CNI News
27 Oct 2022
The government should help develop a tour destination at a village, where most residents work as sculptors, in Dabain in Hlegu Township, Yangon Region and offer necessary assistance, the Myanmar Tourism Entrepreneurs Association told the CNI.
Plans are underway to develop a tour destination for domestic and foreign tourists at the sculpture industry village, which has great potential for an attraction, Chairman U Naung Naung Han of the MTEA told the CNI.
Carving a Buddha image in the Dabain sculpture industry workshop.
He told the CNI, “For foreigners, it is cheaper to buy sculptures in Myanmar and craftsmanship is better. So, many people buy and collect sculptures. If tour destination is developed in the village, it will be a precious destination in Yangon in the upcoming tour season. Foreigners are interested in Myanmar sculptures. Unlike buying sculptures at shops, they can see for themselves carving methods of Myanmar. It is difficult to study carving in workshops in other countries. Therefore, the village has great potential for a tour destination. If food and accommodation can be arranged for foreigners, they may visit the village on day-return trips.”
Only a few people know about the village and visitors rarely come to the village. Those who visited the village learnt about it from tour guides.
Therefore, it will be beneficial for the tourism industry if measures for developing a tour destination at the village are taken systematically, he added.
However, some sculptors from the village have moved to other towns and the number of sculptors at the village has decreased, Ma Ohmar Lwin, a sculptor who moved to Nay Pyi Taw from the village, told the CNI.
An archway to Hlegu.
She said, “In the past, we could carve sculptures in our village. Now, wood has become rare in the village. So, we moved to other regions. There are people like us. About 75 percent of sculptors in the village have moved to other regions, where wood is available. They will return when wood is available at the village. We want to work in our own village without moving to other places when the market has recovered.”
The plan has been submitted to the regional government, the directorate of hotels and tourism, the department of archaeology and national museum and the department of small industries.
Although some villagers engage in other livelihoods, the majority of residents in the village work as sculptors.
