Socio-Economic Impact of Beach Entertainment Events in Sri Lanka

Tourism is a social, cultural, and economic phenomenon that entails the movement of people to countries or places outside their usual environment for personal or business/professional purposes. Tourism is one of the world’s fastest-growing industries and a major foreign exchange and employment generator for many countries. It is a most prominent economic and social phenomenon. Tourism is the act and process of spending time away from home for recreation, leisure, and entertainment utilizing the provision of commercial services. Tourism in Sri Lanka is growing rapidly. Sri Lanka has been a popular attraction for foreign tourists for centuries.

As a tourist destination, Sri Lanka offers tourists a wide range of options between beach destinations, favorable climates, rich cultural heritage, national parks, and wildlife. Nowadays, tourists get an unforgettable experience by visiting local events. Event tourism is essentially any tourism that relates to events. Events come in many forms and the beach event is a very interesting event.

Most tourists to Sri Lanka are either starting or ending their trip with a beach destination. Hikkaduwa, Ahungalla, Unawatuna, Mirissa are popular beach destinations in Sri Lanka. Beaches are made up of many events such as kite festivals, club parties, and ladies-only nights. Attendance by world-renown events or nightclub music (DJs), famous dancers, and musicians draws enormous crowds of locals and foreigners.

Beach Entertainment specializes in fun, entertaining and lively acts that keep guests on the edge of their seats. The current state of Sri Lanka’s tourist region seems so much developed and visited by numerous local and foreign tourists.

Society and culture are two concepts that are difficult to separate. Increased community well-being has a positive impact on the host community. And also improve cultural values, customs of the area. Also, the quality of services such as public transport, accommodation, and sanitary facilities can be improved. There are also negative socio-cultural impacts that can affect the local community. There are also negative impacts of disruption of cultural and traditional ways of life, prostitution, crime, and drugs.

Tourism in Sri Lanka has been identified as a third economic sector income generating for the nation. Beach Entertainment Events can influence host communities in a variety of ways. They can be positive and negative. In many cases, the foreign exchange generated by tourism activities can be beneficial to the local economy. It helps develop new business opportunities in this area. It is a huge opportunity for the host community. And tourism provides job opportunities for the local people. The negative impact can be identified as Inflation, Opportunity Cost, Dependency, Seasonality, Income, and Employment.

Tourism is a sector that can contribute to the economic growth of any region. Sri Lanka has proved to be one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations for most types of tourism and especially event tourism. Sri Lanka has organized various entertainment programs. Among them, Beach Entertainment Evens are organized based on exclusive beaches. Sri Lanka is a wonderful island with an attractive beach destination. Beach parties, events or nightclub music, music concerts, and other beach entertainment programs are held on the beach by locals and foreigners. Beach Entertainment Event has an impact on Sri Lanka socially and economically. It can be positive and negative.

There is something wonderful about a day at the beach. Waves crash, people smile, and the sun beats down on you. The world seems a brighter, happier place when you are at the beach. The combination of experiences you have at the beach makes it so much fun, be it relaxing on the beach, running, or playing and crashing on the waves.

In order to reach this expectation, it is anticipated to have a review of the positive and negative impacts of Beach Entrainment Events which put direct or indirect influences on tourism under the three categories; tourists who visit tourist zone, event organizers and host communities those who are living in the beach area.

Finally, we can identify, Tourists always prefer to get a unique experience from their tours. As a tourist destination, Sri Lanka offers tourists a wide range of options between beach destinations, favorable climate, rich cultural heritage, national parks, and wildlife. Nowadays, many tourists are engaged in beach entertainment events. Beach Entertainment has become popular among tourists, who also like to enjoy the nightlife. This beach entertainment festival affects the host community in various ways.

N.K. Amandi Tharaki Kumara
Buddhist Heritage and Tourism
Department of Pali & Buddhist Studies

References:

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Etiosa, O. (2012, April). The Impacts of Event Tourism on Host Communities, Case: the City of Pietarsaari. Central Ostrobothnia University of Applied Sciences.

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Gursoy, D., Kim, K., & Uysal, M. (2004, April). Perceived impacts of festivals and special events by organizers: An extension and validation. Tourism Management,171-181.