Starter Kit. Idea 263 of 500. Cluster 13
Snorkelling reef guides trained in marine biology, at Pigeon Island and Hikkaduwa
The mechanism, from the book
An ocean eight times the size of the land, and a fishing fleet that sells its catch on the beach. The Maldives built a tourism industry on water Sri Lanka has more of.
The first step
Write a 2-hour guided snorkel at Pigeon Island or Hikkaduwa that names what guests see: the corals, the fish, the signs of bleaching. Run it free for a group of guests from one nearby guesthouse and ask them afterwards what they would have paid. Then offer the guesthouse owner a commission on each paid place. Stated prices and one owner agreeing to sell it are your proof.
- Who pays first
- A guesthouse owner near the reef who wants something better to sell than a mask hire, and earns a commission on every guided place.
- What leaves today
- Visitors snorkel unguided and learn nothing, so the reef earns a mask rental while guided, educational snorkelling sells at a premium elsewhere.
Ask first
- Department of Wildlife Conservation. Ask what a guide needs to work in a marine national park.
- Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Ask how a snorkel guide can be licensed as a tourist guide.
Check before you spend
Whether guides need a permit for the protected reef, what safety and rescue training is required, and what insurance covers guests.
Find out these three numbers
- What would guests pay for a guided snorkel with a biologist?
- How many guests can one guide watch safely in the water?
- How many hotels would add the trip to their list?
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.