Starter Kit. Idea 77 of 500. Cluster 4
Sunrise and sunset access tours
The mechanism, from the book
An app that tells people what is happening tonight converts a day visit into a 2-night stay.
The first step
Find out from the site office what hours the site opens and whether any early or late access is allowed. Then offer guesthouses a sunrise package: a pickup before dawn, entry at opening, breakfast after. Run it for two guests and ask what they would pay. Their price and a guesthouse's yes are the proof.
- Who pays first
- Photographers, and visitors who dislike crowds and heat, who will pay extra to see the site in the first and last light.
- What leaves today
- Visitors see the sites in the midday crush and leave; first and last light justify a night on either side of the visit.
Ask first
- Central Cultural Fund. Ask whether early or late access to their sites can be arranged, and how.
- Department of Wildlife Conservation. Ask whether access to parks at dawn or dusk is allowed.
Check before you spend
Whether the site's managers allow entry outside normal hours, and what safety measures guests need in poor light.
Find out these three numbers
- What will visitors pay extra for sunrise access?
- How many guests can enter early without crowding?
- What do the managers charge for access outside normal hours?
A comparison from the book
Sigiriya. Chapter Five
"It is to give somebody a reason not to leave tomorrow."
A sunrise visit means sleeping nearby the night before, which is the point.
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.