Out of the Box 12 - Tourism That Doesn't Cost the Earth

by Renton de Alwis

Written at the end of March 2010, for my ‘Out of the Box’ column in the ‘Financial Times of Sri Lanka’ explored the idea of keeping tourism simple to make that a strong magnet for attracting discerning visitors to a destination. Most corporate entities would have forgotten that there was a concept named ’Sri Lanka: a tourism earth lung’ initiated sometime ago, which was frowned upon by most ‘leaders’ of the industry. I call on them to please rethink the merits and demerits of ensuring that we ensure the conservation of our most valuable resource that act as a pedestal for our tourism… the marvels of Mother Nature, we are endowed with. I repost it today for your critical thought.

The title of my column today is the heading of the website of the Icarus Foundation of Canada. Inspired by the Greek mythical character Icarus, who together with his son attempted to escape harm and imprisonment by flying away with crafted wings, it is a not-for-profit environmental, policy, research and education organization focused on sustaining a climate friendly tourism industry. They provide practical information, programs and research that encourage and enable hosts and guests to minimize the greenhouse gases generated by tourism activity. It was founded by a few concerned tourism leaders in Canada in 2007, and now functions as a full fledged foundation with a board and a staff team.

It envisions a prosperous tourism industry, that operates in harmony with the capacity of the Earth's living systems and that is committed to reducing its impact on the production of greenhouse gases that lead to climate change.

The stated mission of the foundation is “to be the catalyst that helps Canada become a climate friendly tourism destination” and its goals are to; 1. measure, monitor and reduce the carbon footprint of Canada’s tourism industry thereby, contributing to the reduction of Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, 2. educate destinations, industry associations, tourism suppliers and visitors about the overall contribution made by tourism to global warming and help reduce their individual and collective contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and use of fossil fuels, 3. advocate the vision of Canada as a genuine “carbon neutral” travel destination, 4. help the Canadian tourism industry adapt to the impact of climate change on its operations, 5. identify and promote examples of best practice within the tourism sector in Canada and communicate positive stories to visitors, 6. become a recognized authority on all matters directly related to tourism and its contribution to climate change and 7. act as a focal point and advocate for Canada to become a carbon neutral tourism destination.

I chose to bring to you information on the Icarus Foundation with a purpose; for there are lessons to be learnt. At the outset, I must state that I am not at all suggesting that we mirror initiatives from any other country, for I believe that Sri Lanka’s solutions must not be those molded elsewhere. While learning from others; ours’ need be home grown.

In 2007, Sri Lanka Tourism when under my leadership, chose to pursue the idea of Sri Lanka working towards being a carbon neutral destination within the decade, the tourism world at large, cheered us on. It was called the ‘Tourism Earth Lung Programme’ and was considered a unique initiative with Sri Lanka as its origin of birth.

Unfortunately though, these were still times when, most in our ‘tourist trade’ were in a survival mode and placed importance in only filling beach-fronted hotel rooms. Taking on strategic issues, such as meeting challenges of climate change had to be ‘placed in the back burner’. The concept and programme met with strong and vehement opposition by some members on the boards of management of Sri Lanka Tourism, which by then were defined private-public sector partnerships with private sector captains of industry holding key decision making positions. Allocation of a small amount of funds for the programme, (much less than was to be spent on an annual festival on the beach) to take off were not made and the programme was shelved. It was labeled as an individual’s pipe dream and later saw a forced death.      

Why I chose to revisit this fiasco is because I believe that Sri Lanka Tourism needs to be better focused on its strategic directions. As a professional activity that is seeking to be the number one forex earner for the country and as an activity that is dependent entirely on the lush green natural environment and the myriad of cultural, heritage and human resources, our tourism industry needs to have a professional body to serve as its ‘Think Tank’. Just like professional disciplines of accountants, bankers, insurance, engineers, architects, town planners, chemists, surveyors, valuers and the like have professional institutes, where they set standards for operational proficiency, discuss strategic issues and help formulate policy directions, I believe that tourism in Sri Lanka needs a home grown professional body to take on issues that will impact on the long term sustainability of this important area of human activity and business.  


   Pix credit: Sri Lanka Tourism, 2008