Another world’s first to Sri Lanka tourism:

Neptune turns beach boys into community tourism operators

Jayasri JAYAKODY

Beach Boys, the bane of tourists who are addicted to the sun, the sea and the sand and hoteliers of those popular destinations that cater to that particular sector of tourism, spread to Sri Lanka sometime back.

Consultant Social and Environmental,Aitken Spence Group Ravi de Silva presenting a certificate to General Manager - Neptune Hotel Samantha Gunaratne.

A beach boy in exotic attire following a couple of tourists about chatting to them in their own language has become a familiar sight in our seaside resorts. The hotels catering to this particular segment of tourism and the beach boys were fighting a running battle as the beach boys were under the impression the hotels are keeping them away from tourists depriving them of earning a livelihood and the opinion of the hoteliers was that the beach boys were fleecing the tourists thereby harming the tourist trade. The conflict between these two parties sometimes led to confrontations and even blows were exchanged.

Hotel Neptune, situated at Beruwala on the ‘Golden Mile’ comprising the beaches of Beruwala, Bentota and Moragalle, had a different conception of the so-called ‘beach boys’.

The management of the hotel, realising the true potential of these beach boys, never chased them away or try to persuade the tourists to keep away from them. In fact, it is one of the very few hotels in the area not to have a strong fence right round their property to keep the tourists in and beach boys out.

In fact, they went even further. With the assistance of the Bentota Beruwala Hotels Association, The Responsible Tourism Partnership and the Travel Foundation United Kingdom and following the success of a pilot project carried out in February 2006, selected Beach Boys from the vicinity of the hotel were given a six months training on personal and professional development training by an eminent panel of facilitators excelling in their respective fields, and were awarded certificates as Community Beach Operators on November 27 at a ceremony held at Hotel Neptune, Beruwala, amidst a gathering of officials of the Ministry of Tourism, Management of the Aitken Spence Hotels, Tourism Development Authority, members of the Bentota Beruwala Hotels Association, the Responsible Tourism Partnership including all other key stakeholders in the community. This is the first time in the world such a programme was carried out.

Speaking to Daily News Business General Manager of the Neptune Hotel Samantha Gunaratne said “We have been building good community relations over a long period of time and joining the Responsible Tourism Partnership of LINC Programme has further strengthened our ties.

We need to look after our guests well and leave no room for unsatisfactory situations. The locals that are dependant on our hotel for their livelihoods understand this message and are very cordial in doing just that.”

Manager of the RTP LINC Programme Sujith Yamasinghe commenting on the work carried out said, “When the RTP started the LINC work in February 2006, we had a huge challenge ahead.

There were nearly thousand Beach Boys in the Golden Mile, eagerly trying to do business with tourists. We observed the situation, creating a great deal of harassment to them. We started the pilot project at the Riverina Hotel with 72 locals and were able to show that things could be done better. Our second hotel is Neptune Hotel, and the hotel has always had good relations with the locals, making our task simple.”

Commenting on the training programme Yamasinghe said the beach boys are an exceptionally intelligent and creative lot. “They are born marketers, adapt at first marketing themselves to the tourists and then marketing the various aspects of the country. Several are capable of communicating in three or four foreign languages like German and French and some among them own laptops and keep in touch with guests even after they have left for their countries. In fact, Neptune Hotel is getting many repeaters because of their good offices.

What is more interesting is that five elderly ladies, beach traders, one out of them 78 years old and engaged in trading with the tourists for over 35 years, joined our training programme and participated very enthusiastically.”

Several of the tourists said they welcome this initiative because they are not being harassed by locals shouting and pestering them to buy various goods and services.

Instead tourists who want local tourism excursions can now talk to Community Tourism Beach Operators who are clearly identifiable in branded corporate colours of Neptune Hotel and Responsible Tourism Partnership t - shirts.

Director/CEO RTP Charmarie Maelge addressing the gathering

LINC which means Learning, Involving and Nurturing Community is all about minimising hassle to tourists and offering a cultural exchange, providing opportunities for visitors to learn about local cultures and traditions and to share experiences, which would be difficult to find without local experience.

Ranga Jayalath, a 32 year old former beach boy, married and having two children and a participant of the LINC training said, “This is a very good opportunity to improve how we treat tourists and also improve our personal qualities. We have always had good relations with the hotel management.

This programme has helped us a lot to improve our knowledge and build stronger ties with Neptune Hotel and tourists.

Our group of 19 Beach Operators will extend the maximum co-operation to the Neptune Hotel and the RTP LINC programme.”

According to Director/CEO of the Responsible Tourism Partnership Charmarie Maelge, the Responsible Tourism Partnership works towards building a platform for sustainable tourism in Sri Lanka together with the UK based Travel Foundation as its principle partner.

As a pilot project the RTP has been working closely with the Bentota Beruwala Hotels Association (BBHA) gradually building a long term sustainable solution to one of the key issues facing the tourism industry - hassle to tourists.

“This project has made a real difference and has enabled change negative practices and perceptions that prevailed throughout several decades.

The RTP has also received the support of Kuoni, the British tour operator to Sri Lanka for this programme,” she added.