Starter Kit. Idea 17 of 500. Cluster 1
Surf lodges at Arugam Bay and Weligama run to the standard of Bali, with lessons and board hire
The mechanism, from the book
If Sri Lanka earned what the Maldives earns per visitor, the visitors it already has would bring in $2.4 billion a year more.
The first step
Spend a day in Arugam Bay or Weligama asking surfers where they are staying, what they paid, and what they would pay more for: better boards, coaching, a proper breakfast. Write down the three answers that repeat. Then offer one lodge owner a trial package, bed, lessons and board hire at one price, sold by you for one month. Five bookings prove the model.
- Who pays first
- Beginner and intermediate surfers who want lessons, gear and a bed at one price, and would stay a week if it were easy.
- What leaves today
- Surfers spend on boards, lessons and rooms for weeks; when the standard falls short of Bali, they take the whole trip there instead.
Ask first
- Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Ask how a surf lodge with lessons registers, and whether instructors need a recognised qualification.
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask what the council requires for a lodge and board shop on the coast.
Check before you spend
Whether building near the beach is allowed at that spot, whether surf instructors need a lifesaving qualification, and what insurance covers lessons.
Find out these three numbers
- What do surf lodges in Bali charge for a week with lessons?
- How many months of good waves does each beach get?
- What do boards, instructors and safety kit cost for a season?
A comparison from the book
Zermatt. Chapter Five
"It decided to become one of the best ski resorts in the world, and then it did the work"
A beach becomes a world-class surf place only through years of steady work.
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.