Photo Courtesy: Tripadvisor

Bhutan unlikely to meet tourism target of 150,000 for 2024

The government’s set goal of receiving 150,000 tourists by December 2024, is unlikely to be fulfilled, according to the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO).

As per the data from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment (MoICE), the total number of tourists that visited the country in 2024 from January to November was 123,304.

Executive Director of ABTO, Kinley Gyeltshen, said, “It is a challenging number that has been put up. The government has been doing a lot in marketing, and has also given incentives to the private sector. What they also need to realize is that subsidies and incentives take time to gain momentum. That is why I think the sunset period should be longer.”

One of the tour operators said, “I’m sure the country has received around 135,000 tourists in 2024. This is a more realistic number. I think what everyone needs to understand is that Bhutan is a very unique place for tourism. People are planning for 2027 already, when they decide to visit Bhutan. Short term incentives and subsidies are not going to work unless the government is willing to wait and see the results.”

Another tour operator said, “I highly doubt that 20,000 tourists visited Bhutan in December, which is an off month for tourism.”

They said that there is no particular reason for not meeting the tourism target. It was just set too high.

They say that administrative facilities are also very important in the industry and when their workers resign, they have to start all over again, and that the government can still go a long way, in terms of providing proper amenities to the tourism sector and human resources development.

A three star hotel owner in Thimphu said, “The tourist numbers are declining, and there are many hotels in Thimphu, making this industry competitive. On top of not having many guests, we also have labor problems.”

The hotel owner also said that many of the hotels have to hire inexperienced staff as the experienced workers have left the country, and stated, “The government needs to really come up with a solution and tackle that. Even if the amenities are very ordinary, if the person is skilled and dedicated, that makes a difference because the biggest impact in our industry is human labor. So, if the government can focus on that, I think we will be more or less going in the right direction.”

A tour operator said that the government keeps harping on doing more marketing and coming up with some incentives like the airfare subsidy but he said that the main barrier for even high end or more well-off tourists coming to Bhutan is the cost for many and the excessive red tape around compulsory guides for regional tourists etc. and so something needs to be done.

With the final loan deferral coming to and end in June 2025 many hoteliers and tourism industry members are a worried lot.

Check Also

2,293 Bhutanese with PR as of June 2023

A total of 2,293 Bhutanese has availed themselves of the Permanent Resident (PR) visa status …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *