Athula Gnanapala
Prof. W.K. Athula Chammika Gnanapala is a Professor in Tourism Management attached to the Dept. of Tourism Management, Faculty of Management Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. Currently, he is functioning as the Dean, Faculty of Management Studies as well as the Programme Coordinator of the M.Sc. Ayurvedic Hospital Management degree programme conducted by the university.
Dr. Athula Gnanapala obtained his first degree, B.Sc. in Tourism Management from the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka in 1997. After that, he obtained his M.Sc. Degree in Management from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. Dr. Gnanapala obtained his Doctoral degree in Tourism Management from the Xiamen University, P.R. China in 2011.
His research interests includes consumer behavior in tourism including motivation, perception & satisfaction, sustainable tourism planning & development, strategy and business models, green marketing etc and Dr. Gnanapala has published his research findings in both nationally and internationally reputed journals, books and other publications.
He disseminates his expertise as a reviewer of nationally and internationally recognized journals, tourism consultant, editorial member and also a scientific committee member for the international symposiums. Further, Dr. Gnanapala renders his service as a supervisor for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD research studies.
Phone: 0094 71 86 11192
Address: Head, Dept. of Tourism Management, Faculty of Management Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, P.O. Box 02, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka
Dr. Athula Gnanapala obtained his first degree, B.Sc. in Tourism Management from the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka in 1997. After that, he obtained his M.Sc. Degree in Management from the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. Dr. Gnanapala obtained his Doctoral degree in Tourism Management from the Xiamen University, P.R. China in 2011.
His research interests includes consumer behavior in tourism including motivation, perception & satisfaction, sustainable tourism planning & development, strategy and business models, green marketing etc and Dr. Gnanapala has published his research findings in both nationally and internationally reputed journals, books and other publications.
He disseminates his expertise as a reviewer of nationally and internationally recognized journals, tourism consultant, editorial member and also a scientific committee member for the international symposiums. Further, Dr. Gnanapala renders his service as a supervisor for undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD research studies.
Phone: 0094 71 86 11192
Address: Head, Dept. of Tourism Management, Faculty of Management Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, P.O. Box 02, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka
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Papers by Athula Gnanapala
of this review paper is to identify the impact of COVID 19 pandemic on the tourism and hospitality industry employees in Sri Lanka and second, to identify the future challenges faced by the employees of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. The study was carried out using qualitative methodology with the qualitative data collection techniques. The personal interviews were carried out with the public and private sector officers to get their opinions
and suggestions such as Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Sri Lankan Airlines, Sri Lanka Hotel Association, Sri Lanka Inbound travel operators, Sri Lanka Institute of National Tourist guide lecturers. The findings revealed that the industry is badly affected and presently around 12000 tourists are blocked in the country. There are more than 400,000
direct and indirect tourism and hospitality employees in the industry lost their jobs or income sources. All the potential income sources of the country have been blocked and therefore the local community has faced a severe financial crisis. It will not be easy to retain the employees in the tourism and hospitality industry since they expect the job security. Thus, it is essential to go for resilience strategies immediately like such as giving governments support for the industry, conduct programmes to keep positive mind-set of
tourism employees to remain within the industry during this hardship, empowering employees effectively. In this critical situation, the industry expect the active mediation of government to facilitate them to face this devastating situation with favourable concessions, relief packages, reduction of tax burden, favourable policies and strategies to rebuild the industry, Tourism Employees Relief Package (TERP) etc. However, it will not be easy in
short run in the pandemic affected economies and societies. Therefore, it needs to have effective resilience strategies first, to retain the employees with the industry and next to rebuild the ruined industry.
Key words: Socio-Economic Impacts; Community Perception; Wildlife Tourism, National Parks; Local Community Development.
of this review paper is to identify the impact of COVID 19 pandemic on the tourism and hospitality industry employees in Sri Lanka and second, to identify the future challenges faced by the employees of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. The study was carried out using qualitative methodology with the qualitative data collection techniques. The personal interviews were carried out with the public and private sector officers to get their opinions
and suggestions such as Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, Sri Lankan Airlines, Sri Lanka Hotel Association, Sri Lanka Inbound travel operators, Sri Lanka Institute of National Tourist guide lecturers. The findings revealed that the industry is badly affected and presently around 12000 tourists are blocked in the country. There are more than 400,000
direct and indirect tourism and hospitality employees in the industry lost their jobs or income sources. All the potential income sources of the country have been blocked and therefore the local community has faced a severe financial crisis. It will not be easy to retain the employees in the tourism and hospitality industry since they expect the job security. Thus, it is essential to go for resilience strategies immediately like such as giving governments support for the industry, conduct programmes to keep positive mind-set of
tourism employees to remain within the industry during this hardship, empowering employees effectively. In this critical situation, the industry expect the active mediation of government to facilitate them to face this devastating situation with favourable concessions, relief packages, reduction of tax burden, favourable policies and strategies to rebuild the industry, Tourism Employees Relief Package (TERP) etc. However, it will not be easy in
short run in the pandemic affected economies and societies. Therefore, it needs to have effective resilience strategies first, to retain the employees with the industry and next to rebuild the ruined industry.
Key words: Socio-Economic Impacts; Community Perception; Wildlife Tourism, National Parks; Local Community Development.
The study was carried out using different methods, first, a secondary data analysis was done to identify the impact COVID 19 pandemic on tourism industry using different data sources. Then, the semi structured interviews were carried out with the officers of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and experts in the professional associations and industry. The findings revealed that the industry is badly affected with the zero level tourist arrivals, decline of foreign exchange earnings, increase of unemployment, financial crisis in the industry, loss of source markets. In this critical situation, industry is expecting active mediation of government to facilitate them with favorable concessions, relief packages, reduction of tax burden, favorable policies to rebuild the industry, Tourism Resilience Plan (TRP). However, it will not be easy in short run in the pandemic affected economies and societies. Therefore, it needs to face the challenges of rebuilding the sector.
Keywords: COVID 19 Pandemic, Tourism Industry, Crisis and Challenges, Sri Lanka