The impact of the tourism industry on the coastal environment in Sri Lanka, Special reference to Unawatuna

Sri Lanka is an island called “Pearl of the Indian Ocean”. The country has a coastline of around 1600km approximately. It is a major factor protecting the country’s land area. This geographical location affects the growth of the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. Because of the favorable environment, sunlight, water, climate, sea, as well as the coastline has been popular among foreigners. Other than that, the south coast area becomes the most attractive area in Sri Lanka. But, several unfavorable reasons affected to damage the coastal line and it directly impacts the tourism industry in Sri Lanka. Natural and human actions affect to increase this damage day by day. In this study, the main objective of the study is to examine the impact of the tourism industry on the coastal environment in Unawatuna. The most popular tourist area of the Yaddehimulla and Unawatuna central area selected as a study area. Questionnaires, consensus discussions, and observation were used to collect primary data and administered 30 of local and foreigners, managers of tourist hotels selected using a non-random sampling method. And also secondary data gathered from the department of coast conservation and Habaraduwa Divisional Secretariat Division. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The result revealed that the tourism industry negatively impacts to Unawatuna coastal area. Coastal pollution by waste, negative impact on coastal flora and fauna, unauthorized construction in the coastal zone, violation of rules and regulation of the department of coast conservation are highly affected by that. The solution is as follows, there are a lot of hotels and other tourist facilities in coastal areas. It can proceed with the concept of “green hotels” to the coastal area. Should be prohibited the boat traveling in hypersensitive coral areas is important. Removal of unauthorized construction in the coastal zone. This study helps to coastal conservation department to manipulate the inherent activities of tourism service centers.