Abstract:
Eco tourism is one of the fastest growing segments in the international tourism market. Presently, Sri Lankan ecotourism sector performs far below its potential. Therefore, Sri Lankan eco-tourism market hasn't considerable demand among travelers. Targeting millennial is one of the strategies to develop eco-tourism. Millennial refers as the individuals who reached adulthood around the turn of the 21st century and Millennial tourists could be identified as one of the largest consumer cohorts in the present market, paying more for sustainability compared with other generations. Equally, the percentage of youth travellers gradually increased with their environmental attitude. The Objectivise of this study are to investigate the relationship between eco-tourism perception and destination loyalty towards eco-tourism, determine the effect of eco-tourism perception and destination loyalty towards eco-tourism and to determine the most influential dimension of ecotourism perception on destination loyalty towards eco-tourism. Primary data collected from 141 international millennial tourists towards eco-tourism in Ella and Horton plains sourced the analysis. The judgemental sampling technique was used for the study and data was collected through a structured questionnaire. In order to achieve the objectives of this research, descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis are used. According to the findings, most of the millennial tourists not favoured Sri Lanka as the preferred destination and as an Eco tourism destination. As for recommendations, cleanliness of the destination, effective promotional method, the convergence of facilities, implement the rules and regulations, minimise the entrance cost and increase the quality of the ecotourism activities and practises of the country could proposed. Further sustainable tourism practices need to be adopted by the Eco tourism destinations to enhance the destination loyalty of Sri Lanka.
