The importance of responsible travel with Sri Lanka’s rise as a top travel destination

From being ranked Lonely Planet’s top country for travel in 2019, to featuring on CNN Travel’s ‘20 best places to visit in 2020’, Sri Lanka is steadily gaining in popularity as a must- visit destination for many across the globe.

The extension of train routes and road networks, a wider range of accommodation from star- class hotels to budget options, and a greater selection of activities and attractions, have all played a part in Sri Lanka’s burgeoning position as a travel hotspot. While it, no doubt, favourably impacts the country’s economy and the livelihoods of many locals, the adverse effect on the environment and communities needs to be considered and countered by adopting alternative means of travel parallelly. 

A greater onus is, thereby, placed on responsible travel and the upkeep of these ideals by all manner of suppliers supporting the country’s overall travel infrastructure. Let’s look at how Sri Lanka is set up in terms of enabling responsible travel, from community tourism experiences and buying local to fair trade businesses.

The nature-conscious way of life is in no way new to the island. As with many indigenous populations across the globe, over several millennia, The Veddhas of Sri Lanka shared a close, symbiotic relationship with nature, with an underlying theme of sustainability colouring it. The manner in which they ate, dwelled, and lived in the forest displayed great reverence to nature, and there are small Veddha populations which continue to live this way today. Similarly, the many Kingdoms that flourished in Sri Lanka for over two thousand years, showed a natural aptitude for conservation in everything from irrigation efforts to how cities were developed. 

With such a rich heritage of sustainable living pervading the island, the importance today of responsible travel is that much more in Sri Lanka. In 2019, Sri Lanka’s carbon footprint made up 3.12e-9% of the global carbon emission index. The travel industry is said to account for approximately 8% of all carbon emissions world wide. The responsibility, therefore, to ensure the burden placed on the natural and socio-cultural environments travel relies on and impacts, is a pressing one. 

As we travel across the island, there are numerous opportunities for micro-level responsible travel, which will collectively influence the macro-level carbon footprint of Sri Lanka. 

Buying local is one of the simplest ways to travel responsibly. The country is blessed with thousands of small eateries, kiosks, and roadside stalls, which you will find wherever you go. Sri Lanka’s cultural makeup is diverse, and therefore the cuisine and flavours you encounter here are equally varied. From fresh-cut fruit, pickled fruit, fresh juice, to home-made local fare, you will find a huge selection of both raw and prepared food items as you make your way across Sri Lanka.

By selecting these, rather than consuming processed and packaged food and beverages in local and foreign supermarkets, restaurant chains, and fast food franchises, you can significantly reduce the burden placed on the environment and it directly benefits small-time local businesses. Further, you can refuse plastic bags and packaging, and opt for the repurposed newspaper and notebook paper parcels most of these places offer. Carry them and dispose of them responsibly at a later point. 

There are focused efforts at sustainable living and travel that are found all across the island as well. A number of innovative social enterprises are promoted by groups such as Good Market and Fair Trade. Their commitment to working with local businesses dealing in organic produce as well as other goods and services is parallelly affecting tourism in a responsible way.

  Social enterprise models such as that advocated by the Good Market approved Kithula, ensure a fruitful market for rural farmers to consistently supply healthy local food to modern- day consumers. Increasingly, their heirloom varieties of rice are finding their way into the hands of responsible travellers.

  The Good Market community also comprises enterprises like the Freedom Surf School in Weligama, where surf lessons and board rentals are offered to locals as well as travellers from across the globe. They conduct weekly beach cleanups and recycling collection drives. By opting for activities with a responsible travel outlook, you also contribute directly to the wider culture of reuse, reduce, and recycle gaining steam in Sri Lanka. 

Fair Trade approved businesses like Selyn and Ahinsa Tea, responsible for handloom products and organic tea respectively, contribute to Sri Lanka’s overall strength as a major destination for responsible travel, with their community-focused, environmentally-friendly products. 

The community focus is taken a notch higher by curators of responsible travel experiences like Ceylon Soul, who facilitate encounters with local communities and artisans, where you can experience local and buy local while directly contributing to the upkeep of their unique ways of life. 

Their lagoon fishing experience places a spotlight on the distinct Southern fishing community, decades-long exponents of a type of fishing that is restricted to certain types of fish and crustaceans. This is further limited to specific seasons each year. Special permission is obtained in this experience to travel the lagoon by boat. The community’s focus on sustainable fishing and environmental preservation ensures the lagoon supports large numbers of fish, giant lake prawns, mud crabs, and oysters. Another example involves Ceylon Soul’s farm-to-table tour, a favourite among visitors from across the globe. They work closely with a community of smallholder organic farmers, among the last organic farmers living and operating along the outer edges of the district of Colombo. Their work is of critical importance. The farm-to-table experience involves a one- of-a-kind immersive cooking setup, where you can partake in the process of preparing a healthy sampling of the island’s local fare along with the farmers.

Community tourism efforts such as these afford local communities an opportunity to earn an additional income while preserving their way of life, and greater impetus to maintain their traditional sustainable livelihoods. Community-focused tours and experiences will certainly improve your carbon footprint as you travel the island.

While there are enterprises like Ceylon Soul that actively promote responsible travel in Sri Lanka, which is still an emerging travel segment here, support is increasingly being received from the present government to carefully preserve the island’s resources by adopting sustainable solutions wherever possible. Such top-level support strengthens Sri Lanka’s efforts at country-wide environmental and economic sustainability, positioning it favourably as a top responsible travel destination.