As one of the most exclusive destinations in the world, Bhutan is often projected and perceived as a high cost destination.
This is because of the daily tariff rate fixed by the Bhutan government, which is USD 250 during the peak seasons of spring and autumn and USD 200 during the leans monsoon and winter seasons.
Most prospective travellers are unaware that this daily Bhutan travel tariff covers tourist standard hotel accommodation, meals, transport and an English-speaking guide. When you consider that all these costs are covered, it is not all that expensive.
From this daily tariff the government takes USD 65 a day as royalty fee. This is an important contribution to the government’s exchequer and goes into financing the country’s social welfare programmes. Tourism also happens to be the country’s number one source of hard currency earnings, which means a lot for a small landlocked economy that is import driven, from essentials to heavy equipment and machinery.
The system of a daily fixed tariff was established decades ago when the tourism industry was guided by the “high value, low volume” principle. It was an attempt to restrict the numbers of visitors largely because of the absence of infrastructure to support huge numbers at a time. Even today if 10,000 tourists showed up in a day there would be no place to accommodate them!
Today the “high value, low volume” principle has changed to “high value, low impact” basically indicating that it is not so much the numbers which is of concern but the impact visitors could have on the natural environment and local culture. In fact in recent years, the government has been trying to tap the regional markets and promote Bhutan as a destination for meetings, conferences and events. This is because tourism is an important industry not only in terms of hard currency earnings but also in creating employment opportunities for young Bhutanese in the service and hospitality sector.
On the daily tariff itself, tour operators offers all kinds of discounts depending on the group size and duration of stay. Check these discount schemes when looking for cost of travel to Bhutan.
Come to Bhutan and find out for yourself whether the Bhutan travel cost is too high or reasonable! And lets us know what you think!
