Abstract:
This study has found the perceptions of the local community towards the
developments in tourism and their perceptions towards the community tourism
impacts. The host population was taken from the Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka and
120 questionnaires were distributed. And the direct observations of the researcher
have also included. The respondents of the study can be divided into mainly two
parts. They are: The community with tourism income in their household and the
community who has not engage in tourism income generation activity. Most of
the community at Mount Lavinia who were not engage in tourism agreed that
there are so many negative impacts of tourism while the community who engage
in tourism were not concern much about the negativity that bring through tourism
to their lives. The researcher has suggested that local governments and tourism
promoters should pay particular emphasis to the residents to feel that their
concerns are being considered, then they will support tourism.
