| Sri
Lanka was one of the first developing countries in the tropics
that focused on tourism to generate additional jobs, raise
foreign exchange earnings, and to diversify the economy.
Coastal zones in the South and the West of the island have
been on the forefront of tourist infrastructure development.
Here, large hotels were built, which today dominate over
the traditional character of many villages. This development
was accompanied by a subsequent rise of secondary tourist
infrastructure (small restaurants, souvenir and gem shops),
involving a large proportion of the local population in
tourism. This paper describes the development of tourist
infrastructure in two villages, one consisting mainly of
large hotels, the other primarily of guesthouses. The carrying
capacity and the tourism life-cycle concept are applied
to analyse the situation in the villages with respect to
aspects of scale. Results indicate that scale is an important
factor to be considered when defining carrying capacities.
Moreover, there is evidence that carrying capacities are
exceeded because they are defined by perception rather than
scientific analysis. |
