Starter Kit. Idea 100 of 500. Cluster 4
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.
The 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.
Ask first
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask whether they hold dates for festivals and cultural events across the island.
- Information and Communication Technology Agency. Ask whether they support public information services online.
Check before you spend
That every date is confirmed with organisers, that changes are published quickly, and that temples and organisers are happy with how events are described.
Find out these three numbers
- How many festivals a year are worth travelling for?
- How far ahead do organisers fix their dates?
- Who would pay to advertise beside the calendar?
A comparison from the book
Zermatt. Chapter Five
"an app that shows you live views from cameras all over the mountain and what is on in the village today and tomorrow"
Zermatt tells visitors what is on tomorrow; a year ahead lets them plan a whole trip.
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.