International travel influencers step up to give back to Sri Lanka

Participants who attended the tree planting project

Tree planting project for a cause: the travel bloggers, Divisional Secretary for Uva Province, SLTPB Assistant Director (VJP) Chaminda Munasinghe, People’s Leasing Badulla Manager, and a representative from Badulla Buddhist Society 

Together with 6 international travel bloggers and Influencers from UK, Netherlands, Singapore, India, USA, Sri Lanka Tourism’s Blogger Program kicked off the very first “Destination Promotional

A travel blogger with  a local participant

Travel bloggers participating in the program

School children also got involved in the project

Familiarisation Tour with Nature Concern” initiative by planting 200 trees within the areas of Badulla District (Alugolla Hill) where the area was affected by Soil Erosion and Landslides. 

Dave McClane, a travel blogger (www.manvsglobe.com) from the UK who participated in the project, said, “I’m here with Sri Lanka Tourism to expose their popular tourism locations and a few lesser known destinations, and I hope to promote Sri Lanka encouraging more tourists to visit the destination. Today, we’re planting some trees to show that you can travel to Sri Lanka and get back, meet interesting people, and be responsible towards the environment.” 

Isabel Leong, travel blogger (www.belaroundtheworld.com) from Singapore said, “Together with some other bloggers around the world today, we’re here to explore the beauty of Sri Lanka. I feel really honoured to be a part of this meaningful activity around this little town, and I hope we can be able to promote this town, so that most of us will be able to visit.”  This unique experience will give the opportunity to promote Sri Lanka as a destination concerned about nature values and fully supportive of sustainable tourism development. With growing concern of global tourists on environment and wildlife, Sri Lanka Tourism expects to create an indirect promotion to the island with such unique activities. Also, this nature focused social media promotion expects to generate more and more tourists to the Bandarawela and Badulla area, where currently there is minimum tourism engagement compared to nearby areas such as Ella and Nuwara Eliya. Moreover, it will further support to balance the tourist carrying-capacity in the popular highland destinations, and create more opportunities to the local economy in the Uva Province. 

While sharing various travel blog posts, Instagram posts, videos about this unique experience given by Sri Lanka Tourism, the travel bloggers expect to recommend Uva Province as the next highland hotspot to travel. 

The program took place on 6 November, under the patronage of Uva Province Divisional Secretariat. Local school children from “Parisara Niyamuwo” Environmental Society also joined with this tree plantation program, in order to create awareness and motivation for the future generation on environmental protection.

The tree plantation project was operated by the Badulla Buddhist Society and People’s Leasing Company to make an impact on the environment in Badulla District. They are expecting to plant over 1000 trees within selected areas in Badulla.

The Sri Lanka Army, Badulla Divisional Secretarial Office, Buddhist Society, People’s Leasing Company Badulla and other partners from local corporate sector including Aitken Spence Hotels (Hotel Bandarawela), Jetwing Travels joined with this campaign in order to make it sustainable. 

Explaining the ultimate goal of this initiative, Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau (SLTPB) Assistant Director VJP Chaminda Munasinghe stated:  “While consuming all the elements of Mother Nature, it is a great feeling to give something back. All these travel bloggers and influencers are extremely happy to be part of such a nature-caring project and are looking forward to return back with loved ones to see the trees they have planted in Badulla area.”