thereby offer cheaper options.

← Bundling a marine tourist concept - where accommodation could be arranged in a 2 or 3 star hotel and work with the local communities to offer a safe, clean and acceptable service. The local communities could be trained in foreign languages and also on marine life in general and groom them into guides who could serve the purpose.

← The government should play a part in improving the level of service provided by setting standards through a licensing procedure, thereby enhancing the image of this segment of tourism. They should have regulations on the quality of boats being used and thereby safeguard the marine life.

← Local tourists are also a segment that can be targeted for MLT in the country. Special promotions for locals would be a good way forward. Currently a whale/dolphin watching package would cost Rs. 7,000 per person, which is the equivalent of a full board hotel rate in a star class hotel. As such for most locals, the charge is considered to be high as they anyway would have to spend on accommodation & food separately.

← MLT needs to invest in qualified naturalists and guides who can give a professional service and not look to rip tourists off. What we currently have is mainly converts from the fishing & local community who cannot create value for tourists who would want to learn from the experience.

← Introduce new concepts

✓ Ability to swim with the Whales - the privilege of being with whales in the water -A step forward from the traditional whale watching above the water

✓ Explore the sea world and the Marine Life with use of luxury submarines

5.0 Scenario Planning

Refer Annexure 3

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6.0 Reference

• Aitken Spence Hotels, http://www.aitkenspencehotels.com/, Retrieved on 08th September 2011 • Border Land, www.discoverborderlands.com/, Retrieved on 08th September 2011 • Blue Whales, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YtC-VagE4Y&feature=fvwrel, Retrieved on 10th September 2011

• Blue Whales in Sri Lanka – Discover Sri Lanka, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDO-D6BQRfk&feature=related, Retrieved on 10th September 2011

• Born Rich, http://www.bornrich.com/entry/platypus-concept-submarine-companion-underwater-adventures/, Retrieved on 14th September 2011.

• Whales in the World, http://www.whales-in-the-wild.com/whales/index.cfm, Retrieved on 12th September 2011.

• Sri Lanka Tourism, http://www.srilankatourism.org/, Retrieved on 17th September, 2011 • Johnson, G, Scholes, K, & Whittington, R, (2009), Exploring Corporate Strategy, 7th Edition, Pearson Education in South Asia. • Jetwing Eco Holiday, http://www.jetwingeco.com, Retrieved on 10th September, 2011

• Jhon Keells Hotels, www.johnkeellshotels.com, Retrieved on 16th September 2011 • Kotler, P, Bowen, T. J, & Makense, C. J, (2008), Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 4th Edition, Pearson Education in South Asia. • Lanka Sportreizen, http://www.lsr-srilanka.com/, Retrieved on 18th September 2011

• Leisure Tours, www.leisuretours.biz/tours/southcoast-tourCached , Retrieved on 10th September 2011

• Morgan, M. (2006), Marketing for Leisure and Tourism, Prentice Hall, Europe. • Outbound Holidays, http://www.outboundholidays.com/sri-lanka/, Retrieved on 16th September 2011 • Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, www.sltda.gov.lk, Retrieved on 11th September 2011 • Trip Advisor, www.tripadvisor.com, Retrieved on 12th September, 2011 • Walkers Tours - http://www.walkerstours.com/aboutus.html , Retrieved on 21st August 2011 • Wild Life Extra, http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/whales/sri-lanka, Retrieved on 16th September 2011 • Whale and Dolphin, http://www.whale-and-dolphin.com, Retrieved on 16th September 2011

ANNEXURE 1 - SWOT ANALYSIS

|Strengths |Weaknesses |
|Stable political background in the country, | |
|Experienced industry - initiated commercial Whale & Dolphin |Less awareness of marine tourism – more emphasis on sun & beach |
|watching in Sri Lanka way back in 2000 in association with the |No new concepts |
|International Dolphin watch. |Currently does not attract the high end customer segment |
|Island consisting of different places for whale/dolphin watching –|Focusing on the basic product |
|Mirissa, Kalpitiya, Trincomalee |Quality of service depends on external parties such as transport|
|Whales/dolphins season falls in line with the winter season ( Nov |and hotel service providers |
|to March), which is the peak time for tourism. |Financial limitation and insufficient expansion capacity |
|The Deep South of Sri Lanka may be one of the world's best |No brand identity for marine tourism |
|locations (amongst the top two or three) for watching Blue Whales | |
|and Sperm Whales, two of the most sought after marine mammals. In | |
|fact, for seeing both Sperm and Blue Whales together, it may even | |
|turn out to be the best location in the world. | |
|The first choices of the holiday visitors were Sun and Beach (59 | |
|%) and Historic Sites (11 %). – This will have a favorable impact | |
|on marine tourism | |
| | |
|Opportunities |Threats |
|Gradually increasing tourist numbers |Global competition |
|Improving infrastructure development. |Turtles & Blue Whales being an endangered species |
|Southern Express Highway |Not catering to what customer wants – Providing what we have |
|Sea Planes |Crisis in Europe & USA – Main influx to SL |
|Ability to attract high end customers with increased foreign | |
|direct investments. (e.g. - Hong Kong-based Shangri La leisure | |
|group setting up a deluxe hotel) | |
|Emerging new hotels close to coastal areas | |
|Good political relationships with China could result in increased | |
|tourists | |

