• The EU launches several tourism development projects under the Tourism Resilience Project

To say the 2020s have been challenging for tourism would be something of an understatement. Globally, tourism took a big hit in 2020 with the pandemic, one that will take years to recover from. 

For Sri Lanka, the pandemic was one of a triple whammy of struggles – we entered 2020 under the dark cloud of the 2019 Easter attacks, and just as tourism was bouncing back, the world shut its borders in a bid to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. That too, Sri Lanka weathered, but following on the heels of the pandemic (somewhat) abating, we were hit by our political and economic crisis. 

This greatly impacted tourism within our shores, both from the perspective of tourists questioning their safety due to political instability and from the perspective of economic volatility impacting the prices and availability of practically every good and service and restricting what tourism and leisure had to offer visitors. 

The scale of tourism in the Sri Lankan context is vast – the tourism sector contributes 12.6% towards Sri Lanka’s economy. It is the third largest foreign exchange earner and European tourists represent nearly half of all tourists coming to Sri Lanka every year (44% in 2022). It is also one of our strongest hopes to bring in much-needed forex and help us through this economic crisis. 

Boosting tourism through diplomatic relations

Recognising this potential, the EU in Sri Lanka and the Maldives embarked on a mission during the pandemic to boost Sri Lanka’s tourism by investing in it. As part of the Tourism Resilience Project, the EU has contributed Euro 7.2 million in grants (approximately Rs. 2.8 billion) to support the sector on multiple fronts, with the projects these grants helped facilitate focusing on key areas of tourism development like the promotion of wellness tourism, the development of Sri Lanka’s first-ever hiking trail (the Pekoe Trail), biodiversity development, community-based tourism development, SME support, sustainable tourism practices and certifications, and national tourism policy development. 

Now, after the base of these projects has been developed to be able to start effecting change, the EU Delegation, led by EU Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Denis Chaibi, launched a communication campaign highlighting and promoting the variety of European support to local and sustainable tourism in Sri Lanka. 

Through this investment in Sri Lankan tourism, the EU hopes to reinforce Sri Lanka as a competitive and unique travel destination, nurture small tourism businesses following tourism’s multiple crises these past few years, facilitate capacity-building at the rural community level to give them the skills to more effectively build livelihoods around tourism, and foster entrepreneurship and innovation. 

‘Sri Lanka Less Travelled’

One of the projects that is now out of the infancy stage is the project named ‘Sri Lanka Less Travelled’ – a sustainable ecotourism model to support livelihoods and communities. Sri Lanka Less Travelled has seen the development of five community-based ecotourism model sites, over 20 ecotourism-based women-led Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) empowered, and 30 promotional campaigns developed to promote nature and community-based tourism. Additionally, Sri Lanka has seen over 60 women and youth increase their skill bases and capacities to work more directly and impactfully in fields related to tourism. 

The core project partners of Sri Lanka Less Travelled are CARE Deutschland e.V. and Chrysalis, a Sri Lankan organisation working to empower women and youth by fostering inclusive growth. 

Sri Lanka Less Travelled focuses on sustainable tourism – a holistic umbrella that covers some of Sri Lanka’s most powerful tourism offerings: eco-adventure tourism, community tourism, spiritual tourism, cultural tourism, and heritage tourism. 

Chrysalis Head of Development Services Ahamed Rislan shared that Sri Lanka Less Travelled was all about community-based tourism. “It includes intersection with communities. Part of wellbeing and mindfulness is having time to enjoy the environment and to engage with cultural and heritage tourism – things to do with the Sri Lankan identity and culture. Sri Lanka Less Travelled sees tourist master plans guiding tourists to enjoy their time.” 

As part of Sri Lanka Less Travelled, Chrysalis has engaged with over 60 women and youth in the Nuwara Eliya and Matara Districts as well as with 20 ecotourism-based women-led MSMES. Chrysalis CEO Ashika Gunasena also shared her thoughts on the impact of Sri Lanka Less Travelled: “As Chrysalis, we were very excited about this. At the core of our work is working with women and communities. We are very excited about the significant environmental impacts Sri Lanka Less Travelled will have. We now need to make sure it stays that way.”

Sri Lanka Less Travelled has seen the development of five model signature sites in the Matale and Nuwara Eliya Districts while supporting women and youth to play a larger part in tourism as nature-based tour/travel companions. These sites include Frotoft, Ranamune and Kadadora in the Nuwara Eliya District near Kotmale, Aberdeen waterfall near Ambagamuwa, and Karagastenna and Thalkote Lake in the Matale District. 

