Idea 100 of 500. Cluster 4: The experience economy
A festival calendar for the whole island published a year ahead, so a visitor can plan around it
The mechanism, from the book
An app that tells people what is happening tonight converts a day visit into a 2-night stay.
Every idea in cluster 4 uses this mechanism.
A first step
List every festival, perahera and fair in one district for next year, with dates confirmed by each organiser. Publish it as a simple online page and share it in groups for Sri Lankans abroad and travel groups. Count visits to the page and requests to cover other districts. Those requests are the proof, and the first hotels to ask for a listing are your advertisers.
- Who pays first
- Travel agents and visitors planning a year ahead, and hotels near festivals that want to be listed beside them.
- What leaves today
- Visitors miss the island's festivals because they cannot plan around them; a calendar a year ahead captures longer, planned stays.
The idea and the mechanism are from the book. The first step was written for this site as a suggestion; if you know a better one, say so.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
The only test any idea on this site has to pass. The four rules that go with it are here.
In the book
- Ch. FiveThe Most Photographed Rock in the World
What a day visit needs in order to become 2 nights
More from cluster 4
- 71Evening cultural performances on a fixed nightly schedule
- 72Moonlit storytelling: the legends, the kings, the histories
- 73Royal feast dinners recreating historical menus
- 74Costume and photography experiences
- 75Archaeology-themed treasure hunts for children
- 76Private guided tours led by historians and archaeologists
Idea 100 of the 500 in the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? Every one can be started by one person, one family or one small firm.