As one of the biological hotspots and a developing country in the world, Sri Lanka has practiced ecotourism since late 1980s as a remedy for solving the existing socio-cultural, economic issues and conserving biodiversity. Ecotourism brings foreign exchange, develops the tourist industry, provides jobs both locally and nationally, and provides a method to use forest areas compatible with conservation and to deter illegal timber felling and poaching. Over the last four decades, ecotourism has developed gradually in Sri Lanka. Thus, the primary objective of the concept paper was to understand ‘how Sri Lanka ecotourism stakeholders have conceptualized and implemented ecotourism concept’. To achieve the objective, first, contradictory conceptions of ecotourism by Sri Lanka ecotourism stakeholders were illustrated; then, the article reviews the contradictory implementation of the ecotourism concept in Sri Lanka based on the literature and the experiences of the authors. The research revealed that Sri Lanka ecotourism stakeholders have comprehended and executed ecotourism concept differently. The contradictory conception and implementation of ecotourism have led to emerging genuine ecotourism and defective ecotourism destinations in terms of multidimensional sustainability.