Thimphu, Sept 14: The sustainable development fee (SDF) has not stopped a steady flow of people coming into the land of the thunder dragon that welcomes everyone as chief marketing officer of Bhutan Tourism Carissa Nimah assured there is “no capping on number of tourists”.
Bhutan, which charges USD 100 per person per night to all foreign visitors except those from India, who pay Rs 1,200 per person per night, has been successfully promoting ‘High value, Low volume’ policy, prioritising environment conservation and sustainability.
“Bhutan always had a slightly different approach when it comes to tourism and tourism strategies… So, Bhutan’s tourism strategy is ‘high value, low volume’. Bhutan is not the mass tourism destination. It has never been, it doesn’t want to be.
“It is about attracting the right amount of people that come here and making sure that when people come the guest experience is very high. It is a high quality guest experience,” Nimah, who has previously worked with luxury hospitality brands in Maldives and Thailand, told PTI.
The money generated through SDF is used in a range of things, including free healthcare and free education for Bhutanese nationals, sustainability and conservation projects, and upgrading of infrastructure.
While admitting that the SDF naturally limits the number of people visiting Bhutan, she clarified about the “common misperception” pertaining to Bhutan putting a cap on the number of tourists.
“There is no cap in place, there is a misperception that we limit how many people come here. This is not true. We welcome everyone. In 2019, which was the busiest year for tourism in Bhutan, we welcomed around 3.5 lakh people and this for a population of 7.5 lakh is a considerable number. Still, we did not put a cap on the number of people coming to Bhutan,” she explained.
The Kingdom of Bhutan, this year commemorates the 50th anniversary of opening its borders to international tourists. Bhutan started welcoming international visitors in 1974 to share its unique spiritual, cultural and natural heritage.
Its tourism industry, which currently makes less than five per cent of Bhutan’s GDP, has the majority of contribution from Indian travellers (60 per cent) followed by the United States and the United Kingdom.
Hoping to increase “repeat visitors”, which currently stands at less than 10 per cent, Nimah said the challenge is to change the perception of Bhutan as just a “bucket list destination” which tourists want to visit once in their lifetime.
“What happens is that when people come to Bhutan as a bucket list destination, they come, tick it off, and they go back and they never come back. We want to change that perception that Bhutan is a bucket list destination never to be returned to.
“When people visit Bhutan for the first time, many people just visit Thimphu, Paro, Punakha or may be they go to Gatshel and Bumthang but there are many more more places to see outside these main five Valleys in Bhutan,” she said, adding that the country is well on track to hit the pre pandemic number of foreign tourist arrivals — over 3 lakh — next year.
Filled with abundant beauty and breath-taking landscapes, Bhutan, the world’s first ‘carbon negative’ country, according to Nimah, has something for everyone — ranging from adventure tourism to cultural tourism and more.
The land-locked country, almost the same size as Switzerland but with hardly “1/8th of its population”, is constitutionally mandated to have at least 60 per cent of its land covered by forest at all times.
“Bhutan is an incredibly authentic destination and since it has only been open for tourism for the past 50 years, the culture is very well preserved. I don’t think there are that many places in the world where the culture has been so protected and preserved.
“In addition to cultural tourism, there is adventure tourism. There are literally hundreds of trekking routes and amazing trails with lots of history and stories behind them. Even the nightlife and food here is so unique,” she noted.
Here, she also talked about Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck ambitious project ‘Mindfulness City, planned at Gelephu town in southern Bhutan near the border with India, and how it will be a “transformative project” for the Himalayan nation.
‘Mindfulness City’, expected to be built in an area larger than Singapore, was announced by His majesty on Bhutan National Day, December 17, last year. It is envisioned to serve as Bhutan’s new economic hub and gateway to tourists to the rest of the country.
“The city will be ready in the next five to eight years. It is designed to basically attract business and people businesses by invitation only that share the values of Bhutan and have the core value of mindfulness. There will be different streams, for instance education, technology, finance, healthcare, tourism,” she added. (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
