Culture and tourism to bridge South Asia

Despite being challenged by political and geographical borders, culture and tourism could help in connecting the countries in the South Asia region, think tanks from the region said yesterday.

Institute of security and international studies’ director Dr Thitinan Pongsudhirak said cultural similarities and histories link most South and Southeast Asian countries.

“We have to look at the mainland like Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Singapore where the linguistic heritage is shared and also through religion commonalities like Buddhism and Hinduism,” he said. “People’s attitude and livelihood like eating rice and curry and our values are common.”

Druk Air, for instance, brought many Bhutanese to Bangkok in Thailand, for purposes ranging from business to education, he said.

Research officer with the Centre for Bhutan Studies, Sangay Thinley said cultural linkage within the South Asian countries happened through tourism, which prevailed mostly in urban areas, while the real culture remained in rural areas.

“A South Asian tourism portal should be developed so that whenever anyone wishes to travel to another country, it should be just a distance of one to two cliffs away,” he said. “Mapping cultural activities in different countries are also important.”

Participants also discussed about media playing a major role in connecting countries through their regional and international news, which today is the social networking sites, especially for the youth. New media has also brought significant changes in connecting millions around the world, they said.

Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies’ director, D Suba Chandran said that as the region develops with better transport infrastructure and energy corridors including electricity and gas, it would be in the interest of every country to get connected with these corridors.

“Today, Bhutan’s physical connectivity is primarily through air with the rest of world and if Bhutan is connected to Southeast Asia and Central Asia, it would be beneficial for Bhutan to make use of this network,” he said.

Sourced: kuenselonline