Each of these sites has seen the development of nature-based tourism activities in the area. The Frotoft viewpoint for example has seen the development of the Garandi Ella viewpoint, the establishment of campsites near Chariot Path, the establishment of a nature trail in the area, and capacity-building in the area to provide bungalow and homestay experiences. 

As a further example, Ranamune and Kadadora have seen many steps to improve the cultural and historic value of the area, from developing Kandyan spice and herbal gardens linking to homestays to the promotion of value-added traditional products. 

Developing Resources and Empowering Communities (DeREC)

Another project launched by the EU was Developing Resources and Empowering Communities (DeREC) – an initiative to improve food security and enhance nature and community-focused tourism. Estate and rural communities have been particularly vulnerable to the hardships of the pandemic and the economic crisis.  

Uva Tourism Promotion Bureau Chief Executive Officer Sampath Nissanka explained: “Uva is the fourth largest province in Sri Lanka. It has a population of 1.2 million and is rich in natural beauty and heritage attractions and is spread over a huge land area. It also has the largest indigenous community population. 

“However, it is one of the poorest provinces – the second poorest province in fact. We have identified many development gaps to work on. Uva’s biggest focus is on agriculture and it is home to a large segment of the estate sector community. However, remote areas see mostly elderly populations – the younger people have moved to cities or other provinces to find jobs because it is hard to survive in those areas.” 

DeREC has seen programmes conducted on promoting food security and sustainable nutrition to social behaviour change communication strategies, building knowledge on homestead gardening to promote greater self-sufficiency, nurturing MSMEs, and creating jobs for women and youth in nature and community-focused tourism.

DeREC largely focuses on capacity building to help bolster existing livelihoods and to form new livelihoods in tourism to inspire younger populations to move back to their homes and build lives for themselves within the province. 

So far, DeREC has seen over 5,000 vulnerable households in estate plantations and small villages utilising nutritionally adequate and safe foods, 2,000 estate plantation households given the capacity to develop homestead gardens, 40 dairy smallholder farms given the capacity to increase production by 300%, knowledge exchange programmes on food security carried out across 10 vulnerable estate and village schools, as well as a mid-day meal programme established to feed about 1,000 school children and 250 pre-school children. 

From a tourism perspective, DeREC has facilitated the promotion of four signature tourism models in the Uva Province, 40 MSMEs empowered to promote nature and community-focused tourism services, 80 local community members engaged in the mapping and development of nature and community-focused tourist trails, and skills improvement for 440 youth and women to provide tourism services. 

“The tourism sector has great potential and can link with many sectors. Uva has large agricultural farms and beautiful tea landscapes. The upcountry railway line runs through it as well as the new Pekoe Trail,” Nissanka shared, adding that the activities of DeREC to boost both knowledge and capacity around tourism would go a long way toward building enthusiasm and attracting people back to the province to build new futures and livelihoods. 

The Pekoe Trail

While Sri Lanka has a considerable reputation for adventure travel, it has very few established walking and hiking trails, and one project supported by the EU to build tourism resilience is the Pekoe Trail – a 300 km-long walking and hiking trail through Sri Lanka’s highlands and tea plantations – the first signature experience of its kind in Sri Lanka. 

The development of the Pekoe Trail is designed to reinforce Sri Lanka as a competitive destination through unique experiential tourism. 

The trail winds across the breadth of Sri Lanka‘s highlands, taking you through estates with their manicured hills of planted tea, through the rainforest, and even through small villages and towns. 

The development of the Pekoe Trail has been designed to foster tourism businesses as well, from micro businesses providing refreshments to homestays and other accommodation experiences to tours of larger locations like tea factories along the route. 

The Pekoe Trial also gives visitors the chance to interact with nature and wildlife one-on-one while passing through wildlife hotspots of all kinds and offers a unique perspective into rural village life and life on estate plantations. 

Building tourism resilience for the bigger picture 

Speaking at the formal launch of these three initiatives which fall under a larger project – the Tourism Resilience Project – EU Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives Denis Chaibi said: “Tourism is not a traditional area for donor support, but we are in the midst of a paradox. The more time people spend on their screens and the more addicted to their phones they are, the more at some stage they want to hug trees and be in nature. The more we look at pixels, the more we want to see leaves.” 

Chaibi also noted that sites like those developed by the Tourism Resilience Project had not always been easy to access, and that infrastructure such as our highway system was making it easier to access such places and take in their beauty. 

The Tourism Resilience Project has helped create a stable foundation on which to develop not just tourism activities but businesses and livelihoods around tourism, both through financial investment and capacity building. The next step is now for local stakeholders and authorities to build on this foundation for a brighter and more resilient tourism future.