Assessment of pedestrian facilities in Kandy world heritage city from the perspective of tourists

Abstract

Tourists attract more towards world heritage cities recently. Kandy, Sri Lanka is one such heritage tourist destination. Sri Dalada Maligawa, where the Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha is placed in the heart of Kandy City. Besides, many historical other shrines of different religions and Royal Botanical garden is located in the vicinity of Kandy. Tourists are more cautious about the pedestrian facilities in downtown areas. It is observed that pedestrian facilities are in poor condition in some of streets in Kandy CBD. Properly designed walkaways attract more tourists and indirectly increase the image of the city. Continuous walkways with guard rails, waiting areas with seating facilities, walkways with free of obstacles, proper widths of walkways improve the pedestrian facilities. Conjoint Analysis (CA) is a multivariate technique used to understand how respondents develop preferences for products or services. Current research exemplifies the effectiveness of conjoint analysis in evaluating the most influencing attributes in classification of sidewalks. Sidewalk width, guard rails covering the sidewalks, obstacles, and seating facilities are recognized as highly contributed attributes for pedestrian facilities. Total Utility Value is calculated for selected places by using part-worth utility values of each level of attributes according to results of CA. Pedestrian Preference Score also will be used to achieve better outcomes from this research. Results of CA and PPS results are used to develop a Pedestrian Condition Index (PCI) to assist the pedestrian facilities in this research.