BHUTAN may fall short on its mission to develop long-term sustainable tourism that brings in at least 150,000 tourists a year if it maintains its current pricing strategy for international visitors, experts say.
According to Tourism Council of Bhutan (TBC), last year the destination received more than 110,000 international tourists, about 60 per cent of which were Indians, with most of the remaining 40 per cent – apart from citizens of Bangladesh and the Maldives – required to spend a minimum daily package of US$200-$250 depending on the season.
While the destination remains on the bucket list for many travellers, arrivals fall dramatically during its two low seasons – December to January and June to August – when many hotels achieve low double-digit occupancy rates.
Travel specialists are unsure the NTO’s targets can be reached with the current low-season slumps, saying the country would benefit from targeted campaigns that could reduce or waive the minimum daily package for specific niche groups, thus avoiding problems associated with mass tourism.
Anthony Hill, managing director, Adventure Travel, said he has suggested introducing a student visa to TCB as one option. “They could be selective who they give the visa to and have a cap on the number issued yearly,” he said.
Tim Christian Bilfinger, general manager, Le Meridien Thimphu, concurred: “There are many people from Europe or the US who would visit the country during the cooler low seasons, especially for trekking… (Bhutan) could reduce the minimum spend to attract such tourists.”
However, TCB spokesman Sonam Phuntsho said despite the lack of year-round jobs as a result of seasonality, which makes it hard to provide sustainable jobs in the industry and may see “us lose the best people from tourism”, the authorities have no plans to reduce the minimum daily package as part of targeted off-peak campaigns to attract “quality tourists”.
He said TCB would continue with the “high quality, low volume” policy and is confident of reaching its yearly target of minimum 150,000 tourists, by having “at least 50 per cent of them visiting parts of Bhutan currently (relatively) unvisited”.
