Abstract

Tourism that is engaged with local communities offers a multitude of opportunities and economic benefits to the community. When the local communities do not get sufficient economic benefits from tourism, their competitive reactions to earn more economic benefits create conflicts. A conflict occurs when the goal of an individual or a group is interrupted by another group. The dissatisfactions of tourists can affect tourism-related conflicts of a particular destination. This paper is based on a qualitative study done at Madunagala Hot Spring to identify the background of community conflicts due to tourism and how they influence tourists' behaviours. The local community which was investigated during the study includes vendors at Madunagala Hot Springs. Due to the lack of economic benefits, competition occurs between permeant shop vendors and temporary shop vendors when dealing with tourists. The study is based on the objectives to identify how negative impacts of conflicts on tourists' behaviours can be reduced through the findings of the study. Primary data was gathered by a three day field observation at the site, and personal interviews with vendors and domestic tourists were done under the unstructured interviewing technique. The content analysing method was adapted for data analysis. Tourist behaviours vary due to vendors' conflicts that create disasatisfaction among tourists. Conflicts can be reduced by introducing new selling techniques such as product diversification, and vendors should be aware of tourism. Attitudes of tourists also should be improved to create a conflict-free environment at the site.

Keywords: community conflicts, tourists’ behaviour, tourist destination, tourism vendors