High Value, Low Volume Tourism

The Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan is considered to be the world’s last remaining Shangri-La. Squished between the great giants, China and India, this fascinating, magical kingdom high in the Himalayas is drenched in legend, isolated by the surrounding sheer cliffs and plunging chasms, and decorated with precarious mountainside temples. This landlocked kingdom which remained totally under lock down during the COVID 19 pandemic is opening up to international tourists from September year. But it has restricted the numbers and increased its fees to revive its tourist centric economy.

Dorji Dhradhul, Director General of Tourism Council of Bhutan said in a report,” Our strategy for the revamp of the tourism sector brings us back to our roots, of ‘High Value, Low Volume’ tourism, where we meet the needs of tourists while protecting our people, culture, values, and environment.” As per the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB), travelers can enter the country from September 23 this year. Tourism will focus on renewed sustainability of the sector. It will focus on infrastructure and services, the travel experience of tourists and the environmental impact. It is undergoing a massive change and development in the tourism industry.

According to Dr Tandi Dorji, the foreign minister of Bhutan and chairperson of its Tourism Council,” Covid-19 has allowed the Government to reset — to rethink how the sector can be best structured and operated so that it not only benefits Bhutan economically but socially as well while keeping carbon footprints low. In the long run, the goal is to create high-value experiences for visitors and well-paying and professional jobs for our citizens.”

The country aims to introduce changes and revisions of standards for service providers such as hotels, guides, tour operators and drivers and will find strategic ways to attract tourists. Employees will participate in events and programmes to check the quality of the services. The foreign tourists will be charged a Sustainable Development Fee of
$200 per tourist per night, up from the $65 charged for three decades. India being the closest country of Bhutan does not entirely come under this tourist fee hike. Officials said the new fee would offset tourists’ carbon impact. Tourism employs 50,000 people and contributed an annual average of about $84 million in the three years before the pandemic in direct foreign exchange.

Wedged between China and India, the country with scenic natural beauty and ancient Buddhist culture, took drastic early steps and banned tourism, even though it was a major source of income, in March 2020 when the first COVID-19 case was detected there. The constitutional monarchy of less than 800,000 people has reported fewer than 60,000 infections and only 21 deaths, but the $3 billion economy contracted in the last two fiscal years, pushing more people into poverty.

Bhutan had first opened to high-end tourists in 1974 when it received 300 visitors. The number soared to 315,600 in 2019, up 15.1% from a year earlier, TCB data showed. Tour operators said visitors would be free to choose their own operators and plan itineraries, whereas before they could choose only from the packages offered by their operators.

Bhutan is known for its monasteries, fortresses (or dzongs) and dramatic landscapes that range from subtropical plains to steep mountains and valleys. In the High Himalayas, peaks such as 7,326m Jomolhari are popular trekking destinations. Paro Taktsang monastery (also known as Tiger’s Nest) clings to cliffs above the forested Paro Valley.

Source: Himalayan News Chronicle