Community-based tourism (CBT) is all about doing, learning, feeling, and sharing things, and is recognised by many countries as a sustainable business concept that can be promoted in rural and economically marginalised areas.
However, to keep the business and the concept sustainable, it’s important not to make tourism the main income source in these areas. Bringing down foreign currency to run a developing country is very important, and if it can be done from the ground level to top business seats, the economy of the country will be steady.
Tourism’s multiplier effect and CBT
The number of times money spent by tourists circulates up and down through an economy of a country is tourism’s multiplier effect. As an example, if a guest is buying a cup of locally made curd, it’s an income for the retail shop owner. If we go down from there, when the retail shop owner buys curd from a local family, it’s an income for them as well. If this local family is buying milk from a milkman, it is an income for the milkman; then he might use that money to buy cattle feed for his herd of cattle, so it is an income for the feed mill. Likewise, there might be more than 10 stages where this money circulates.
If we look at the role of tourism’s multiplier effect in CBT in rural and economically marginalised areas, the flow of money is quick and the circulation chain is huge. This is a good sign to introduce a CBT concept.
Any country’s economy will suffer when its citizens are just looking at the amount they freely receive from the Government. Instead of spending on “Samurdhi” for all the low-income families, it’s more productive to introduce a method for them to earn money.
Covid-19 and CBT
With the Covid-19 pandemic, there are tourists across the world who urgently need freedom and relaxation. Just like all of us, people in other countries have also felt bored staying at home for more than one year. Once the gates of the world are open for tourism, we won’t be able to find a large number of tourists inside shopping malls, cinemas, and luxury hotel rooms, because they will have had enough of staying under a roof. This is the opportunity we have in Sri Lanka to uplift CBT. Before Covid-19 started, authors were the main targeted market of CBT. But now each and everyone who comes out of their usual environment is a fan of CBT.
Covid-19 has been a tragedy for Sri Lanka. When the amount of foreign currency goes down in the country, the Government will be unable to spend on even infrastructure and essentials. So if we want to promote a segment or a sector that needs an initial investment, this is not the time, as the country’s economy is at its worst stage. CBT is the most suitable business by now because the investment is zero. As it is all about giving the experience of the ordinary lifestyle of rural areas and economically marginalised areas, there will be no guests who will complain about the product they experience. But the service standards and the service quality need to be monitored and controlled.
Quality of the product
If you buy a cup of tea from a five-star hotel you will get tea, sugar, and milk separately, sometimes with some cookies. But when a local family offers you a cup of tea, it is something more than a cup of tea. You will not get your milk, sugar, and tea separately, but you will get a cup of tea made with the milk from a village cow. No preservatives, no artificial flavours or colouring. Not only that, you will get a piece of jaggery as well. Isn’t it worth having a pure cup of tea without paying for a list of taxes?
This is the quality of CBT. It’s 100% clean, 100% worth it, and more than anything, you are helping a wonderful family to feel what they are doing has value, and also that they are being a support for the economy of the environment. When the attitude of “I can” or “I am doing something” is on someone’s mindset, it is always a motivation to reach the next level.
Control measures
Controlling the quality of CBT products is important from day one. Before implementing the concept, the authorities or the responsible entity should implement a guideline. This concept should always make sure not to go below or above “we are promoting the local lifestyle”. In this concept, authorities cannot expect or ask for air-conditioned rooms, standard room sizes, carpeted roads, super-luxury hotel kitchens, bed sizes, and three-course meals. This is just the ordinary lifestyle of people in the area.
When a new trend or culture comes into these communities, it’s important to have proper control over the process and the development. Responsible parties should always motivate villagers to use what they earn for a productive move. In rural environments, locally distilled kasippu is famous, and it is the main reason for many of the social and economic problems in families. It is hard to remove these illegal local businesses from the village environment.
What can be done is reshaping their attitudes to understand that they are playing a major role in the economy of the family, as well as the economy of the country. Usually when an outsider comes to our house, how we do things is different. We do not shout, and when having meals, we behave well. When there is a long-staying guest, in-house members of the family try to behave well. This practice will slowly be adapted by these small areas as well.
Who benefits?
Just like described in tourism’s multiplier effect, the number of people who benefit from the concept is huge. Other than monetary benefits, there are a lot of indirect benefits as well. As an example, when a foreign veterinarian comes to a village in Sri Lanka for a vacation, he might share his knowledge and medications for cattle, and he might share cattle farming practices and techniques of his country as well.
