Bhutan - Lower Daily Tax Approved For Extended Stays

To increase tourism, Bhutan has decided to reduce the nightly costs it charges travellers who remain for more than four days.

After closing its gates for more than two years due to the coronavirus crisis, the beautiful Himalayan monarchy returned to visitors in September of last year, charging $200 per guest per night (up from $65 for roughly 30 years). The SDF, so the authorities explain, is meant to entice wealthier visitors while repelling cheap tourists who are known to be environmental vandals. The money helps keep the area intact and compensates for the carbon emissions generated by tourists. Moreover, because of its strict mountain climbing restrictions, Bhutan receives a fraction of the visitors that neighbouring Nepal does.

Starting this month until the end of 2024, visitors who pay for a minimum of four consecutive days will be granted an additional four days of stay at no further cost. Guests who pay SDF for a total of 12 days are permitted to remain for a whole calendar month. The discount is only available to foreign tourists who pay in U.S. dollars, not to Indians who use the local currency, the rupee.

The head of the Bhutanese tourism industry, Dorji Dhradhul, has suggested that increased visitor length of stay would boost the country's economy. Tourism now accounts for around 5% of Bhutan's $3 billion GDP, but Dhradhul said the country hoped to increase that number to 20% over time. He did not provide any kind of time frame for this goal.

Over 47,000 tourists had visited Bhutan since the beginning of the year, while the nation was well on its way to achieving its "modest" objective of welcoming 86,000 visitors by the end of the year. This number represents a significant decrease from the approximately 315,600 tourists that visited Bhutan in 2019, before the outbreak.

 

Source: edition.cnn.com