Starter Kit. Idea 91 of 500. Cluster 4
The Kandy Esala Perahera sold as a week, with seats, explanation and the temple's protocol respected
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
Speak with the temple's lay committee to learn what protocol visitors must follow, and write a one-page guide from their answer. Then offer a Perahera week, seats, explanation and accommodation, to five travel agents abroad for next year, asking for provisional holds. Holds, and the committee's blessing, are the proof.
- Who pays first
- Cultural travellers and their agents who want to see the Perahera properly, with a seat, context and respect for the ritual.
- What leaves today
- The Perahera draws visitors who come for a night; a week sold with care captures the stay and keeps the protocol respected.
Ask first
- Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Ask whether selling seats and packages for the Perahera needs any registration.
- Department of Cultural Affairs. Ask who should be consulted so that the temple's protocol is respected.
Check before you spend
That the temple's trustees agree with how the event is presented, that seating is legal and safe, and that the package never interferes with the procession.
Find out these three numbers
- What will visitors pay for a week with seats and explanation?
- How many seats along the route could be arranged legally?
- Which agents abroad already sell the Perahera?
A comparison from the book
Kandy hub. Appendix
"The resource is tea, brass, drums and the Perahera."
The Perahera is the Kandy hub's own resource, to be honoured, not just sold.
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.