Anura on promoting Buddhist tourism globally

Shirajiv Sirimane

Sri Lanka, India and Nepal are to actively promote Buddhist tourism globally, said the Minister of Tourism Anura Bandaranaike.

Speaking to the 'Sunday Observer' soon after the four-day World Travel Market, the second biggest global trade event for tourism here he said that there is a demand for a product of this nature especially from China, Japan, Korea and many European countries as well.

Minister Bandaranaike met the Nepal Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Pradip Gyawali and the Indian Minister of Tourism and Culture, Ms. Ambika Soni and also discussed other avenues of promoting these three destinations in one package.

"Excellent air links is one of the major plus points for this," he said.

The Minister said that they discussed other matters of mutual interest for both countries relating to tourism.

The Minister and the Chairman, Sri Lanka Tourist Board (SLTB) Udaya Nanayakkara discussed ways and means of promoting tourism in France and spoke on the adverse travel advisories on Sri Lanka.

"We will also meet leading travel agents and request them to market Sri Lanka again," he said. "Unlike in countries such as Bali and Egypt tourists have not been targeted in violent incidents ever in Sri Lanka and this is a plus point for tourism," the Minister said. The Minister said that the foundation stone for the proposed 4,000-acre Kalpitiya upmarket destination would be laid in January and already over 20 investors have shown interest in investing in the proposed zone.

SLTA Chairman, Udaya Nanayakkara said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is also very keen to develop tourism in Trincomalee.

"The China Bay airport too is to be expanded," he said.

Nanayakkara said there has been a steady increase of British tourists over the years to Sri Lanka and the annual increase is around 5 per cent.

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