• Most face harassment in the form of persistent vendors, cheating, begging
• A minority face sexual harassment, unsatisfactory service, misappropriation, theft, and assault
• Tourists have a high negative perception, low attitude regarding the destination and its quality

The majority of tourists who visit the Hikkaduwa beach have experienced various forms of harassment, which has led to a high negative perception and a very low attitude regarding the destination and its quality with persistent vendors, cheating, and begging being identified by tourists as the types of harassment that most faced, while sexual harassment, providing an unsatisfactory service, misappropriation, theft, and assault were noted as the types of harassment faced by a minority.

These findings were made in an article on the “Effect of tourists’ harassment to the destination image and repeat visit intention of tourists: A case study of Sri Lanka”, which was authored by R.S.S.W. Arachchi (attached to the Department of Tourism Management of the Faculty of Management Studies of the Sabaragamuwa University) and published in the Journal of Management (15)1 in December 2020.

Arachchi conducted a pilot survey with four officers of the Tourist Police Division and two officers in the Research and International Relations Division of the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) along with two tour guides, in order to identify the major places where tourist harassment takes place such as at beaches, streets, markets, hotels, natural attractions, cultural sites, in transportation, and at cafés. 

They expressed the following views: “Tourist harassment is one of the major issues which affect the tourism industry. I think that beaches and cultural sites are the highest recorded places where tourist harassment occurs”; “I think that beach sites are the places where the most harassment occurs. One can identify Mount Lavinia, Mirissa, and Hikkaduwa as the major hotspots for tourist harassment”; “Most times, I saw with my own eyes how most tourists face different difficulties while enjoying their vacation. Especially women faced more difficulties than men because of the locals. I think that beach destinations are the places where most tourist harassment cases are recorded, especially because of the beach boys”.

The principal types of tourist harassment include persistent vendors (charging exorbitant prices), sexual harassment (soliciting of an unwanted sexual relationship), providing an unsatisfactory service (the selling of substandard items), physical harassment (misappropriation), theft/robbery, pestering, threatening, assault, cheating, and begging.

Beach sites are major places where tourist harassment takes place. Further, the Tourist Police Related Tourist Complaints – Police Tourist Division (RTC-PTD) report mentioned that many direct common complaints received by the Tourist Police Division in Colombo are from beach areas. According to the Tourist Police RTC-PTD report, Hikkaduwa could be identified as a major hotspot for tourist harassment and the Hikkaduwa beach site was selected for the study. 

Arachchi collected primary data for this research through a questionnaire survey, site observations and interviews with community members, site guides, security officers, and officers who work in tourism related organisations. There are more types of harassment faced by tourists at beach sites. Most of the time, tourist harassment spoiled the tourist’s tourism experience and as a result, these tourists were dissatisfied with the tour; which then directly affects the destination image and the propensity for a repeat visit which means that tourist harassment diminishes the impression of the destination and the propensity to repeat a visit.

The population of the research consisted of tourists who were within the Hikkaduwa beach site during the concerned period which included 100 tourists who visited the Hikkaduwa beach site from September 2018 to March 2019.

A total of 71 respondents (71%) of the sample experienced various harassments while 29 (29%) did not experience any kind of harassment.

A total of 71 respondents (30%) were harassed by persistent vendors, seven (3%) experienced sexual harassment, 11 (4%) were harassed by the provision of an unsatisfactory services, two (1%) experienced physical harassment (misappropriation), four (2%) experienced robbery, three males (1%) experienced assault, 69 (29%) experienced cheating, and 71 (30%) faced harassment from vendors and beggars.

Persistent vendors, cheating and begging were identified as the major types of tourist harassment which were experienced by tourists at the Hikkaduwa beach site.

There is a strong, significantly negative relationship between tourist harassment and the intention/propensity to revisit, and a strong, significantly negative relationship between tourist harassment and the destination image, while there is a strong, significantly positive relationship between the destination image and the propensity to revisit.

Increasing tourist harassment causes a decrease of the propensity to repeat a visit. Increasing tourist harassment causes a decrease in the destination’s appeal. Increasing the destination’s appeal causes an increase in the propensity to repeat a visit. The destination image also acts as a mediator of sorts.

Arachchi conducted in-depth interviews with two officers of the Tourist Police Division of Galle, two site guides, two national guides, two tourists who stayed in Hikkaduwa, two hoteliers and four community members. All interviewees accepted that tourists faced many problems and difficulties while staying in Hikkaduwa. 

One community member replied: “I saw most of the tourists facing many problems while visiting Hikkaduwa.” One hotelier said: “Hikkaduwa is an unplanned development area, and so the tourists who stay face different types of difficulties.” The Galle Tourist Police Division officers replied: “I think that most of the tourists who come to stay in Hikkaduwa will face more difficulties.” 

The majority said that female tourists who came as free independent travellers and young tourists faced certain problematic situations in terms of harassment. Most of the tourists faced different types of harassment at the beach site, as a result of which they had a bad image about the destination, and moreover, they did not like to recommend the site to others. In this case, Government involvement to enforce the law, rules and regulations is very much essential in order to control such harassment. Further, the Tourist Police should pay more attention to addressing these issues.

Arachchi made several recommendations including proposing a “by-pass road”, increasing the involvement of the respondent parties, establishing rules and regulations, issuing identification cards for tourism stakeholders, and conducting awareness programmes for site guides.

Hikkaduwa is an unplanned development area. There is a hotel complex which is established close to the road, so unlike in the Bentota area, there is no freedom for tourists to walk on the road independently. Especially at night, most female tourists do not have any freedom to walk on the road independently due to the forceful behaviour of certain three-wheeler drivers who ask the tourists to take their services by force. 

Further, in Hikkaduwa, there are many robberies that occur at night. The view of most of the respondents is to develop Hikkaduwa like the Bentota area, and for that, the responsible parties should propose a by-pass road for the tourists.

To reduce the harassment that occurs at Hikkaduwa, the involvement of the SLTDA and the Tourist Police should increase. Most of the respondents were of the view that the Tourist Police involvement is especially very low. They should monitor the beach and the roads in order to prevent harassment from beach boys. 

To reduce the problem, the Tourist Police should implement the law properly. Most of the people were of the view that the Tourist Police only attend to traffic offences. They should be on the spot. All the tourism stakeholders should be involved in order to solve these problems. It is better to use a participatory approach of all the tourism stakeholders in order to reduce this issue.

The officials should establish certain rules and regulations against unnecessary influencers. Most of the tourists face different types of difficulties and problems due to the local people. Lone individual travellers especially face many of these problems due to beach boys. The authorities should conduct regular inspections and licensing in order to remove illegal operators on the beach. Moreover, the Government should consider enacting laws that criminalise the harassment of tourists.

The responsible parties should be involved in issuing identification cards for three-wheeler drivers, site guides, and fishermen. Some tourists are highly dependent on the support of beach boys rather than on professional tour guides. Therefore, tourists face more problems when it comes to identifying real tour guides from beach boys. Thus, the responsible parties should issue a licence for the site guides who guide in the Hikkaduwa beach area. By issuing identification cards to them, the tourists can easily identify those persons separately from the influencers.

The officials should create awareness among site guides by highlighting the importance of tourists to the economy while emphasising the image of the destination.

The relevant authorities such as the SLTDA, the Tourist Police and the Ministry of Tourism must concern themselves on this matter and take immediate actions to minimise these issues.