The Bhutanese Leading the way.
In steps to further promote travel and tourism in the country, the national airline, Drukair, is offering new fares and schemes with higher flexibility and lower rates to suit the tour operators. The scheme was revealed at the 15th Annual General Meeting of the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators on July 31.
The tour operators can now avail themselves of the Group Inclusive Tour (GIT) discount slab, reduced block purchase deposits, unlimited date change, validity of the tickets for one year, and reduced Bhutanese and SAARC fares.
Also, the fare for Kathmandu-Paro-Kathmandu route has been reduced, considering the declining rate of tourists travelling the route due to the recent earthquake devastation in Nepal.
GIT discount starts at 10 percent for a group size of 10 or more. The block purchase deposit has been reduced to 25 percent from 50 percent. Drukair aims to attract more tour operators to fly with the airline with the competitive rates. However, General Manager, Drukair, Ugyen Tashi, said that the directives for new airfare rates and packages came from the Drukair Board and not due to market competition.
Domestic packages that are tailored for promotion of tourism in the central and the eastern Bhutan have also been introduced.
Drukair stated that the airline aspires to facilitate and support the tour operators in promoting tours, and not to just promote Drukair as a brand. Drukair has also introduced a new management with new system and various new programs to improve its services.
Drukair said there will be daily flights to Bangkok, Delhi, Kolkata and Kathmandu and an additional flight to Singapore will be lauched on 7th September 2015.
