The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Tourists who booked at USD 200 can get refund: DG DoT
The Department of Tourism (DoT) has clarified that those tourists who have booked at USD 200 SDF or anything above USD 100 SDF per day for the current autumn season can get a refund.
The Director General of DoT Dorji Dhradhul said that tourists and tour operators can avail the refund by first cancelling their registration and then rebooking again.
As a special one time measure the one-time visa charge of USD 40 will not be imposed for such a rebooking.
So if a tourist had paid USD 800 SDF for a 4-day tour then he or she can get back USD 400 by cancelling the booking and rebooking it again.
Similarly, if a tourist availing the 4 plus 4 scheme is coming for 10 days and has paid USD 1,200 then the tourist can claim back USD 200.
The DG and many tour operators had the same view that while there will be some positive impact for this autumn season the main impact on the numbers will be in the spring and autumn seasons next year when numbers are expected to go up significantly.
Tour operators all welcome the halving of the SDF to USD 100 per day for the next four years.
The General Manager of Norbu Bhutan, Choedey Yangzom, said that SDF discount is good news for everybody and the whole industry is very excited. She said that while there will be some boost in numbers this autumn the spring season next year looks more promising as marketing can be done by then.
She said with the SDF reduced by half there should be an increase in the numbers.
Choedey said that they have around 200 to 300 guests confirmed so far for the autumn season and prior to the pandemic they were easily getting 1,000 plus.
CEO of Yangphel Adventure Travel, Karma Lotey, also said the reduction in the SDF is really welcome and good for the tourism industry which is hotels, guides etc. He said they will do their best to promote and work hard with colleagues to take advantage of this and see how best to increase numbers.
He said the online visa system which is under the Department of Immigration until recently had some issues as it is a new system and they were not ready even though some groups are coming in the first and second week of September and the operators were told to come back on 1st September.
He said another issue is that in the earlier incentive if a trek group paid USD 200 for 12 days which is USD 2,400 then the next 18 days were free but now with the flat system it comes to USD 3,000 which is USD 600 more. He said they have requested DoT to consider for this year this as they cannot go back and demand USD 600 more.
Karma said that the reduction of the SDF will increase numbers as Bhutan got a lot of good press during the pandemic on how it managed the pandemic and people really wanted to visit Bhutan as there were a lot of enquiries.
He said the overseas operators are very happy with the new SDF rate and there is a lot of enquiries that will add to numbers.
He said that given that the economy is in shambles the fastest way to give it a spark is tourism. He said they have 200 guests so far but will work to improve the numbers.
Etho Metho Tours and Treks CEO Eutha Karchung said they have around 400 to 500 guests for the season from two tour companies and before the pandemic it was more than 1,200.
She said that even the 400 or 500 guests are mainly at the old rate of USD 65.
She said this incentive came at the right time as the USD 65 tourists time period is expiring in 2023 and earlier 8 days and 14 days’ incentive was expiring in 2024.
Eutha also said that immigration visa system was frozen as they have to apply the USD 100 per day changes. She also expects to see more guests from next year.
Anan the CEO of Keys to Bhutan is known for dealing with Asian guests and also higher end guests from India.
He said that earlier the Asian market which is Thailand, South Korea, Japan, China, Singapore and South East Asia market used to make up 30 to 40 percent of international tourists but now they have dropped to just around five percent.
Anan said this market is very price conscious and normally come for shorter stays and so it will take some time to recover this market though it will never go back to the pre pandemic situation.
Anan said that one issue is that still around 70 percent of tourists come through international travel agents and here the problem is that in the Asian circuit they even stopped selling Bhutan due to the high price and small market and so now it will take some time and convincing to put Bhutan back on the brochure.
Anan also said that earlier in the USD 65 SDF tourists who stayed till 16 days need not pay SDF after that but currently there is no such provision. He said such long stay provisions should be made to encourage tourists to go to Bumthang and Trashigang.
Anan said he used to get 80 to 100 tourists before the pandemic but now but now it is 10 to 20 from Singapore mainly and the numbers of Indian tourists are not certain right now.
Karma Wangdi of Bhutan Yarden Tours and Treks said that a minimum of six months will be required to market the new SDF and in the meantime Bhutan has lost guests to similar destinations like Nepal, Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim etc.
He said numbers might go up in this autumn season due to last minute bookings from Nepal.
Karma said that the Asia market was badly hit and damaged as their currency does not carry the power of the US dollar and destinations like Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia were seen as much cheaper than Bhutan.
However, he said now with the USD 100 SDF there are a lot of enquiries coming. He said he has only 15 to 20 guests coming which includes guests from Belgium and Poland.
Kinley Gyeltshen of Gangri Tours and Treks who is the new Chairman of Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO), said the USD 100 SDF is what the tourism industry had requested in the beginning itself. He said the impact for tourist numbers will be from next year and his own personal contacts and friends offshore are pretty excited about the reduction in the SDF.
His company has around 91 guests registered so far.
In terms of the impact on the Asian market Kinley said that for example the Japanese market completely collapsed and those tour operators who were more reliant on Japanese guests went from 100 to 0 percent. He said Japanese are price sensitive and they stay on an average of 3 to 4 nights and so the earlier incentive could not be used.
He said the Asian market is very sensitive and the numbers of Thais, Malaysians, Chinese etc visibly dropped.
As the Chairman of the ABTO Kinley requested if the 12 and 18 days’ duration discount for trekkers and the SDF waiver after 16 days could be considered.
DoT DG Dorji Dhradhul said that the Immigration Department has told him that the Online Visa system is up and running.
He said on the issue of 12 and 18 days’ duration discount for trekkers and the SDF waiver after 16 days these would not be entertained as the USD 100 SDF discount will be a flat rate.
