The trickle down effect
Tag: bhutan
Bhutan Tour and the Daily Tariff
Can Bhutan bring in more tourists at a higher tariff? According to a majority of tour operators in the country that today number around 300 it may not be possible.
In other words, it’s going to be difficult to meet the government’s target of bringing in 100,000 dollar paying tourists by 2013, when the official tariff goes up from USD 200 to USD 250 a day.
Given the existing policy of ‘high value low volume’ tourism, USD 200 a day is generally seen as expensive, because it is assumed to be the cost of the daily visa fee.
It’s surprising that, even after all these years of opening up to tourism, most prospective tourists do not know that the USD 200 a day also covers the cost for food, lodge, transport and guide services. There’s a serious communication gap that needs to be bridged.
Still, the notion that tourists may decide to go some place else instead of coming to Bhutan because official tariffs have gone up by USD 50 does not sound convincing, when every blessed year Bhutan keeps featuring as one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Continue reading Bhutan Tour and the Daily Tariff
Bhutan hopes SAARC summit would boost tourism
Thimpu, April 25 (IANS): Bhutan hopes the upcoming 16th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) here will help revive the country’s jaded tourism industry.
For the first time, this Himalayan kingdom will host a summit of the eight-member grouping April 28-29. The summit will mark the 25th year of the establishment of the regional body.
The tourism sector has been a nonstarter in Bhutan due to limited resources and lack of infrastructure, although the country is endowed with beautiful landscapes and rich wildlife.
Bhutan now hopes more foreign tourists would visit this landlocked country after it gets wide publicity during the summit.
The authorities in Thimpu have already gone into a rigorous drive to upgrade the infrastructure in view of the international conference.
Markets, restaurants and hotels were renovated to show the warm hospitality of the people of Bhutan when the dignitaries would come here for the summit, Kinley Dorji, secretary at Information and Communication Ministry, told Xinhua.
The infrastructure that has been upgraded would serve the tourism sector in the future, he said.
According to National Statistics Bureau of Bhutan, tourist arrival in the country is increasing every year. In 2009, more than 28,000 tourists visited the country, compared to 27,636 in 2008.
‘Within three years, we are hoping to increase tourist arrival by three times to 100,000 annually,’ said Dorji.
Since 1947, Bhutan has followed a ‘high value, low volume’ tourism policy, he added.
Tourists’ arrival in the country has been within the capacity of its socio-cultural and natural environment to absorb visitors without negative impacts. Tourism is Bhutan’s largest commercial source of convertible currency earnings.
Source: Yahoo News
Bhutan hosts first SAARC summit (28-29 May, 2010)
Bhutan will be hosting in 2010 the South Asian association for regional cooperation (SAARC) summit for the first time since the regional body was created in 1985.
“It will greatly enhance Bhutan’s international image as a sovereign, independent, responsible and equal member country,” said the prime minister Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley.This will be the first time that Bhutan will hold a conference where 8 heads of governments from Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Maldives will be attending.
Bhutan had skipped the opportunity to host the SAARC summit three times on the ground of the country’s infrastructure. The summit will be in Thimphu with the currently proposed dates being from April 28 to 29, 2010.
“We are now prepared in terms of the administration, infrastructure and the foreign ministry being ready to host the summit,” said the Lyonchhoen.
The summit is also important for Bhutan since it is actually obligatory for each member state to host the summit. The 2010 summit was actually Maldives’s turn to host.
He said that the meeting would also allow for bilateral meetings with all the leaders of various countries, including India.
On his meeting with the Indian prime minister and other heads of state during the summit, he said, “We will discuss all matters of mutual interest, bilateral matters, relation, review, appraise each other of global and regional issues.”
He said that the summit would promote good neighbourly relations among SAARC countries, as different countries could meet and discuss.
“It is also like a coming of age for Bhutan,” said the prime minister. He said the leaders would be visiting a country that had successfully and peacefully made a transition to democracy inspired by His Majesty the King.
