I repost this ‘Out of the Box’ column I wrote for the FT, Sri Lanka in February 2010, without further comment …
Tourism, unlike terrorism is about unity, serenity and purpose. It is about bringing people together, to share one another’s heritage, culture, resources, thoughts and ideas. Although, it may have its negative impacts when handled wrong, at the core as a human activity and movement, tourism is never intended to be destructive or negative. Its lure and appeal is often strong and magnetic. Tourism’s fast growth, positive global performance indicators and the fast return on investment have made it a most sought after area for investors. Since tourism depends so much on the natural, cultural, heritage and people resources to form its operational base, any wrong attempt at gelling them together can mean disastrous consequences to a destination, its people and investors themselves.
Just the other day, a villager of the area where I live
came to see me, all excited. He is a person who has had exposure on how to operate
an ecotourism business, being trained by several non-governmental organizations
in the past. He owns a resource rich land bordering the lagoon and the sea, on
which he always intended to set up his own business. The reason for his
excitement was, for a ‘broker’ had come to see him and offered him a tidy sum
of money for his land, also for a tourism activity. This ‘broker’ is said to
have made the offer on behalf of a person residing in Colombo, who in turn was
representing a person overseas. The advice he sought was if he should sell his land
and if so, for how much. The villager has a family of three young children and
the only additional asset the family has for themselves is this land.
My advice to him was that he should not sell, lease or
rent his land. Instead, I suggested that he participates in the venture as an
equity partner, with the land, expertise he possesses of this activity, his
roots in the area and familiarity of its resources as his equity contribution.
I also further advised him to assign a value to his land considering the
natural resources found in the area, such as the rare bird watching experiences,
proximity to the beach and the serendipitous environment. I also advised him of
how his land will go on rapidly appreciating in value and that it would be prudent
of him, not to sell out.
Upon appreciating my position, the villager explained the
reality of his need. While he had what it takes to be part of such a venture,
he was in dire need for immediate liquid cash to sort-out his debts and also
invest further in his children’s education. That was the reason he was seeking
to sell his land outright. An inherited land in the family for generations,
held by him for over three decades of ‘bad’ times, with immense hardship he is
now presented with this seeming ‘opportunity’ to cash in on it.
This to me is symptomatic of a dichotomy faced by many
like him all over rural Sri Lanka. The demand for tourism development is
increasing together with opportunities for communities to participate in that
development in a responsible manner. On the demand side too, there is a
definite niche for well-designed community-based responsible tourism
presentations. Sri Lanka as a destination is positioned as offering a unique
blend of tourism, where our appeal as a serendipitous destination with a myriad
of natural, heritage, cultural and people resources need to be blended to make
it happen. Greening of our island is strongly placed on the government’s
overall policy agenda.
In making sure that it will be so, the rational and
responsible among the investing community now has a huge task on their
shoulders. They need to offer the right solutions to rural entrepreneurs the
likes of our villager. The banking system in turn should venture out to
encourage, support and assist those who are willing to make equity partners of
members of the community in their tourism ventures.
A new outlook, a new way will need to be paved to ensure
that Sri Lanka’s tourism future will be one that is responsible and is one with
nature.
These indeed are challenging times. We either get it
right or get it all wrong.
Pix Credit: Self
No comments:
Post a Comment