Prof. (Dr.) WHMS Samarathunga

Education Qualifications

• Doctor of Management (Tourism Management), Sichuan University, Chengdu, P.R. China
• Masters in Tourism Economics & Hotel Management, University of Colombo, Colombo 03, Sri Lanka
• B.Sc. (Special) Tourism Management, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Belihuloya, Sri Lanka

Appointments / Professional Experience

• Professor: Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka [01/02/2023 to present]
• Senior Lecturer: Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Faculty of Management Studies, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, [01/07/2015 to 31/01/2023]
• Director: University Business Linkage Cell / Technology Transfer Officer, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, [20/12/2021 to present]
• Research Director: International Center for Interdisciplinary Culture Heritage & Tourism Research of China-Sri Lanka, Sichuan University, Chengdu, P.R. China) [01/01/2019 – present]
• Board Member: Research Advisory Committee of National Institute of Post-Harvest Management, Sri Lanka
• Tourism Consultant: ICEI/OVERSEAS/Ecowave Travels (Pvt.) Limited [01/03/2012 – 30/06/2015] Address: Main Street, Arugambay, Pottuvil, Sri Lanka URL: https://www.ecowave.lk/index.php
• Junior Executive: Aitken Spence Travels (Pvt.) Limited [01/03/2011 – 29/02/2012] Address: Aitken Spence Travels (Pvt.) Ltd. 4th Floor, Aitken Spence Tower Two, 315, Vauxhall Street, Colombo 02, Sri Lanka. URL: https://www.aitkenspencetravels.com/

Awards and Recognitions

• Most Outstanding Young Researcher 2022 in the field of Management Studies Award, awarded by the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors, Sri Lanka (CVCD Awards)
• Most Outstanding Young Researcher, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, 2024
• Most Outstanding Young Researcher in the Faculty of Management Studies, 2022
• Top Ten Researchers (4^th place) with the highest number of indexed journal articles, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, 2024
• Top Ten Researchers (5^th place) with the highest H-index, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, 2024
• Top Ten Researchers (2^nd place) with the highest number of citations, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, 2024
• Vice Chancellor’s Award 2021 for the researcher who has published the highest number of research in Indexed Journals in the Faculty of Management Studies – 1st Place
•  Vice Chancellor’s Award 2021 for the researcher having the highest H-Index in the Faculty of Management Studies – 1st place
•  Vice Chancellor’s Award 2021 for the Researcher having the highest citations in the Faculty of Management Studies – 2nd Place
• Awarded as the one of the Top 20 Researchers of the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka in 2021
• Won the SAARC Research Grant 2014/2015 for the research project “Promoting Intangible Heritage Tourism in Northern Province in Sri Lanka”. Grant No. SAARC/CC/Research Grants/14-15

Publications

Journal Publications (Indexed in Web of Science, SSCI, SCOPUS, ABDC)

• Samarathunga, WHMS; Schanzel, Heike, Perera, JADR. (2024) . Spiritual Tourism, Spiritual Tourists and Religions: the nexus between Authenticity and Commodification. Tourism Planning and Development. (DOI:10.1080/21568316.2024.2358911). ESCI/Scopus – Q1 (2024)
• Pu, P., Cheng, L.; Samarathunga, WHMS., & Wall, Geoffrey. (2022). Tour Guides’ Sustainable Tourism Practices in Host Guest Interactions ：When Tibet Meets the West. Tourism Review. (DOI: 10.1108/TR-04-2022-0182) SSCI – Q1 (2023)
• Samarathunga, WHMS., Cheng, Li., & Weerathunga, PR. (2020). Transitional domestic tourist gaze in a post-war destination: A case study of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Tourism Management Perspectives, 35 (DOI: 10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100693). SSCI – Q1 (2020)
• Samarathunga, WHMS., & Cheng, Li. (2020). Tourist Gaze and Beyond: State of the Art. Tourism Review. (DOI: 10.1108/TR-06-2020-0248). SSCI – Q1 (2020)
• Samarathunga, WHMS.,Cheng Li, Weerathunga, P.R. (2019). Buddhist Gaze at a Post-war Destination. Journal of Tourism & Cultural Change. (DOI:10.1080/14766825.2020.1849241). SSCI – Q3 (2020)
• Weerathunga, P.R., Xiaofang, C., Samarathunga, WHMS. (2020). The Relative Effect of Growth of Economy, Industry Expansion and Firm-Specific Factors on Corporate Hotel Performance in Sri Lanka, Sage Open. (DOI: 10.1177/2158244020914633). SSCI Q4 (2019) 
• Chen, X., Weerathunga, P. R., Nurunnabi, M., Kulathunga, K. M. M. C. B., & Samarathunga, W. H. M. S. (2020). Influences of Behavioral Intention to Engage in Environmental Accounting Practices for Corporate Sustainability: Managerial Perspectives from a Developing Country. Sustainability, 12(13), 5266. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135266 – SSCI Q3
• Dissanayake, DMMI., & Samarathunga, WHMS. (2021). Post-war City to a Tourism City: the Perspectives of Local Stakeholders on Post-war City Tourism Development in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. International Journal of Tourism Cities (DOI:10.1108/IJTC-05-2020-0111) – Scopus, ESCI
• Weerathunga, P. R., Samarathunga, W. H. M. S., Rathnayake, H. N., Agampodi, S. B., Nurunnabi, M., & Madhunimasha, M. M. S. C. (2021). The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Acceptance of E-Learning among University Students: The Role of Precipitating Events. Education Sciences, 11(8), 436. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11080436 – Scopus, ESCI
• Weerathunga, P. R., Xiaofang, C., Samarathunga, WHMS., & Kulathunga, K. M. M. C. B. (2020). Application of Entropy Based TOPSIS in Analysis of Sustainability Performance of Sri Lanka Hotels. Journal on Innovation and Sustainability RISUS, 11(3), 100-108. (DOI: 10.23925/2179-3565) – Scopus, ESCI
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2019). Stakeholders’ perspectives on intangible ethnic tourism development: the case of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. International Journal of Tourism Anthropology.(Inderscience Publishers) (DOI: 10.1504/IJTA.2019.107317) – Scopus
• Weerathunga, P. R., Chen, X., & Samarathunga, WHMS. (2019). Firm-specific and Contextual Determinants of Sri Lankan Corporate Hotel Performance. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues. (DOI: 10.32479/ijefi.7880) – Scopus, ESCI

ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRIES

• Samarathunga, WHMS, Gaze. (2022). Forthcoming in Encyclopedia of Tourism Management and Marketing. Ed. Buhalis, Dimitrios. Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800377486.gaze.

Journal Publications In Peer Reviewed Journals

• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2022). Chinese belt and road investments in south Asia under the influence of multiple social crises and natural disasters. Sri Lanka Economic Research, 9(2).   
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2022). Post-war Heritage Tourism Development in Contemporary Sri Lanka: Issues and Challenges at Post-war Destinations.  Journal of Archaeology, Anthropology, and Heritage Management. Bhiksu University of Sri Lanka. (Accepted – in press).
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2022) Nationalism Discourse, Tourism and Reconciliation. The Journal of Archaeology and Heritage Studies. (Accepted – in press).
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2021). Promoting Chinese Cultural Heritage Tourism in Sri Lanka during Post-COVID19 Revival Phase: Viewpoint. TRIVALENT ත්‍රිසංයුජ: Journal of Archaeology, Tourism & Anthropology, 2(1), 14–31.
• Samarathunga, WHMS. & Pathirana, HPAS. (2019). School Students’ Awareness on Impacts of Tourism and Career Intention: the Case of Sri Lanka. VISTAS Journal of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, 11(1), 56-76.
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2018). Exploring the Relationship between Beach Boys and Tourists Using Host-guest Theory: The Case of Bentota, Sri Lanka. Journal of Management and Tourism Research, 1(1), 1-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17632/n3jfn7z9zb.1
• Samarathunga, WHMS (2018). School students’ attitude towards the Career Intention in the Tourism Industry: the Case of North Central Province, Sri Lanka. Journal of Management Matters, 5(2), 1-16.
• Samarathunga, WHMS., & Warnasekara, J. (2018). Health awareness and health issues among international tourists visiting Sri Lanka. Journal of Management Matters, 5(1), 21-34.
• Samarathunga, WHMS., & Pathirana, HPAS. (2018). Developing a demographic profile of adventure tourists visiting Arugambay, Sri Lanka. SEUSL Journal of Marketing, 3(1), 1-10.
• Samarathunga, WHMS. & Jayathilake, PMB. (2018). Assessment of Regional Tour Guide Training Programmes in Sri Lanka: Towards Promoting Tourism Education, SEUSL Journal of Marketing, 3(2), 1-9.
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2016) Challenges in Cruise Tourism in Relation to Shore Excursions: the Case of Sri Lanka, Colombo Business Journal, 7(2), 04-21. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4038/cbj.v7i2.6
• Samarathunga, WHMS., & Pathirana, HPAS. (2016). Micro and small scale travel agencies in Sri Lanka: An exploratory study, Journal of Management Matters, 3(1), 29-38.

Books / Book Chapters & Magazine Article Publications

• Samarathunga, WHMS. & Jayathilake, K. (2023).Covid-19, Tourism Structural Changes and the Habitus Adaptations at tourism destinations: perspectives of Tourism Agents in The Practice of Tourism Stakeholders in Covid-19 Affected Destinations. Channel View Publishers.
• Samarathunga, WHMS., Gamage, D., Perera, PKU., Chandrasekara, CHMNL., Pathirana, HPAS. (2023, forthcoming). Cricket Tourism as a Catalyst of Sustainable Developments at Island Destinations: the case of Sri Lanka. Sport Tourism and Local Sustainable Development in Small Island Territories: A Comparative Perspective.
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2021). Making Tourism for Inclusive Growth Realistic by Encouraging the ‘People with Disabilities’ Participating in Tourism Value Chain through Tour Guiding. SPARKLE-2021, NSBM Green University, Colombo
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2022). The brain drain catastrophe: where are we heading?, Management Digest, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. (in press)
• Samarathunga, WHMS., & Gnanapala, WKAC. (2016) Impact of All-inclusive Tour Packages with special reference to Bentota Tourist Resort, Sustainable Tourism in the Global South: Communities, Environments and Management, Cambridge Scholars Publications, United Kingdom
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2015) Community-Based Tourism, Flop or Triumph?, Tourism & Community, Redstone Publishing, Colombo
• Samarathunga, WHMS. (2016) Rural Development through Community Based Tourism: an Assessment of Jaffna District with reference to Intangible Cultural Heritage, Tourism & Community, Redstone Publishing, Colombo
• Samarathunga, WHMS. & Bogahawatthe, C. (2019). Intangible Cultural Heritage of Jaffna (BOOK). Under review at South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC Center)