Trees for tourism

A speech that India’s former President Dr. Abdul Kalam made on the Indian conscience when he was still President was widely circulated here in Sri Lanka too.

What he in essence said to Indians at large was that they should resist being critical of what is wrong about their motherland and focus on what is positive and great about her, taking-on assertive action as individual citizens to support her efforts.

We all read it with much interest and even forwarded it to our friends on mail lists. But then most of us got on once again to our favourite pass time of criticising everything and everyone around us, about our own nation.

Changing the system

“Our excuse?” Dr. Kalam said, taking what may seem to be mundane, but one that is to do with core societal values, is that everyone thinks “It’s the whole system which has to change.”

Referring to the Indian system of seeking dowries for marriage, he went on to say that the problem was that each thought... “How will it matter if I alone forego my sons’ rights to a dowry?” and went on to question “So who’s going to change the system? What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the Government, but definitely not ME and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system, we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along and work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand. Or we leave the country and run away... Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.”

A long list

We talk about waste of resources and the state holding ‘thamashas’ and organise the most luxurious weddings for our own kin or hold glitzy corporate events when more austere options are available.

We talk about national reconciliation but do not take the trouble on our own to learn to speak and work in each other’s languages. We talk about corruption, and are the first to give ‘santhosams’ to politicians and officials to get that tender approved or a contract secured.

We talk about fair play and fair policies and are the first to meet with politicians and officials to get them to deviate from the rules for our own benefit. The list is long and the need is not to harp on it, but to get into action to correct them as ME and YOU.

As Dr. Kalam pointed out and we all would agree, it is the only way possible for us to progress to realise our dream for our nation, where reconciliation, national unity, lasting peace and balanced social and economic development will be our priority.   

Opportunities in tourism

With that as a preamble, and noting that there is so much more that needs to be done individually and collectively to get there, let us look at the opportunities we have in tourism today.

No more do we have the threat of terrorism and most obstacles that prevented visitors from coming over to Sri Lanka are now out of the way. The Government has placed tourism as a key pillar industry in its future development agenda and is supporting its sustainable growth.

Infrastructure such as roads, railways, waterways, ports and airports are being developed and the east and the north is slowly regaining its lost potency. The Budget proposals provided the much-sought-after relief of tax waivers for the import of transport vehicles for tourists and tourist sites are being developed with basic facilities such as toilets, safety features and signage, etc., added on.

What was so far the unregulated and dubious activity of gaming has now been brought under regulation and plans for it to be developed within integrated resorts is being discussed. Other resort projects, community tourism initiatives and a greater involvement of the public at large in tourism is encouraged.

Healthy approach

In a somewhat gloomy global economic environment, Sri Lanka is able to register reasonable incremental growth on its visitor arrivals and the approach taken is one of stable growth rather than playing ‘fast catch-up on lost time’ as most had envisaged.

No more is there talk about the targets of many millions and the focus is on yield, quality and plugging forex leakages. In my considered opinion, this is healthy. I want my readers to note that my views do not come loaded with the thinking of any affiliation to persons, a group, camp, party or colour.

‘Earth Lung’ initiative

A few years ago, Sri Lanka made a global first, when it declared its intent to become an ‘Earth Lung’. What it sought was for the destination to become carbon neutral by 2020. Although the idea gained traction internationally, locally it’s time had not yet come, for most of our industry pundits saw it as an idea that should be placed on the back-burner for there were more burning ‘bread and butter’ issues they had to resolve.

Although the recent initiatives of the Government of planting over a million trees within a few minutes in celebration of our Head of State’s assumption of duties on a second term was not a direct action related to that envisaged by the ‘Earth Lung’ concept, to me it is a huge initiative that our tourism industry should take advantage of on its product development and promotion front.

The world of tourism today is hurt by taxes imposed at conventional generating market countries for offsetting climate change and global warming. Our consumers at the upper and mid-end have become more and more aware and conscious of the need to offset the carbon emissions they generate while travelling.

Most will have the will to pay a premium at destinations that seek to be carbon clean and also place those that do take these initiatives seriously on top of their destination choices.

Ride the wave

With State patronage at the highest level for nation-wide efforts at creating green canopies all around this country, our tourism industry has an excellent opportunity to ride the crest of the wave for its own healthy development.

Trees are never enough. More and more of them will mean more and more CO2 offsets and there will be some deforestation and denudation that will take place. Sans only complaining about those,  the industry should now take it upon itself to make the initiative taken by the Government to join in big with its own initiatives at planting more and more trees and taking on more and more programmes that will help Sri Lanka be a ‘lung,’ it can be for Mother Earth.

As Dr. Kalam said this should not be a “mortgaging our conscience for money”. It must be because ‘trees for tourism’ can make good economic sense and support Sri Lanka as a sustainable tourist destination, while contributing genuinely towards efforts at making our planet a healthier and safer place for us and future generations to live in.       

 

(Renton de Alwis is a former Chairman of Sri Lanka Tourism serving two terms during 2000-2002 and again from 2007-2008. He served as Head of the Asia Division of the Pacific Asia Travel Association(PATA) based in Singapore from 1990-96 and as CEO of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore from 1997-99. He also served as a Chief Technical Advisor and consultant with the ADB, UNDP, UNWTO, ESCAP, UNICEF and the ILO. Now in retirement, Renton lives away from Colombo in the Deep South of Sri Lanka and is involved in writing and social activism. He can be contacted at [email protected].)