Rural communities can benefit from tourism in many different ways, but most importantly as an additional source of income. Pictured is a group of Ecotourism guides in Arugam Bay. In a first for Sri Lanka, 13 local young men from the East have been certified as eco-guides by the Sri Lankan Tourism Board.

Late in the 1970s when mass tourism reached its highest point and when the three 'S' (sun, sea and sand) destinations became saturated, a new concept of traveling was developed. We could endlessly discuss whether this was an ethical inspiration or a pure marketing strategy, but the fact is that both managers and travellers began incorporating environmentally friendly and cultural protective activities into their travel plans.

Travellers started looking for more remote places to visit. They wanted to experience interesting new things and to meet interesting new people from different cultures. Traditional destinations became stale and travel agents, park managers and local residents faced a dilemma – come up with new products to offer tourists or lose business. A new product named Ecotourism was developed.

Ecotourism grew into the nice, friendly face of the travel industry. The prefix 'Eco' denoted anything relating to fun, novel, exotic, good, far, nature, remote and risky. It accumulated many different associations. The concept was vague.

As well as confusion over what exactly Ecotourism was, people began to question whether Ecotourism was really trying to protect nature, or whether, in fact, it was more of an 'Ego' tourism, where tourists tried to fulfill a personal goal of venturing where nobody had ventured before. There was talk from industry and the public that Ecotourists were disturbing the flora and fauna of local environments and affecting the traditions of local communities.

Although it took time, effort and dedicated work on behalf of the industry, a general consensus was formed on the basic elements of Ecotourism.

Ecotourism:
>	Contributes to conservation of biodiversity.
>	Sustains the wellbeing of local people.
>	includes an interpretation or learning experience.
>	Involves responsible action on the part of tourists and the tourism industry.
>	Is delivered primarily to small groups by small businesses.
>	Requires the lowest possible consumption of nonrenewable resources.
>	Stresses local participation, ownership and business opportunities; particularly for rural people.

Applying the concept to Sri Lanka

Developing countries often posses outstanding and unspoiled natural heritage – local residents tend to practice ancient, traditional activities and in the case of isolated regions such as mountains or islands, fauna is usually endemic. For these reasons, developing countries are often considered perfect destinations for western visitors who want to immerse themselves in a far away world and escape the stresses of their daily lives. Over recent years Sri Lanka has increasingly benefited from tourism. Until the recent increase in conflict, tourism had been the country's fifth largest source of income.

However as with other countries, Sri Lanka's tourism industry is dominated by several large companies based in the capital city or abroad. Many domestic and foreign tourists travel to and within Sri Lanka on package tours. These tours include accommodation, meals and guide services. The package tour hotels tend to have thick perimeter fences and closed gates. As a result, communities in tourist areas usually see few benefits from the tourism industry. Food is purchased from outside the area and many of the English-speaking guides and staff are brought in from urban centres. Local people compete for low-level jobs that offer little opportunity for advancement. Very little of the tourist dollar, euro, pound or rupee stays in the local economy.

When outside groups dominate the hotels, restaurants, handicraft outlets and tours, local people are cut off from opportunities to interact with the tourists and often begin to see them not as guests, but as a source of income to be exploited. A number of guidebooks and websites on Sri Lanka include stories of hawking, sexual harassment, theft, begging, and aggressive vendors. Local people are concerned about the influence of the tourism industry on their communities. They cite problems with prostitution, environmental damage, drugs, and changing values.

Sewalanka and sustainable tourism

Community-based tourism centres, like this one established in Arugam Bay provide a hub for visitors to contact and book services offered by locals.

Sewalanka has recognised the value of tourism as a means of helping marginalised Sri Lankan communities increase their income. The organisation's sustainable tourism program seeks to promote sustainable, community-based tourism.

In areas where tourism is established or shows signs of expanding in the future, we work with community-based organisations (CBOs) to increase their say in the future development of their region and their capacity to capture benefits from the tourism sector.

Our program currently focuses on coastal communities in Galle district, Sinharaja buffer zone villages in Ratnapura and Matara districts, and Pottuvil, Arugam Bay, and Panama in Ampara district. Sewalanka district teams in the Cultural Triangle are discussing potential opportunities with active CBOs, and district teams in Trincomalee and Batticaloa are working with coastal communities to ensure that they are well-prepared for the anticipated growth of tourism in those areas.

Sewalanka’s Sustainable Tourism Unit is participating in study visits to Thailand, India, and Laos and is actively working with Sri Lankan stakeholders, like the Tourist Board and the Sri Lankan Ecotourism Foundation to develop guidelines for community-based Ecotourism.

These guidelines will emphasise the use of environmental resources, the maintenance of essential ecological processes and the conservation of natural heritage and biodiversity.

They will respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.

They will also ensure viable, long-term economic operations that provide fairly distributed socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders. These include stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services for host communities.

As stated by travel writer Ethan Gelber who was recently commissioned by Sewalanka to produce a travel map for Ecotourists in Sri Lanka, there is certainly a new kind of tourism sweeping the world today, one increasingly demanded by travellers with a conscience.

"These conscientious travellers acknowledge that their decisions affect the people and the land around them. They hope to have a positive impact on the nature, animals and communities they visit," Mr Gelber said.

"Tourism today is about active and responsible engagement. People want to meet the locals. They want to taste the foods they cook, hear and learn the languages they speak and learn about their lives, their festivals and their beliefs."

But the answer to whether this type of tourism impacts positively or negatively on local communities depends largely on the details of management plans. Locals, animals, plants and traditions could very well be harmed, but then there is also a real opportunity to protect Sri Lanka's cultures and natural wonders.

Ecotourism is not a magic formula to solve all of a community's problems, but for destinations where tourism is inevitable, it has proven a viable model to alleviate and even repair the damage of a poorly managed industry.

Sewalanka was recently selected by the Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT) to implement a community-based tourism (CBT) project as part of their Disaster Prevention Preparedness Management Plan. The main purpose of the project is to raise awareness of both the positive and negative impacts of tourism in local societies and to help these communities identify potential tourism activities in their regions, so that small scale businesses can operate alongside larger outfits.

Sewalanka's Sustainable Tourism Unit is working hard to ensure the implementation of well thought out management plans and guidelines to promote sustainable tourism practises.

Crista Foncea is a Sustainable Tourism Advisor at Sewalanka Foundation.
For further information on any of Sewalanka's CBT programs, email tourism@sewalanka.org