Socio-behavioural barriers and policy gaps in implementing circular economy models in coastal tourism: a qualitative study in the Kalutara District, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Global tourism has recovered rapidly following the COVID-19 pandemic, and international arrivals have returned to pre-pandemic levels in many regions, placing renewed pressure on local environments and resource systems in popular destinations. Tourism generates diverse waste streams (solid waste, food waste, plastics) and increases demands on water, energy, and sanitation infrastructure, making the sector both a contributor to environmental degradation and an important target for sustainable interventions. Recent assessments emphasize that sustainable tourism practices, particularly those that reduce waste and keep materials in productive use are essential for aligning tourism with climate and circularity goals. The circular economy (CE) offers process-oriented strategies (reduce, reuse, recycle, remanufacture, valorize) that can reduce resource throughput and environmental impacts of tourism value chains while creating local economic opportunities. In the Sri Lankan context, several studies and policy documents have advanced CE concepts across sectors and highlighted the potential for circular business models in tourism small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, implementation remains uneven: technical solutions exist, but social, institutional and market barriers constrain adoption in practice. Recent Sri Lankan studies document a range of implementation barriers including limited stakeholder awareness, inadequate incentives, weak value-chain linkages, financing constraints, and regulatory gaps across sectors such as construction, apparel and municipal waste management. These cross-sectoral findings suggest that technical feasibility alone is insufficient and that socio-behavioral and governance factors play a critical role in uptake.