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don't call tourism names Citing the myriad of names tourism operators have coined such as nature tourism, sustainable tourism, eco tourism, adventure tourism, people-based tourism, village tourism, cultural tourism, Robbie said "these names often confuse the real essence of tourism and make us believe that we are doing all the right things, when in fact we are not. We take solace in the fact that we have put a label on and make believe that the label fits what we do". Recognizing the need for brand identities, he said "If you must call tourism a name, call it Good Tourism, for all tourism must be sustainable, eco friendly, utilise cultural and heritage resources sensitively, fully benefit the host communities and be a profitable business for those who run it and for those for whom it is run." In the mid-1960's Pannell, Kerr and Foster of Hawaii, prepared Sri Lanka's first ever Tourism Master Plan, and identified Bentota, Koggalla, Trincomalee and Passikudah to be developed as planned resorts. The plan also proposed a simple rule of thumb guideline for coastal tourism facilities development. It said that no hotel constructed on the coasts of Sri Lanka should be taller than a coconut tree. Today, we reap the benefits of this simple yet profound guideline in Bentota, Negombo and other coastal resorts not being a Waikikki (Hawaii), Pattaya (Thailand) or Gold Coast (Australia) type high-rise jungles by the beach. The Prime Minister this week called on the development of the Galle Fort for tourism and diversifying Sri Lanka's tourism offering, as the way forward strategy to ensure that Sri Lanka gets the highest yield possible from tourism. He mentioned one million tourists in five years, focusing not on the numbers but on quality. Indeed, high spending tourists sensitive to our heritage, culture and nature are what we need to aim for in a peaceful Sri Lanka of the future. But we must also not rule out the sensitive visitors and the youth, who may not be big spenders now, but are explorers and discoverers of destinations. In Nepal, the dictum in the sixties was 'Today's hippie may be tomorrows CEO'. And in many cases, it was so. In RAM's mind we need to look elsewhere to determine the real issues on why Sri Lanka gets low yields from tourism. We went through long periods of uncertainty in the past twenty years when survival was the key need of the tourism industry. In that scenario, we embraced the phenomenon of All-inclusive Tours where the 'low end of the spectrum' tourists came on cheap prepaid tours. Upon arrival on chartered aircraft they were greeted at the hotel receptions with different coloured tags put on their wrists. These tags similar to those worn by patients in hospitals indicated what different things these holiday makers were entitled to during their stays. How many beers they could have, if breakfast, lunch or dinner was included, the class of room for stay were determined through the tag they each wore. These All-inclusive tours are known not only to bring low-end holiday makers to destinations but also to result in foreign exchange leakages of substantial proportions. In Sri Lanka still, a near one-third of our tourism operates on this basis. In several countries this kind of tourism is banned. Leakages also happen in the manner in which foreign investments come in. We need to ensure that those who lease our land and assets for tourism operations do not become mere gold diggers. There must be ways to determine that real funds in the form of foreign exchange come into the country and that a substantial part of it stays behind to pay for the real value of the assets utilised. In our quest
for the fast buck, we must not tag our heritage on a cheap sale. We must not forget that tourism is a fast return on investment activity that can bring much benefit to communities. This should not be in the form of the host communities being mere wage workers in the industry, 'Beach Boy' hangers on or sellers of wares. Host communities must be able to participate in tourism development directly as stakeholders. The true essence of 'eco tourism' is indeed not tourism operations that are carried out in the wilderness with a label put on it. In our quest for moving upmarket, we also need to explore options to develop a participatory type of tourism, which will also result in good returns in the future. High-end visitors often look for experiences different to those of the 'within the box' models we are accustomed to today. |
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