Languages play a big role in today’s world. When village children start moving with English, French, and German-speaking guests they undoubtedly learn these languages, and it’s a good sign of educational development as well.
The majority of these guests do help the community with donations to renovate village schools, temples, and even maternity clinics. Sometimes they do offer scholarships for village children to study abroad as well.
A tourist is a person who comes to explore and experience the village lifestyle, so it’s not ethical to force him to donate money or cry in front of him, describing all the sorrows. This should be strictly prohibited, and the bad returns of those practices should be clearly advised. None of us want to listen to someone’s sad story when going out for leisure or relaxation. Likewise, tourists also hate listening to sorrows.
Expectations of your guest
The main thing is freedom and relaxation. Arrange a separate room for them. It’s not important to make it luxurious, but it should be a room that protects their privacy with the basic requirements of a room available, such as a bed, cupboard, and clean linen; and it’s better if there is a separate indoor or outdoor toilet for guests. For bathing purposes, a well, river, or lake is ideal; there’s no need for a comfy washroom with hot and cold water.
Tourists love experiences, but not only that – they need peace of mind. Our village culture will address this more than anything else in the world. Our bond with village temples, monks, and religious practices won’t be second to anything in the world when it comes to mental healing. Our village has thousands of calm and quiet places for meditation too.
Apart from the services you offer to the guest, it’s important to make sure your guest is moving with other villagers; actively learning about the cultures, traditions, food, drinks, agriculture, and art; learning about the everyday lives of the villagers; having connections with the village temple, kovil, or the church; actively participating in village religious activities; visiting the village school (if possible); and moving with youngsters and children in the village.
Marketing plan
“Live with those who live with freedom” should be the theme of marketing CBT, as the majority will be searching for freedom and relaxation once the gates are open for tourism after the pandemic.
CBT can be marketed across the world via a set of attractive themes, such as “Get down from the car, let’s try the bullock cart”, “Raspberry juice? Sorry we only have king coconut, the drink of gods”, “We need you to protect our crops from elephants; we will pay with love in return”, or “Robert Knox knew the glamour”.
We have all the resources and the background for CBT. The only thing we need to understand is our values and that we are important to the country; we are the marketing managers of Sri Lanka.
(The writer is currently studying under the University of Colombo’s Tourism Study Programme)The need for community-based tourism
09 Sep 2021
The need for community-based tourism
09 Sep 2021
Community-based tourism (CBT) is all about doing, learning, feeling, and sharing things, and is recognised by many countries as a sustainable business concept that can be promoted in rural and economically marginalised areas.
However, to keep the business and the concept sustainable, it’s important not to make tourism the main income source in these areas. Bringing down foreign currency to run a developing country is very important, and if it can be done from the ground level to top business seats, the economy of the country will be steady.
Tourism’s multiplier effect and CBT
The number of times money spent by tourists circulates up and down through an economy of a country is tourism’s multiplier effect. As an example, if a guest is buying a cup of locally made curd, it’s an income for the retail shop owner. If we go down from there, when the retail shop owner buys curd from a local family, it’s an income for them as well. If this local family is buying milk from a milkman, it is an income for the milkman; then he might use that money to buy cattle feed for his herd of cattle, so it is an income for the feed mill. Likewise, there might be more than 10 stages where this money circulates.
If we look at the role of tourism’s multiplier effect in CBT in rural and economically marginalised areas, the flow of money is quick and the circulation chain is huge. This is a good sign to introduce a CBT concept.
Any country’s economy will suffer when its citizens are just looking at the amount they freely receive from the Government. Instead of spending on “Samurdhi” for all the low-income families, it’s more productive to introduce a method for them to earn money.
Covid-19 and CBT
With the Covid-19 pandemic, there are tourists across the world who urgently need freedom and relaxation. Just like all of us, people in other countries have also felt bored staying at home for more than one year. Once the gates of the world are open for tourism, we won’t be able to find a large number of tourists inside shopping malls, cinemas, and luxury hotel rooms, because they will have had enough of staying under a roof. This is the opportunity we have in Sri Lanka to uplift CBT. Before Covid-19 started, authors were the main targeted market of CBT. But now each and everyone who comes out of their usual environment is a fan of CBT.
Covid-19 has been a tragedy for Sri Lanka. When the amount of foreign currency goes down in the country, the Government will be unable to spend on even infrastructure and essentials. So if we want to promote a segment or a sector that needs an initial investment, this is not the time, as the country’s economy is at its worst stage. CBT is the most suitable business by now because the investment is zero. As it is all about giving the experience of the ordinary lifestyle of rural areas and economically marginalised areas, there will be no guests who will complain about the product they experience. But the service standards and the service quality need to be monitored and controlled.
