Starter Kit. Idea 81 of 500. Cluster 4
Hot air balloon rides
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
Before buying anything, ask the aviation authority what a balloon operation needs, and write down the answer. In the same week, offer a sunrise balloon ride at a stated price to villa guests and wedding planners, and collect refundable deposits. The deposits prove demand; the authority's answer tells you the cost of meeting it.
- Who pays first
- Honeymooners and visitors celebrating something, who want a sunrise over the ancient sites from the air.
- What leaves today
- A balloon ride is a premium morning that visitors buy on other trips; offered here, it adds a morning and a night to the stay.
Ask first
- Board of Investment of Sri Lanka. Ask what support exists for an investor bringing in balloons and equipment.
- Department of Wildlife Conservation. Ask whether balloon flights over parks or wildlife areas are allowed.
Check before you spend
That the aviation authorities license the balloon and its pilots, that landing fields have the owners' consent, and what insurance covers passengers.
Find out these three numbers
- What will visitors pay for a sunrise balloon flight?
- How many mornings a year are calm enough to fly?
- What do a balloon, crew and insurance cost per season?
A comparison from the book
Sri Lankans abroad. Appendix
"Bring the standard with the money, and Chapter Sixteen says which institutions already exist to help you."
The balloon needs capital first, so bring the safety standard with the money.
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.