Chennai, India, 2024-Oct-02 — /Travel PR News/ — The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Sigiriya located in the Central Province of Sri Lanka is making progress in its documentation and reporting towards achieving a ‘Green Destination’ status. It is expected that the destination management, will complete the process in a couple of months and the certification will be awarded early next year.
Sigiriya is the third destination from South Asia that has registered for the ‘Green Destinations Awards and Certification Program’. The Kingdom Bhutan received the certificate in March earlier this year while the heritage site of Mamallapuram entered the portfolio last month. Both the destinations received ‘Green Destinations Silver’ certificate. Mamallapuram also became the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in the entire South and South East Asian region to receive this prestigious award. Chiang Khan and Nan Living Old City in Thailand and Shodoshima Island in Japan have also become awarded ‘Green Destinations; while Kamaishi (again in Japan) has been recertified.
The project in Sigiriya is implemented jointly by Green Destinations and Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA). The project also include certification of two hundred MSME tourism businesses of which the first set of hundred has been completed. The entire program is financed by UNDP Biofin.