World Heritage hub
Sinharaja, the rainforest
The resource is the biodiversity, and the spice gardens at its edge. The hub is the research station that hosts the world's universities, the guides trained in the forest, and the spice-garden stays.
Why a hub
The country funnels its visitors through a handful of small heritage cores, most of them in the Cultural Triangle. That funnel is the problem when the cores are turnstiles. It is the answer when each core becomes a hub: the place where the region's own resource is grown, made, shown and sold, with a making-house at the gate where the visitor watches the work and buys it from the hands that did it. Sri Lanka House in Colombo is the model; these are the regional editions. A hub is also the one place in its region where the rules are visibly kept: clean, priced, and honest, with a complaints line that answers. Most of the five hundred belong to at least one hub; the rest are the services and the national chains that any hub can call on.
Sri Lanka House in Colombo, the model every hub is a regional edition of
The clusters this hub is built from
11
Cinnamon and the spice garden
The imitation out-earns the original. Vietnam earns more from cassia than Sri Lanka does from true cinnamon by selling...
15 ideas, 221 to 235
4
The experience economy
An app that tells people what is happening tonight converts a day visit into a 2-night stay.
30 ideas, 71 to 100
1
Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
If Sri Lanka earned what the Maldives earns per visitor, the visitors it already has would bring in $2.4 billion a year...
20 ideas, 1 to 2066 ideas that belong here
Every idea in the hub's clusters, plus any idea elsewhere in the list that names this place.
- 1Boutique eco-lodges with heritage viewsCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 2Luxury treehouse stays in forest marginsCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 3Glamping with proper service, at sites with noneCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 4Heritage homestays in family housesCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 5Floating cabanas on the ancient reservoirsCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 6Forest holiday villages on the Center Parcs model: lodges among the trees, a covered pool, bikes and a lake, so a family stays a week, not a nightCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 7Restored colonial estates as private villasCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 8Budget lodging built to the same standard of welcome as the expensive tierCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 9Villa management services for absentee ownersCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 10Private pool and garden maintenance businesses serving the aboveCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 11Tea-estate bungalow stays with the working factory as the attraction, not the view aloneCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 12Railway-station conversions in the hills and on the coastCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 13Farm stays where the guest works a morning in the paddy or the spice gardenCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 14A 7-night circuit product sold as one booking: hills, ancient cities, coast, with transfersCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 15Long-stay monthly rates for remote workers, with desks, power backup and fibre guaranteedCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 16Family-suite lodges near the parks, built for three generations travelling togetherCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 17Surf lodges at Arugam Bay and Weligama run to the standard of Bali, with lessons and board hireCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 18Dark-sky stays in the dry zone, with a telescope and a guide who knows the southern skyCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 19Wedding-week villas: the ceremony, the guests and the honeymoon in one placeCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 20A guesthouse rating scheme run by the guesthouses themselves, with published inspectionsCluster 1: Stay longer, spend more (the $2.4 billion gap)
- 71Evening cultural performances on a fixed nightly scheduleCluster 4: The experience economy
- 72Moonlit storytelling: the legends, the kings, the historiesCluster 4: The experience economy
- 73Royal feast dinners recreating historical menusCluster 4: The experience economy
- 74Costume and photography experiencesCluster 4: The experience economy
- 75Archaeology-themed treasure hunts for childrenCluster 4: The experience economy
- 76Private guided tours led by historians and archaeologistsCluster 4: The experience economy
- 77Sunrise and sunset access toursCluster 4: The experience economy
- 78Photographers for hire at ticket offices, by the hourCluster 4: The experience economy
- 79Drone photography as a premium packageCluster 4: The experience economy
- 80Augmented reality tours of heritage sitesCluster 4: The experience economy
- 81Hot air balloon ridesCluster 4: The experience economy
- 82Horse and carriage village toursCluster 4: The experience economy
- 83Rock climbing instructionCluster 4: The experience economy
- 84Cycling tours through villagesCluster 4: The experience economy
- 85Birdwatching with expert guidesCluster 4: The experience economy
- 86Night safarisCluster 4: The experience economy
- 87Whale watching, properly regulatedCluster 4: The experience economy
- 88Outdoor cinema eveningsCluster 4: The experience economy
- 89Escape rooms and puzzle experiences built on local historyCluster 4: The experience economy
- 90Annual arts festivals, district by districtCluster 4: The experience economy
- 91The Kandy Esala Perahera sold as a week, with seats, explanation and the temple's protocol respectedCluster 4: The experience economy
- 92A "what's on tonight" service for each tourist town, printed and online, updated dailyCluster 4: The experience economy
- 93Train-journey packages on the hill line with a guide, a meal and a stop that is not EllaCluster 4: The experience economy
- 94Leopard-tracking days at Yala and Wilpattu with a limit on vehicles and a premium priceCluster 4: The experience economy
- 95Kayaking and paddle-boarding on the lagoons, with a naturalistCluster 4: The experience economy
- 96Cookery competitions for visitors, judged by a village panel, with the prize being dinnerCluster 4: The experience economy
- 97Cricket-match packages: a ticket, a seat with a local who explains it, and the after-partyCluster 4: The experience economy
- 98The April New Year in a village, open to visitors: the games, the sweets and the customs, explained by the families who keep themCluster 4: The experience economy
- 99Street-food walks in Colombo, Jaffna and Galle with a guide who knows every stall's historyCluster 4: The experience economy
- 100A festival calendar for the whole island published a year ahead, so a visitor can plan around itCluster 4: The experience economy
- 102Forest-bathing days in the hill and rainforest reserves, with a guide who knows the plants and their uses in AyurvedaCluster 5: Wellness, which we are famous for and barely sell
- 221Cinnamon quills in retail packs with the grade printed, since almost no consumer knows the grades existCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 222Cinnamon sticks as a branded gift, tied and boxed, sold in every airport shop in the world that will stock themCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 223Cinnamon-leaf and bark oils bottled for the aromatherapy trade under a Sri Lankan nameCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 224Cinnamon-infused honey, sugar and salt as a rangeCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 225A "true cinnamon" education campaign run by producers, aimed at bakers and chefs abroadCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 226Cinnamon farm stays in the south-west, a week on a working smallholding through the harvest and the dryingCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 227Peeler training schools, since the skill is disappearing and it is the whole valueCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 228Cardamom, cloves and nutmeg from the Kandy hills as single-origin retail productsCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 229A spice-trail tourism route from Galle to Matale with tastings, mapped and marketed as one productCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 230Curry-powder blends roasted and ground here, with the district recipe named on the tinCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 231Spice subscriptions for home cooks abroad: a different district each monthCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 232Turmeric from Sri Lanka tested and labelled for curcumin content, which is what the health market pays forCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 233Pepper vines on every coconut estate as a second crop, with a buyer contracted in advanceCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 234A cinnamon exchange: published daily prices by grade, so the smallholder knows what his bale is worthCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden
- 235Cinnamon by-products, the chips and the featherings, into oil and powder instead of wasteCluster 11: Cinnamon and the spice garden