Olivia Cryer and Maudie Tomlinson are former luxury travel designers well used to curating dream journeys; you know the drill — seamless logistics, handpicked hideaways, unique experiences. But a trip across this South Asian island meeting grassroots changemakers, hospitality pioneers, and quietly radical initiatives was a lesson in how tourism can help recovery from economic and social crises.
As they share here, this is more than a comeback story for Sri Lanka: it’s about how more intentional itineraries in luxury travel can create meaningful, measurable, and community-driven impact, offering a win-win for all: locals, guests and the travel planner.
Here are Olivia and Maudie’s five key learnings from their trans-island trip, which was hosted by ÀNI Private Resorts, on how tour operators and travel designers can be a part of that.
1. The right DMCs do more than deliver — they drive change
We all know a great DMC is worth its weight in gold – in Sri Lanka, The Fabulous Getaway (TFG) is a DMC that connects travellers with local communities and carefully-chosen responsible hotels, offering 150 travel experiences that directly support local families and communities. Plus, through their own foundation, Impact, they empower women, protect ecosystems and safeguard wildlife; to date their plastic removal project has stopped 85,000kg of waste from reaching the oceans.
Authenticities is a DMC also pushing boundaries beyond the expected and very much prove that value. In this case, they deliver world-class operations, but asking the right questions meant we also learned that they power their offices with solar energy, operate an electric vehicle (EV) fleet, and work with other operators to scale-up EV infrastructure too. For your impact-conscious clients, this is the kind of detail that matters.
AGENT TIP: Ask your DMCs not just what they do for travellers, but what they do for their communities they operate in. Inspire deeper enquiries with a read of our Conscious Questions.
2. Clients want ‘to do good’ – but they want something measurable
One of the biggest challenges agents could be facing is matching action to intention. A client might want to support conservation, women’s empowerment, or heritage craft – but they don’t want to feel like they’re stepping into a voluntourism trap. This doesn’t have to be an issue in Sri Lanka, where there are genuine, high-integrity real-work options.
The Dikwella Lace Centre is the great example of moving beyond charity: this represents cultural preservation with a luxury crossover. Guests can participate in workshops, meet the makers, purchase a piece that’s not your average holiday souvenir but a heritage collectable. Meanwhile, Sea Sisters offers surf lessons led by local women rewriting gender norms in the waves of Weligama. These are not just feel-good add-ons – they’re part of a new narrative around meaningful, experience-led travel.
AGENT TIP: Make sure you vet the people and partnerships behind local experiences being suggested to you, and seek those that are led by, or are benefitting, the community. And if the experience empowers and uplifts women or marginalised people – all the better.
3. The hospitality talent pipeline is changing – help celebrate that
A universal issue for travel businesses is staff retention and training – which in turn impacts on travel experiences, and whether you can confidently recommend them. In Sri Lanka, initiatives such as the Tea Leaf Trust (supported by Teardrop Hotels) and ÀNI for Education flip the script by training hundreds of young people from underserved communities in vocational and hospitality skills.
With foreign aid cuts also impacting education programmes further, it’s impressive to see hospitality businesses stepping in to fill the void. We met housekeepers who also run turtle hatcheries and F&B interns who are rising through the ranks.
AGENT TIP: The right programmes are helping create teams who truly understand hospitality from the ground up — which shows in the guest experience. Try and find a way to make this part of the story you pass onto your clients.
4. High-end clients want access — impact can be how you do this
Today’s luxury traveller wants to feel part of something real. Whether it’s watching elephants roam through protected corridors thanks to Uga’s research centre in Sri Lanka, or meeting artists in action at an exclusive exhibition, such as we experienced with ÀNI. It is a really positive step to sell the story of how some businesses offer authentic experiences that also happen to advance nature conservation or equal opportunity — show how guests can experience that story first-hand.
AGENT TIP: Don’t just sell the hotel: When clients understand their presence supports something meaningful and feel that spark of connection, they don’t just take a trip, they take part in a story. As sustainable-travel expert Juliet Kinsman says: “One of the most powerful souvenirs we can take away with us is what I call a solutions-led story. We then share that story of how travel in some way offered a fix or support to a local or global challenge or problem to our friends or family in real life, or on social media.”
5. Travel with purpose is redefining luxury
Designing holidays with purpose isn’t about reducing luxury — it’s about redefining it. And somewhere like Sri Lanka proves we don’t have to choose between comfort and conscience — or pay more for sustainability. This shows us an evolving model where local empowerment and luxury design are co-existing.
Take Kalukanda House’s HERA Project X, which aims to link female founders across fashion, design, and the arts. Not just another well-meaning initiative, it’s a testament to a new value system where collaboration is as essential to the destination as the beauty of the place itself.
The female creatives who are part of HERA Project X are devoted to preserving indigenous craft and wellness wisdom, and are writing literature that reframes old narratives, designing fashion that reduces waste, engaging in art forms that might die out, and more.
As founder Dee Gibson says: “In an increasingly homogenised world, it is a luxury to find cultural diversity in organic ways when travelling. As Sri Lankan culture evolves amid globalisation, it is more important than ever that travellers understand the identity of the island what innovation looks like. A beautifully designed property can be the start of an adventure into curiosity where engaging a rare cultural exchange has the potential to break down barriers and open minds – it can even influence everyday changes back home reflecting the positive impact seen.”
AGENT TIP: Use impact stories as differentiators. Your client’s next trip has the potential be a life-changing turning point – for them and for the destination. Chances are, a well-timed introduction to a local change-maker or talk by a social entrepreneur will be among the more-than-money-can-buy memories that will stay with them most significantly.
The Conscious Travel Foundation is a non-profit Community Interest Company that supports sustainable, inclusive, and community-led tourism through uniting travel businesses, such as hotels, tour operators, guides, marketing, and media. They were hosted by ÀNI Private Resorts them for four nights in Sri Lanka, as part of their ongoing sponsorship of the Foundation.
