Buddhist travel & tourism trails offer post-pandemic potential in Mekong
Noting that themed travel & tourism niches have been a growing trend for at least two decades, veteran publisher Jaffee Yee has identified the potential for the Mekong-region nations of Southeast Asia to tap their rich Buddhist heritage to attract and disperse a large regional and global market.
It’s a “Good Tourism” Insight. [You too can write a “GT” Insight.]
Twenty years ago, to explain why he was publishing themed travel guides, Lonely Planet founder Tony Wheeler said that travel was becoming more focused on specific interests, such as diving, golfing, or simply eating.
That is even more true now with younger generations of travellers, especially the Chinese. Therefore, many more tour operators are offering customised programs for their clients.
In this “Good Tourism” Insight, I want to focus on a niche market called Buddhist tourism, for which the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS or ‘the Mekong’) has a lot to offer.
First, I would like to give a general overview of the Mekong’s resources in this travel niche, and then talk a little about what more can be done to promote it.
There are two major categories of Buddhist traveller:
- Serious followers of Buddhism who may be more interested in pilgrimages; and
- The general public who may or may not be Buddhist or belong to any other religion, irrespective of race and nationality.
I will focus on the second category.
Core activities of Buddhist travel …
For the general public, temple visits are the core activity of Buddhist travel.
There are more than 200 million Buddhists living in the Mekong region. The majority of the countries that comprise the GMS are considered Buddhist, with Buddhism the mainstream religion, especially Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand, and to a lesser extent Vietnam and China’s Yunnan province.
The Mekong probably has the most Buddhist temples in the world, and is endowed with many amazing historical sites and ancient monuments, many of which have been inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage sites. Among them are the world-famous Angkor Wat, Phra Vihear, and Sambor Prei Kuk in Cambodia, Vat Phou in Laos, My Son Sanctuary in Vietnam, and Sukhothai and Ayuthaya in Thailand.
Also see Ricardo Nicolas Progano’s “GT” Insight
“Wellness pilgrimage: A post-COVID business opportunity for sacred sites”
Apart from these ‘highlights’, there are many more ancient temples in the region, including the thousands in Bagan and Mrauk U, Myanmar, and the hundreds of ancient Lanna temples across northern Thailand. Most of them are easily accessible.
To avoid temple fatigue … Continue reading this “Good Tourism” Insight in full and for free at The “Good Tourism” Blog.
