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Bhutan's
Tourism |
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Bhutan Information |
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| Tourism
in South Asia and Bhutan |
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| South
Asian countries of India, Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka and Bhutan hold only one percent of the world tourism market
according to a report by the World Tourism
Organisation based in Madrid, Spain. |
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Of
the 7,819,000 tourists who visited south Asia last year, India had the
highest arrivals of 3,368,000 tourists. Iran received 1,980,000, Pakistan
648,000, Maldives 617,000, Sri Lanka 566,000, Nepal 360,000 and Bangladesh
271,000 tourists each.
Bhutan
had the lowest of about 9,000 tourists arrivals last year, a 47.6 percent
increase over 2003, which generated revenue of US $12.45 million. Bhutan
is expecting about 12,000 tourists this year.
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| South
Asia, according to WTO officials, will continue to hold the same share
of the world tourism market till 2020 although the tourist numbers are
expected to rise.
"Bhutan,
which came on the world tourism scenario very recently is becoming an increasingly
attractive tourist destination," said Mr. Rok V Klancnik. "Bhutan has the
chance to remain as the mysterious kingdom and has the time to learn from
the mistakes made by other countries like Indonesia and Thailand," he said.
Mr.
Imtiaz Muqbil who also participated in the workshop said that tourism in
South Asia will boom because of the sheer size of the Indian market but
the main issue will be that of management. |
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"Bhutan's
plans to maintain exclusivity of its tourism industry will not succeed
in the long term," he said. "There are many tourism head officials and
executives from many parts of the world saying the same thing but once
the numbers begin to flow, competitive factors and profitability become
paramount and management of these destinations always suffer," he said.
top
| Tourism
industry gears up for the autumn season 2005 |
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| With
the Thimphu tshechu, which starts on September 13, marking the onset of
the autumn tourist season the industry is abuzz with travel agents, guides
and hoteliers going on and about making final arrangements.
Of
the 184 licensed tour operators in the country, some are heaving a sigh
of relief having finally confirmed flight and hotel reservations while
some are still making frantic last minute efforts. |
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"Now
it is almost time for the guides and the porters to get busy," says Sangay,
who looks relaxed sitting in his office in Thimphu. "The hotels have been
booked, guides assigned and vehicles ready."
The
industry performed well so far this year and the autumn season is expected
to see even more arrivals, tourism people say.
top
| Arrivals
and revenue |
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Between
12,000 - 15,000 tourist are expected to visit Bhutan this year according
to people in the industry.
The
arrival figures till June end shows 5,763 tourists, an increase of 2,420
tourists compared with the same period last year. Revenue generated by
the industry stood at US $ 7,153,778 of which government revenue is US
$ 2,503,743.
March
saw the highest arrivals with 2,197 tourists. Last March only 831 tourists
had visited the country.
July
and August had brought in additional 858 tourists taking the total arrivals
to 6,621 tourists which was higher that the total annual arrivals of the
previous three years.
Last
year 9, 249 tourists visited Bhutan generating a gross revenue of US $
12.5 million.
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| Hotels
in tourist destinations like Thimphu, Bumthang, Wangdue-Phodrang and Paro
are booked full and so are Drukair flights. But there are tour operators
pleading with hoteliers and Drukair to make room for their clients. Riverview
hotel in Thimphu has about five agents on the wait list for 30 rooms.
In
all, 61 hotels around the country are approved as fit for tourist accommodation.
The number of rooms provided by these hotels adds up to 1,152. |
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Drukair has been requested for additional flights. Tour operators said that
even with the arrival of Drukair's two new Airbus aircraft last year,
bookings are still difficult and that the growth of tourist hotels had
not been much.
The
Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO) has proposed for four additional
flights this season because there were operators who had their client's
waitlisted.
Last
year there were over 100 cancellations some of it because tickets on Druk
Air, the only airline to fly into Bhutan, could not be confirmed officials
of the tourism department said.
According
to Drukair officials, they are studying the possibility of operating additional
flights. "It should be viable," said the manager of Drukair, Namgay Wangchuk.
"There should be enough people," he said, adding that the flight schedule
was "quite tight".
Tour
operators have however learned to plan way in advance and take on manageable
numbers.
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Etho
Metho Tours and Travels has fixed a ceiling of 300 tourists for a month
in the peak season because beyond that was not manageable. "We tell our
clients about the problem and advise them to come in at a later period
of time," said the agency's general manager, Sangay Wangchuk. |
Palden
Tshewang of Silver Dragon has not promoted the season's September month
because competing with "bigger agencies" was tough. "Since they bring in
more business the hotels give them priority," he said.
October,
despite the stiff competition, is the month most promoted by tour operators
and their agents outside the country. "In October tourists can see the
festivals and also trek because the weather gets better and the campsites
are dry," said a tour operator.
This
season, according to tourism department's data, approximately 1,201 and
140 tourists are expected to visit the country in September and October.
The latter month's bookings are still coming in said tourism officials.
While
September month brings in mostly cultural tourists, October and November
brings in trekkers.
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| The
international tourism monitor produced by the tourism department states
that the average length of stay of tourists was approximately eight days.
A
tourism consultant working with the tourism department, Martin Zeppezauer,
said Bhutan would continue receiving increasing number of tourists in the
years to come but there was a need to diversify products. |
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There
was also a need to spread the tourism season, improve and increase infrastructure
and a need to reach the rural areas so that rural people would also benefit.
These elements, he said, would to be reflected in the tourism master plan.
Meanwhile,
some tour operators have begun working for the spring season in March 2006.
| Contributed
by Kinley Wangmo, KUENSEL, Bhutan's national newspaper, 2005 |
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