Quality of the product
If you buy a cup of tea from a five-star hotel you will get tea, sugar, and milk separately, sometimes with some cookies. But when a local family offers you a cup of tea, it is something more than a cup of tea. You will not get your milk, sugar, and tea separately, but you will get a cup of tea made with the milk from a village cow. No preservatives, no artificial flavours or colouring. Not only that, you will get a piece of jaggery as well. Isn’t it worth having a pure cup of tea without paying for a list of taxes?
This is the quality of CBT. It’s 100% clean, 100% worth it, and more than anything, you are helping a wonderful family to feel what they are doing has value, and also that they are being a support for the economy of the environment. When the attitude of “I can” or “I am doing something” is on someone’s mindset, it is always a motivation to reach the next level.
Control measures
Controlling the quality of CBT products is important from day one. Before implementing the concept, the authorities or the responsible entity should implement a guideline. This concept should always make sure not to go below or above “we are promoting the local lifestyle”. In this concept, authorities cannot expect or ask for air-conditioned rooms, standard room sizes, carpeted roads, super-luxury hotel kitchens, bed sizes, and three-course meals. This is just the ordinary lifestyle of people in the area.
When a new trend or culture comes into these communities, it’s important to have proper control over the process and the development. Responsible parties should always motivate villagers to use what they earn for a productive move. In rural environments, locally distilled kasippu is famous, and it is the main reason for many of the social and economic problems in families. It is hard to remove these illegal local businesses from the village environment.
What can be done is reshaping their attitudes to understand that they are playing a major role in the economy of the family, as well as the economy of the country. Usually when an outsider comes to our house, how we do things is different. We do not shout, and when having meals, we behave well. When there is a long-staying guest, in-house members of the family try to behave well. This practice will slowly be adapted by these small areas as well.
Who benefits?
Just like described in tourism’s multiplier effect, the number of people who benefit from the concept is huge. Other than monetary benefits, there are a lot of indirect benefits as well. As an example, when a foreign veterinarian comes to a village in Sri Lanka for a vacation, he might share his knowledge and medications for cattle, and he might share cattle farming practices and techniques of his country as well.
Languages play a big role in today’s world. When village children start moving with English, French, and German-speaking guests they undoubtedly learn these languages, and it’s a good sign of educational development as well.
The majority of these guests do help the community with donations to renovate village schools, temples, and even maternity clinics. Sometimes they do offer scholarships for village children to study abroad as well.
A tourist is a person who comes to explore and experience the village lifestyle, so it’s not ethical to force him to donate money or cry in front of him, describing all the sorrows. This should be strictly prohibited, and the bad returns of those practices should be clearly advised. None of us want to listen to someone’s sad story when going out for leisure or relaxation. Likewise, tourists also hate listening to sorrows.
Expectations of your guest
The main thing is freedom and relaxation. Arrange a separate room for them. It’s not important to make it luxurious, but it should be a room that protects their privacy with the basic requirements of a room available, such as a bed, cupboard, and clean linen; and it’s better if there is a separate indoor or outdoor toilet for guests. For bathing purposes, a well, river, or lake is ideal; there’s no need for a comfy washroom with hot and cold water.
Tourists love experiences, but not only that – they need peace of mind. Our village culture will address this more than anything else in the world. Our bond with village temples, monks, and religious practices won’t be second to anything in the world when it comes to mental healing. Our village has thousands of calm and quiet places for meditation too.
Apart from the services you offer to the guest, it’s important to make sure your guest is moving with other villagers; actively learning about the cultures, traditions, food, drinks, agriculture, and art; learning about the everyday lives of the villagers; having connections with the village temple, kovil, or the church; actively participating in village religious activities; visiting the village school (if possible); and moving with youngsters and children in the village.
Marketing plan
“Live with those who live with freedom” should be the theme of marketing CBT, as the majority will be searching for freedom and relaxation once the gates are open for tourism after the pandemic.
CBT can be marketed across the world via a set of attractive themes, such as “Get down from the car, let’s try the bullock cart”, “Raspberry juice? Sorry we only have king coconut, the drink of gods”, “We need you to protect our crops from elephants; we will pay with love in return”, or “Robert Knox knew the glamour”.
We have all the resources and the background for CBT. The only thing we need to understand is our values and that we are important to the country; we are the marketing managers of Sri Lanka.
(The writer is currently studying under the University of Colombo’s Tourism Study Programme)