Starter Kit. Idea 158 of 500. Cluster 7
Digital booking platforms for guides, artisans and experiences
The mechanism, from the book
The tiny business pathway. A rural woman with an exceptional product should not need photography, English copy, packaging design and a distributor before the world can find her.
The first step
Sign up 10 guides, potters, cooks and weavers in one town who would take bookings from visitors, and list each with a photo, price and availability on a simple booking page. Give the link to three guesthouse owners to send to their guests, and take a commission on each booking. The bookings in the first month tell you whether the town can support it.
- Who pays first
- A visitor staying in a guesthouse who wants to book a potter or a cooking class for tomorrow and cannot find one online.
- What leaves today
- Visitors book experiences through platforms abroad that keep a share of the price, or find nothing and spend the day elsewhere.
Ask first
- Information and Communication Technology Agency. Ask whether they support local booking platforms for small tourism businesses.
- Data Protection Authority. Ask what rules apply to holding customers' booking and payment details.
Check before you spend
That guides and artisans agree to be listed, that payments are held safely, and that customer data is protected.
Find out these three numbers
- What commission will guides and artisans accept?
- How many guides and artisans would list in the first town?
- What do booking websites charge them now?
A comparison from the book
Galle Fort. Chapter Five
"money leaking to tour companies and booking websites"
Money leaks to outside booking sites; a local platform keeps more of it here.
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.