AYURVEDA MEDICAL TOURISM IN SRI LANKA: SERVICE QUALITY & TOURISTS’ SATISFACTION

Abstract

Sri Lanka is well known for Ayurveda medicine and treatment because of its traditional background and availability of plenty of natural herbs. Traditional health tourism is a good opportunity for the Sri Lankan tourism industry. Medical tourism has been identified as a developing industry by the government of Sri Lanka as well. “Health” was introduced since 2014, as a new category for purpose of tourists’ visit to Sri Lanka. Even though there is a rapid increasing of tourists’ arrivals after 2009, there is a rapid falling down of arriving tourists for the purpose of health in Sri Lanka. In such context, 112 international health tourists who were undergoing medical or wellness purposes were conveniently selected from 13 health resorts in south coast Sri Lanka in order to know their perception towards service quality of health tourism in Sri Lanka. As per their perception, service quality of the Ayurveda health resorts contributes significantly to the medical tourists’ satisfaction. Tangibility, responsiveness, and empathy significantly enhance the medical tourists’ satisfaction. It is necessary to improve the overall service quality of the Ayurveda health resorts in order to enhance the medical tourists’ satisfaction for a sustainable medical tourism in Sri Lanka.