ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka is planning to boost Buddhist tourism by linking temples in the country with those in East Asia, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said after to welcoming a delegation of monks from Vietnam.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Minister Sabry have initiated a temple-to-temple program where 100 Sri Lanka temples will be linked with counterparts in the Association of South East Asian Nations region.
“Tourism development will get a lot of growth with the temple-to-temple program,” Minister Ali Sabry said.
Along with the delegation of monks, five travel agents from Vietnam were also invited.
Under the first phase of the Temple-to-temple programs, several monks from Sri Lanka had received invitations from Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam the Foreign Ministry said.
The Temple-to-Temple diplomacy program will be extended to Singapore, Japan, Thailand and Cambodia during the second phrase of the program.
Sri Lanka is targeting 2.3 million tourists in 2023, after getting about 1.5 million this year.
Source : Economy Next