Sustainable tourism model for Sri Lanka

Last year a billion travellers crossed global borders resulting in the largest movement of people ever providing a huge boost to the tourism and leisure industry across the world. In Sri Lanka, a million foreign visitors were recorded in 2012 for the first time in history and this year that number is seen rising by another 200,000. In neighbouring Maldives, tourism authorities are preparing to greet the millionth visitor in Decembr.

All this mean a large percentage of the resources of a country go to feed and service foreign travellers leaving a footprint behind that revolves around the question: is tourism sustainable given earth’s dwindling natural resources particularly water and food?

Countries like the Maldives and other small island resorts are finding it the hard way that the only way forward is through sustainable tourism where visitors themselves are included as being part of the solution; not necessarily the problem. In the Maldives where there is little or no fresh water, most of the water for drinking or other purposes come from desalination of sea water.

A vibrant debate taking place in the Maldives currently - and also connected to the ongoing presidential elections – is a possible shift to the mid-market and guest houses- kind of tourism from an exclusive, high-end destination that the country is well known for. Former President Mohamed Nasheed is pushing for more locally-run, guest houses catering to the mid- market range arguing that local communities are not benefitting enough from tourism, the country’s main revenue earner.

This raises a very pertinent in the Sri Lankan context: Should the country – as it progresses towards a target of 2.5 million visitors by 2016 – still focus on mass tourism or upmarket, boutiquetype travellers, or a mix of both with higher focus on the top-end?

At the World Tourism Day celebrations this year held officially in the Maldives last month, Taleb Refai, Secretary General of the World Tourism Organisation ( WTO), said he believes mass tourism may not be appropriate to the Maldives. “Travellers are getting selective now,” he said, when asked whether a possible shift in the model could deter growth.

The WTO is actively pushing the sustainable tourism model with Mr. Refai saying, “We should turn one billion travellers into one billion opportunities, not one billion disasters (in the environmental and carbon footprint context)”.

He said if one billion travellers do not keep the water running while brushing the teeth in their hotel room, that is one billion benefits ( from travellers). If they don’t want their ( room) towels washed every day, that is another one billion benefits, he argued.

Focusing on the plight of the Maldives which singularly depends on tourism for its economic survival, President Mohamed Waheed says that they are transforming sea water into safe drinking water but at what cost? “Using unlimited quantities of water from the sea, what is the impact? This would lead to global warming and sea level rise. We wrongly believe these resources won’t get exhausted,” he said.

Reducing the carbon footprint ( in the case of travellers - the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during travel and stay in another country) could be modeled, for example, on the lines of carbon trading ( which allows countries that have higher carbon emissions to purchase the right to release more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from countries that have lower carbon emissions). Rewarding ‘ good and conscientious’ travellers with a points scheme that could be used in the future, is another way forward.

Like airline miles or rewards schemes on credit cards, there is a need to devise a rewards model for travellers who are extremely conscious of social needs and obligations. Most hotels now urge guests, through notices posted in rooms, to conserve water and electricity and also reduce the washing of towels daily. This social awareness is increasing and the WTO believes that the effort should be increased at the point of contact – airline seats and hotel rooms.

“We must turn every hotel ( room) and airline seat into an awareness centre and advocate what is good ( and sustainable),” says WTO’s Refai.

Sri Lanka’s challenge lies in pushing for a mix of mass market and top- end travellers to minimize the environmental impact from tourism. In addition to breaking ground with a sustainable model of tourism, it also makes economic sense: For example two highclass travellers spending a total of $5,000 for an 8-day stay is far better than 20 travellers spending the same amount as fewer natural resources are required for the first category.