We were very impressed by the opinions expressed by Mr. Dhammika Weerasinghe (“ Sunday Island” Mar. 4) on the subject of Milinda Moragoda and tourism promotion. It was a constructive and balanced analysis of the initiatives of a new minister.

But we are not in agreement with his criticism of the minister recognizing an advisory council of experts and knowledgeable Buddhist monks. Any minister will have expert advisers and he only has to consult with them when making decisions. We do not see any wrong in the minister consulting the clergy of all religions, who have protected our heritage in temples and kovils for thousands of years.

However, after reading his critical comments on the appointment of a Council of Maha Sangha to advise on tourism, I discussed the issue with a couple of learned Sangha associated with this Council. The former ministers, the officials and conventional wisdom always considered sun-sea-sand and eco-tourism as their comfort zone. The new initiative of the out-of-the-box Moragoda intends to promote and facilitate local tourism, pilgrimages and Dhamma Dutha Missions to and from Sri Lanka.

In this process, so far unexplored or semi explored ancient Buddhist archeological sites are expected to be opened. Similarly, the Sangha Council advice is to be sought by the minister for promoting Sri Lanka as a place for learning and practicing Buddhist way of life including meditation. Attracting foreign tourists for the learning of Theravada Buddhism from countries, such as China, Japan and others, where Mahayana is the dominant doctrine, too, is a key objective of the new strategy. We should see how much India promoted tourist travel to religious centres such as Buddha Gaya.

In addition to in-bound tourism promotion, I believe that the Tourism Minister has a responsibility in facilitating Sri Lankan Buddhist pilgrims visiting destinations, such as India, Nepal and Burma. In many of these pilgrimages, the involvement of Buddhist monks as team leaders or advisors is a fact. Therefore, it is nothing but fair for the Tourism Minister to have a consultative mechanism to identify the problems and difficulties by these “tourists” visiting such countries and finding solutions to redress them.

The Sangha in Advisory Council are also in a better position to bring to the notice of the tourism authorities the negative aspects of in-bound tourism and the measures to counter spreading of such ills. As far as I can see, Moragoda as the new Minister of Tourism has broadened the sector’s horizon from star class sun-sea-sand, to a field hitherto unattended by the authorities.