Grant Winner - The Rascals Kite Resort Pvt Ltd
About the Business
Located in Kalpitiya, Sri Lanka, Rascals Kite Resort is a family owned and operated boutique resort which caters to kite surfers. The resort provides accommodation, food and kitesurfing lessons, rentals and boat trips to its guests.
Having begun as a small operation, the business has grown steadily, showing progress in a number of areas, including quality of service, welfare of staff, and the development of facilities with minimal environmental impact. The team considers sustainability to be an important aspect of its business. They appoint and train local and mostly unskilled staff, creating jobs within the community. They emphasise diversity and gender equality, hiring staff based on skill and commitment, instead of based on gender, race or religion. Rascals Kite Resort is the only female owned kitesurfing school in the area, and it actively encourages girls to get into the sport.
The resort buildings have been constructed primarily from local, natural materials, by workers from the community. No single use products such as plastic straws, paper serviettes, plastic water bottles, shopping bags are used at the resort. In a bid to minimise food wastage, the resort does not offer buffets. In the event of any food waste being generated, it is sent to farmers in the area.
Creating News Opportunities to Sustain Business
Wing foiling is a new upcoming sport which has already gained popularity around the world. The grant would allow Rascals Kite Resort to purchase Wing Foiling gear so that they can extend services to offer wing foiling lessons and rentals in their water sports centre.
By introducing wing foiling to the Rascals water sports centre, it would extend the season from eight months of the year to all year round, as wing foiling can be practised during the low season as well. As a result, they would also be able to create more jobs within the community and also attract more guests to the region.
“Being one of the recipients of the Grants for Tourism Resilience has given us extra motivation and drive as we start to welcome guests back to our island. We are so grateful to this programme for believing in our proposition, inspiring us and making it possible to bring something new and fresh to Sri Lanka’s water sports market.”
– The Rascals Kite Resort
