Idea 102 of 500. Cluster 5: Wellness, which we are famous for and barely sell
Forest-bathing days in the hill and rainforest reserves, with a guide who knows the plants and their uses in Ayurveda
The mechanism, from the book
Ayurveda is a system of medicine the world already recognises and seeks out. The demand is there; what Sri Lanka needs is more of its own names, known and asked for abroad.
Every idea in cluster 5 uses this mechanism.
A first step
Find a guide who knows the plants of one forest reserve and their uses in Ayurveda, walk a 3-hour route with them, and write down 10 plants worth stopping for. Check what permission the reserve needs for a guided group. Then offer the walk to 2 guesthouses nearby at a price per head and count how many guests book in a month. Guests who ask for a longer day are the proof.
- Who pays first
- A visitor already staying near the hills or the rainforest who wants a slow day among the trees and to learn what grows there.
- What leaves today
- Visitors walk through the reserves without a guide, and the knowledge of the plants and their uses stays with the few who hold it instead of being sold as a day worth paying for.
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. TwoAn Island Nobody Has Counted
The island's resources, counted - Ch. SeventeenOne Building
The showcase that lists ayurveda among 100 to 300 Sri Lankan brands
Idea 102 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.