Sri Lanka, beaches and beyond…

Sri Lanka is an island off the south-eastern cost shores of India, 880 km north of the equator, in the Indian Ocean, and is also, together with India’s Western Ghats Mountains, considered as one of the world’s 34 bio-diversity hotspots. Royal and sacred cities, colonial strongholds, temple caves and virgin forests – with no fewer than seven UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Sri Lanka is one of Asia’s richest treasure troves of both natural and man-made wonders.

…With its own problem

However, in the past, Sri Lanka’s main product was a packaged beach holiday attracting a low-cost, low-value market segment which resulted in overbuilding on some of the most attractive part of the country. Little care was also given to the creation of a tourism benefiting the population, and Sri Lanka remains one of the poorest countries in the world. The continuing civil conflict has also affected tourism on the island as well as the overall development process. Most recently, the tsunami has damaged tremendously the country, its development and its people. It is also important to remind that Sri Lanka attracts paedophiles, so if you come across such behaviour, you can contact ECPAT (End child prostitution and trafficking)

And a tremendous ecotourism potential

Sri Lanka has a tremendous potential as an eco-tourist destination since it has a wide variety of scenic and ecologically important natural habitats and possesses some of the richest floral and faunal bio-diversity in the region. This remarkable diversity includes 86 species of mammals, 83 snake species, 54 different species of fish and 40 separate frog species. Today, the national parks, sanctuaries and reserves, comprise 14% of the island's total land area of 65610 Sq.km. The biodiversity in Sri Lanka is said to be the greater per Sq.km of surface area than any other country in the Asian Region. Moreover, with its long-standing Buddhist tradition, Sri Lanka has an entrenched environmental ethic. This customary affiliation with wild places and their animal inhabitants is exemplified by the fact that the world’s first wildlife sanctuary was located here, created by King Devanampiya Tissa in the 3rd Century BC.

However, Sri Lanka’s tourism authorities did not really implement a responsible tourism policy, even if some non governmental and private organisations are trying initiate responsible tourism programs.

The pioneer "Ecotourism Organisation" is The Sri Lanka Ecotourism Foundation (SLEF). It has for vision to make Sir Lanka one of the most sought after ecotourism destination in the world, and built a professional ecotourism network, which serves as a model for ecotourism in the South and South East Asian Region.

The Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka is a non-profit organization working primarily for conservation-through birds, and was established in 1976. The Organization is also linked to the Sri Lanka Ecotourism Foundation.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has funded The Competitiveness Initiative (TCI), where they presented Sri Lanka as an ecotourism destination and formed a Tourism Cluster with the aim to devise a unified, industry-wide strategy to enhance the competitiveness of the Sri Lanka tourism industry. Two main sustainable tourism related projects can be cited: a Model ecolodge Initiative to highlight Sri Lanka as an ecotourism destination and an Energy Efficiency Program for the Hotel Sector. The model ecolodge is to establish a demonstration model for best practice ecotourism and establish standards for ecolodges in Sri Lanka. The Energy Efficiency Program has been initiated with the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) and the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) in order to promote and encourage energy efficiency in the Sri Lankan Hotel sector.

The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) branch of Sri Lanka has established a so-called “Core Group for Alternative Tourism” which consists of stakeholders of the tourism industry, mainly small and medium enterprises (hoteliers, tour operators, tour guides) whose mutual interest is to develop and promote this form of tourism. Alternative Tourism as defined by the Core Group is everything other than mass tourism and sun and beach tourism, such as eco tourism, agro tourism, wildlife and nature tourism, sports and adventure tourism, culture and heritage tourism, etc.

The travel foundation has also supported the creation of the Responsible Tourism Partnership which actively promotes sustainable tourism solutions for Sri Lanka

More information about Sri Lanka can be found on the website of the Sri Lanka tourism board.