Abstract:
Tourism is one of the major foreign income sources in Sri Lanka. The social impact of
tourism varies. Whatever the shortcoming of it, the development of tourism has been regarded
as a panacea for the economic malaise of Sri Lanka. Using robust data the study explore the
changes influenced by development of tourism in terms of sociocultural life in Hikkaduwa
resort. The qualitative method meant to analyze and interpret data is given priority in the study.
It has found that, tourism brings some positive as well as negative benefits to the island. The
environment degradation, archaeological ruins, illegal businesses, black money frauds thefts
drugs trafficking, prostitution, HIV threat, gambling, and rising crime rate are identified social
cost of international tourism. The ‘child sex’ is one of the major issues raised by tourism in Sri
Lanka. The younger generation believes that they can have valuable things or secure a chance
to go abroad etc. After the boom the beach fronts were being rapidly bought up for tourist
establishments, after which they were surrounded by walls to block the locals’ access to these
areas, which had since become private property. Tourism has direct impact on the price level
and the consumption behavior of the host population. Tourism has provided a variety of
employment in different capacities in restaurants, guest houses, shops and the transport sectors;
some are involved in their own mini businesses, related to tourism. The international tourism
has a significant impact on the socio-cultural structure of the host country. Some educated
middle class personnel, who are involved in the tourism industry in various capacities such as
managers and others, view that even though they are not happy with the worst aspect of
European culture, they accept tourism as by and large what the country needs to earn foreign
exchange.