By Tenzing Lamsang (Kuenselonline)
Decongesting Thimphu
Tunnel Proposal: Technical and possible financial help from Norway
Department of geology and mines (DGM) identified tunnel sites |
Pre-feasibility studies have already been done by DGM, indicating that they can be done. “The Wangdue/Punakha tunnels can decongest Thimphu and allow people to settle in these two valleys and also reduce the travel distance and time by around 40 km,” said DGM chief geologist, Ugyen Wangda. Continue reading Decongesting Thimphu
Bhutan to allow 100% FDI for 5-star luxury hotels
Hundred percent foreign investment will be allowed in the construction of five-star hotels in Bhutan on a selective basis to overcome the shortage of financial capital in the domestic market and up the quality of services provided to tourists visiting Bhutan.
However, in the four-star hotel category, as suggested by the hoteliers, the government agreed that foreign investments will be allowed up to 70%, in order to create opportunities for the local entrepreneurs. Continue reading Bhutan to allow 100% FDI for 5-star luxury hotels
Happiness and Hazelnuts
Daniel Spitzer digs into Bhutan’s soil to make a profit and sustain livelihoods
Why should you visit Bhutan? What is unique?
Why should you go to Bhutan?
The next question: “So why should I go to Bhutan?” I have been asked this questions several times now that I am living outside Bhutan. In fact, if I got a dollar every time someone asks me this question I think I would be a rich man by now. So here I will try to reason out why you should go to Bhutan.
Bhutan is a tiny country (only about 46,000 sq. km) with [less than about 1 million people.] It is situated in the foothill of the world’s greatest mountains, the Himalayas. It is bordered on the north by Tibet (now part of China) and on the other sides by India. Bhutan is a very INDEPENDENT country. It became a kingdom in 1907 (i.e. 40 years before India got independence from British rule). Before that different parts of Bhutan were ruled by different local governors. I am so happy to point out that Bhutan was never colonized either by British or Japanese. Although small, Bhutan has lot to offer the travelers. Some of these reasons why you should visit Bhutan are listed below (not in any particular order though): Continue reading Why should you visit Bhutan? What is unique?
From Bangkok to Shangri-la: About Bhutan
From Bangkok to Shangri-la by Roger Beaumont*
27th Dec., 2009: I have wanted to visit Bhutan since I was 10 years old after being enchanted by a feature in a National Geographic magazine. So when destiny called on the phone to my studio in Bangkok last May, asking if I would be interested in helping The Centre for Bhutan Studies (CBS) and the United Nations Development Programme with an upcoming Democracy Conference in Paro, I shouted so loud in delight the house cat kamikazed through a glass screen and landed startled in shards of glass on top of a car in the soi below. I haven’t seen it since.
But between that phone call, the missing cat, and seeing Mt Everest and the mighty Jomolhari out of the Druk Air window three months later, it was all a true lesson in Buddhist patience.
At one point, I was asked to send a scan of my passport. I was in England at the time, away from my own computer and gadgets, so a friend of my mother’s offered to help. He is 86, and had just bought a scanner. He had been practising.
“I think we’ve got it,” he said, placing his third glass of wine on the desk. He then pressed send. Three days later, we received an email from the CBS, saying: “Thank you very much for the delightful picture of a tin of Heinz Baked Beans.”
When I arrived in Bhutan, the CBS was unable to find a place for me immediately, so I made base camp in the Thimphu Hotel for the first few days. It was cheap, loud and cheerful; a mix of Tibetan plumbing (no water, an alarming clanging of pipes, then a sudden, scalding torrent), slow service, and big smiles. I bought a small side-lamp; the connection started smoking. Then the toilet flushed on its own volition. I didn’t dare turn the TV on.
Bhutan has a “Changemaker”
Dr. Chencho Dorji, a senior Psychiatrist at the Jime Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital becomes a “Changemaker” from Bhutan.
Dr. Chencho is Bhutan’s first Psychiatrist. His entry, Promoting Mental Health Treatment in Traditional Bhutanese Society has been declared as one of the three proud winners of the Ashoka Changemaker’s “Rethinking Mental Health: Improving Community Wellbeing” competition on December 16, 2009. The worldwide competition was organized and funded by Ashoka, a global association of world’s leading entrepreneurs, thorugh its intitative Changemakers.
More details on the winning entry can be found HERE.