Sri Lanka cricket: a narrative review of tourism potential, regional development, and social impacts

Cricket tourism represents an emerging niche within global sport tourism, particularly in South Asia, where the game embodies culture, identity, and national symbolism. This paper examines Sri Lankan cricket as a social, institutional, and spatial phenomenon, with attention to regional inequality, social capital formation, and tourism potential. Adopting a narrative literature review approach, the study synthesizes 126 scholarly articles, policy documents, industry reports, and official institutional sources to trace cricket's evolution from a colonial pastime to a nationally unifying sport. The narrative synthesis is supported by secondary administrative data and GIS-based spatial analysis (QGIS 3.34) to examine the territorial distribution of cricket infrastructure and school cricket participation. Guided by Social Capital Theory, the analysis explores how cricket generates bonding, bridging, and linking social capital within Sri Lanka's postcolonial and post-war context. Findings reveal pronounced spatial inequalities, with infrastructure and elite development pathways concentrated in Colombo and major urban centers, while peripheral provinces—particularly in the Northern and Eastern regions—remain underserved. School cricket demonstrates broad social reach but also significant attrition across age categories, reflecting educational and regional constraints. The study highlights the Lanka Premier League (LPL) as a key commercial and symbolic initiative enhancing global visibility, alongside the growing but structurally constrained presence of women's cricket. Although direct measurement of cricket-specific tourist flows is limited, the analysis identifies substantial tourism potential linked to event scale, infrastructure readiness, and media reach. Overall, the paper positions cricket as an unevenly realized yet strategic asset for inclusive development, reconciliation, and tourism policy in Sri Lanka.