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In Sri Lanka, we are helping to rebuild lives after the Tsunami.

Kanthi and her family lost everything but now have a brand new house. They are over the moon to receive cassava, mango, coconut and rambutan trees for their new garden! It is great for them to have somewhere to rest in the shade and grow their own food , rather than buy everything from the market.

The girls, Manel and Kumudu, are learning how to look after the new life in their garden! They are so happy to know they have friends in the UK, who are helping them towards a better future!

In Sri Lanka the Travel Foundation sustainable tourism work started in September 2005.

Being the fourth largest foreign exchange earner and a large number of direct and indirect jobs depended; tourism is one of the main pillars holding the Sri Lankan economy. Sri Lanka receives 80,000- 100,000 British
tourists annually.

The Travel Foundation has two main areas of focus:

Using tourism to help safeguard livelihoods of the communities and
generate resources for environment restoration especially in the tsunamidevastated coastal areas
Developing initiatives to address issues seeking practical solutions for the longterm, sustainable development of tourism on the island.

Post-tsunami redevelopment

Craft: Women lace makers

In partnership with the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO), the Travel Foundation developed a project in Dickwella village badly affected by the tsunami. It aims to secure livelihoods of the traditional lace makers, train unemployed young women in lace making and provide marketing support to revive a disappearing and dying craft. Dickwella, situated on the south coast is famous for traditional ‘Beeralu’ Bobbin lace making. Women in the area have been engaged in the industry for generations. Most of them earn very little in their business because they sell their products through middlemen. In Dickwella over 10,000 families belong to low income earning bracket of less than £20 income per month.

This project by supporting the revival of disappearing traditional crafts, provides new livelihood skills to unemployed young women and offers training in marketing and product development to help create inspiring new products for tourists to buy. Our work helps safeguard livelihood and income generation and provides an authentic craft experience for tourists. A dedicated sales space for lace makers’ products in a popular craft shop in the capital Colombo will become a reality in July this year.

Trees for life

This year we have established a tree nursery in the Hiyare Rainforest to restore the rainforest, re–vegetate coast conservation areas, & provide trees with food, medicinal and economical value to re- settled tsunami affected families.

Trees for Life provides trees of food, medicinal and economic value to tsunami affected families and conducts environmental conservation awareness programmes for regional schools. It has established a number of community owned tree nurseries, creating income generation and employment through conservation. Visitors to the nursery are encouraged to make a donation to support free distribution of trees. Most of the newly built houses have been constructed on cleared land and families resettled here now need shelter and basic food security. Coconut, Jak fruit and other fruit trees such as Mango and Rambuttan, have been freely distributed to these families.

Approximately 1500 children have taken part in our school awareness programmes and a large number of women have participated in home gardening awareness training with gifts of several trees of their choice.

Tourists are invited to visit the tree nursery in the picturesque & peaceful lake and rainforest location of Hiyare. There are also opportunities to explore the strikingly diverse flora & fauna, whilst on a nature trail or to take a rowing boat ride enjoying the breathtaking scenic beauty.

Long term sustainable tourism initiatives

Responsible Tourism Partnership

The Travel Foundation has established the Responsible Tourism Partnership (RTP) in Sri Lanka with a steering committee comprising of key leaders of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, government and other organizations. The group has prioritised several issues affecting the future sustainability of tourism through the development of a programme of activities to be supported by The Travel Foundation. The RTP works closely with government agencies and other relevant organizations bringing a multi- stakeholder approach to sustainable tourism development to the Island.

Learning Involving and Nurturing Community

LINC Project Beruwela works towards minimising hassle to tourists and creating opportunities for local communities to make a living from tourism by providing quality goods and services to tourists. The pilot project at Riverina Beach in Beruwela began in early 2007 and a long process of trust building, training and skill development targeting beach communities, hotel staff and management has already been implemented.

The project goals separated in to three main categories aim to

provide a conducive environment free from disturbance and hassle for tourists to enjoy the destination holiday offer
eliminate physical and mental barriers that restrict local communities dependent on tourism receiving economic benefits
establish cordial relations between the formal (local and overseas) and the informal sector of the tourism industry .

72 beach operators chose to join the Beruwela beach LINC project. In addition to six months continuous counseling of the beach operators and hotel staff, one month comprehensive training was carried out covering personal grooming, introduction to Sri Lanka Tourism Industry and community tourism opportunities, service standards, cultural differences , know your customer, team work, outbound training, guiding techniques with special emphasis on nature, culture and adventure and bird watching, health and safety etc. They can be identified easily on the beach wearing Responsible Tourism/ Travel Foundation branded T shirts with their names.

Engaging visitors

Best Experience Sri Lanka… A Guide for Responsible Travellers has been developed in an attempt to engage our visitors in responsible tourism. This guide, a pocket size booklet containing light hearted cartoons, provides information on Sri Lankan lifestyles, social and cultural practices providing a higher level of sensitivity, understanding and comfort for the traveller. The guide is distributed to all visitors free of charge to enhance the enjoyment of their holiday in Sri Lanka.

For more details about our programme in Sri Lanka, e-mail our Advisor, Charmarie Maelge.

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T: 0117 9273049 • Registered Charity no: 1065924