Abstract:
Ecotourism is an emerging concept which creates a huge impact on people about conserving the
environment and local culture while undertaking tourism. Hence, this study was conducted to
examine the perception of tourists and the local community towards ecotourism and to analyze
the future potential for ecotourism activities in Kankesanthurai beach. The study was carried out
by a pre-tested questionnaire survey with 60 tourists and 60 local people selected by convenient
and cluster sampling methods respectively. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and
Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The study has shown that the majority of the tourists (78.4%) have a
positive perception towards ecotourism. Further, results revealed that the locals’ awareness
level of ecotourism principles was significant (p=0.000) that comprises awareness in creating
jobs (M=1.60), supporting local business and services (M=1.18), increasing demand for local
cultural activities & amenities (M=1.13), attracting investment into the area (M=1.03) and
providing natural and environmental protection (M=1.00) through eco-tourism. The study
implied that the local community agreed that conventional tourism caused negative impacts
such as poor sanitation, ıntrusion of outsiders, loss of native customs, damage to the natural
flora and fauna and depletion of natural resources (p<0.05). In terms of the future potential for
ecotourism activities, tourists significantly agreed that Kankesanthurai beach is an eco-friendly
place and they agreed to pay a little more money for an eco-friendlier stay (p=0.000). Moreover,
75% of the tourists were willing to revisit the site and 87% of them were recommending the site
to others. Both tourists and locals preferred cultural food festivals, local homestay of tourists,
local area picnics, local indigenous product exhibitions, beach games clubs and underwater fish
watching (p<0.05) as the potential future ecotourism activities. Further, locals were anticipating
government support to enhance community cohesion, entrepreneurship skills, security and
market facilities (p<0.05). This study concluded that there is a good potential to introduce
ecotourism in Kankesanthurai beach. Therefore, rules and regulations should be strictly defined
to eliminate the negative impact and establish Kankesanthurai beach as a more eco-friendlier
place for everyone.