|ANNEXURE 2 - Value Chain Analysis of Marine Tourism in Sri Lanka |
|Support activities |Infrastructure |Road Network, Transport Facilities, Hotels |
| |HRM |Trained Quality staff , Innovative Management |
| |Technology & Design |Web booking , Improvement of Communication Technology - GPS |
| |Procurement |Local suppliers |
|Primary Activities |Inbound Logistics |Operations |Outbound logistics |Marketing & Sales |Services |
| |Planes |Tour Operators |Sea Planes |Web promotions |Less contact with end |
| | | | | |consumer prior to arrival |
| |Cruise Ships |Destination Management Companies |Luxury train service from |Offers - one for one , Package |Customer feedback collected |
| | | |Katunayake | |towards the end of the tour |
| |Private vehicles for local |Hotel Chains |Coaches |Trade Fairs |Refurbish hotels to offer |
| |tourists | | | |better service |
| | | |Specialist Transport |Publicity through documentaries |Invest in new boats |
| | | |providers | | |
| | | |Boats | | |

ANNEXURE 3 -PEST Analysis

|Political |Social |
|Current political stability prevalent in the country. |Increasing demand from youth segment locally for |
|The lack of a strong opposition would mean that organizations can |adventure based tourism. |
|expect a level of consistency at policy level and this would enable |Increased liking towards nature photography. |
|investments. |Increasing demand for sustainable business – number of |
|Close political ties with China could bring about an increase in |trips to sea could be reduced, damage to coral life & |
|Chinese tourists to the country. Given the size of the population, this|endangered marine life. |
|could result in most segments of tourism growing. |High literacy rate in the country and English being |
|Establishment of new institutions to better improve the level of |widely spoken enables tourists to experience the island|
|service to foreign & local tourists – Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism |to its fullest. It also creates a pool of trainable |
|Management, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau. |workforce |
|Government focus on infra - structure development. |Availability of a highly trained pool of doctors (both |
| |locally & foreign qualified) and good health care |
| |facilities gives tourists peace of mind. |
|Economic |Technological |
|World economic crisis would mean lower consumer spending and lower |Possibility to use Chinese technology at concessionary |
|spending on foreign vacations & trips. |prices, given the good relationship at present – faster|
|High cost of financing limits the investment in training staff and in |boats, radars to trace marine mammal movement, state of|
|new technology. |the art diving equipment etc. |
|Tax concessions available for investors in government’s attempts to |Access to social media to promote tourism – facebook, |
|improve infra-structure and achieve economic growth. |twitter, youtube |
| |Availability of Navy equipment used during the war, |
| |which can now be used for marine tourism activities. |

ANNEXURE 4 – Porter’s 5 Forcers Analysis

|Force |Attractiveness |
|Threat of Entry | Medium |
|1. Uniqueness of the Service |High | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | |Medium |
|2.Requirement of natural resource of marine life in the close |High | |
|proximity | | |
|3. Government support to develop the industry |High | |
|4. Barriers for foreign parties to enter in to the business |Low | |
|5. Capital requirement |High | |
|Supplier Power | Low |
|1. Occupancy Rates |Medium | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | |Low |
|2. Available number of suppliers within SL |Low | |
|3. Available number of suppliers Globally |High | |
|4. Number of small suppliers |High | |
|5. Availability of Substitutes |High | |
|6. Switching Cost |Low | |
|7. Number of repeat purchases |Medium | |
|Buyer Power | High |
|1. Global Suppliers |High | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | |High |
|2. Demand from High Upper Class Consumers |High | |
|3. Purpose of visit to SL – Watch Marin Life |Low | |
|4. Number of Buyers |High | |
|5. Quantity of Purchase |Low | |
|Threat of Substitutes | High |
|Switching Cost |Low | |
| | |High |
|Availability of Substitute Tourist Concepts |High | |
|Quality of substitute service |High | |
|Rivalry | Medium |
|Availability of Supplier in SL |Low |Medium |
|Availability of Suppliers in Global |High | |

ANNEXURE 5 – Questionnaire for Local Market

QUESTIONAIRE – NATURE TOURISM SRI LANKA

1. Age 16-25 years 26-35 years 36-45 years 46-55 years 56-65 years Over 65 years

2. Sex Male Female

3. Education Primary Secondary High School Degree, Masters, Doctorate

4. Average monthly income of your family unit Less than LKR 50,000 LKR 50,000- LKR 150,000 LKR 150,000- LKR 250,000 LKR 250,000- LKR 350,000 Above LKR 350,000

5. Select your first 3 preferences for tourism concepts available in Sri Lanka Wild life Beach Whale/ Dolphin watching Rain Forest Exploration Hiking Surfing Nature Trails Festivals Cultural Site seeing Nature Photography Deep-sea Fishing Coral Life Turtle Hatcheries

6. Have you visited Marine life tourist destinations in Sri Lanka? (Turtle Hatcheries, Coral Life, Deep-sea Fishing, Dolphin and Whale watching)

Yes No

7. If “No”, Why? Cost Less attractiveness compared with available other tour options Quality of the service provided Less Awareness Other (Specify)………………………………………………………….

8. If “yes”, please indicate the destinations visited and no of times visited. ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………

9. Are you satisfied with what is offered? Yes Average No

10. What type of Marine Tourism activities are preferred? Whale & Dolphin watching Turtle Hatcheries Deep Sea Fishing Corals

11. Suggestions for improvement of Marine Life Tourism ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………