Walking a Tightrope
3 February 2013
Tourism in Bhutan is treading a fine line. On the one hand, the Bhutanese government wants to limit the number of tourists it receives every year, and yet, on the other, tourism has been marked out as one of the key sources of economic growth. Try as it might, obtaining the right balance between the two objectives is proving to be an arduous task for the government.
In keeping with its theory of Gross National Happiness (and we can come to that another day), Bhutan, which only opened its doors to foreigners as recently as in 1974, strongly controls the inflow of visitors. This is done to preserve the country’s culture, heritage, traditions and the environment. The government believes that letting in a larger number of tourists can have an adverse impact on the country and its people.
The number of arrivals is controlled through a rather expensive fee each tourist must pay. In six of the 12 months, tourists must pay US$250 as tariff for each night of their stay in Bhutan. While this sum covers for almost all expenses, it is still exorbitant enough to deter a large chunk of tourists who would otherwise be interested in visiting the country. This policy has led to larger dollar spend per tourist, but definitely fewer tourists. As compared to Nepal, for instance, tourists visiting Bhutan spend four times the money on average. However, in 2011, the country saw only about 37,000 tourists with total tourism receipts of US$48 million. It is a number the government is keen to increase rapidly. According to the Bhutanese government, the tourism industry is expected to contribute up to 25% of GDP by the year 2017. Bhutan is trying to develop new tourism products and selecting new markets in which to promote its tourism industry. There are plans to build new domestic airports and to develop other relevant infrastructure that will help promote the tourism industry. Here lies Bhutan’s greatest challenge: Its needs more tourists, but it is not sure whether it wants them. The government wants to focus on the tourism industry as one of the key pillars of economic growth, but its guiding philosophy of Gross National Happiness stands as an obstacle in the pursuit of this objective. Bhutan’s policy objectives are at odds with the policies it is currently pursuing. Moreover, by limiting the number of tourists through the imposition of high tariffs, Bhutan has thus far succeeded in managing its tourism industry and in ensuring that visitors get to see an unspoiled, untouched Bhutan. It is purely of this reason that tourists are willing to pay through their noses as Bhutan is often regarded as the last Shangri-La. A larger stream of tourists will be more difficult to manage and words such as “unspoiled” and “untouched” will be associated with Bhutan with ever decreasing frequency. And if that happens and Bhutan is not viewed as being as pristine as it earlier was, tourists will not be willing to pay US$250 per night as tariff anyway. This constant tussle between greater economic growth and sustainability will define Bhutan’s tourism policy in the near future. If the early signs are any indication, then sustainability will take a backseat again, as it usually does everywhere.
(This was a column printed in The Himalayan Times on 3 February, 2013)
