WHY NOT SRI LANKA? සිංහල

Starter Kit. Idea 469 of 500. Cluster 25

Surf competitions on the east coast on the world calendar

Back to the idea

Written for this site as a starting point, not from the book. Rules and fees change: ask the bodies named below before you spend money.

The mechanism, from the book

The country's best-known export is cricket, and little of the business around it is built at home.

The first step

Spend a weekend at an east-coast surf point talking to the surf schools, the board-hire shacks and the guesthouse owners. Ask each whether they would put up prize money, rooms or a judges' tent for a small open contest in the high season, and write down what each offers. With 3 pledges in hand, contact the clubs whose surfers already come and ask for entries at a set fee.

Who pays first
Visiting surfers already on the coast in the season, who pay an entry fee, and guesthouses that want every room full for the contest week.
What leaves today
Surfers come anyway, but without results on the world calendar the coast has no proof to charge for, and the prestige goes to rival breaks.

Ask first

  • Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Ask whether an open surf contest can be supported or listed as a tourism event.
  • the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask what permission a public event on the beach needs.

Check before you spend

Confirm permission to use the beach, safety cover in the water, insurance for competitors and the public, and a written agreement with every sponsor.

Find out these three numbers

  1. What prize money and help would local businesses put up?
  2. How many surfers would enter a first small contest?
  3. How many extra rooms would a contest weekend fill?

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, decade after decade"

A place becomes known for its sport by holding the event every year, and getting better.

The test

Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?

WITH500BUSINESS IDEASTO STARTTOMORROW

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.