Domestic air services will help bolster tourism
Domestic air services will help bolster tourism in the eastern and southern parts of the country
Deliberations on the coming of the two domestic airlines was the order of the day during the 17th ‘meet the press’ held Friday.
The Finance Minister, Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu, said, the dzongkhags in the east and south are will be benefitted, in terms of arrival of tourists, with the coming of the two domestic aircrafts.
Asked if the government had lived by its philosophy of equity and justice during the session Lyonpo said, the benefits of tourism industry is expected to be distributed more evenly with the launch of the domestic air services.
“While tourism benefits have already been expanded in the eastern and southern dzongkhags, it is expected to further bolster the economy with the commencement of the two air services,” Lyonpo said.
A businessman from Tsirang said, the coming of the two airports will benefit the region especially in terms of infrastructure building to cater to tourists and will help them earn extra income.
“Our rural folks will benefit the most if we open up trekking routes and explore other areas of development to lure tourists into our dzongkhag,” he said, adding the development of agro-based industries is very much feasible in Tsirang given the varieties of fruits and agricultural products that are grown in abundance in the dzongkhag.
Though Gelephu and Samdrup Jongkhar were opened for tourists in 2008, they are yet to see and reap any benefit from the sector given the number of tourists visiting these dzongkhags—which is very low.
“Equity and justice is often described as the nerve of the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa’s (DPTs) manifesto. However, the philosophy remains in the paper as far as regional distribution of tourism is concerned,” said the businessman.
While officials say the geographical spread and lack of proper infrastructure were impeding the growth of tourism in these regions, people say ‘the government has not focused on infrastructure development for tourism here.’
Meanwhile the government, in order to boost tourism in far flung areas, is working on product diversification including the opening of the nomadic community of Merak and Sakteng to tourists in September last year.
Improving tourism infrastructure, capacity and governance and liberalizing the pricing policy have also been identified as one of the focal areas, and as part of their strategy, to increase the regional spread of tourism.
As for the procedures, tourists from neighboring countries Bangladesh, India, and the Maldives do not require visas to enter the country and as such, the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) data on international tourists do not include tourists from these countries.
As these destinations remain largely untapped, the Tourism Council of Bhutan is looking at promoting high-end tourists from these regions by means of developing infrastructures and other areas which will be of interest to the tourists.
Tourism products have been largely limited to Bhutan’s religious festivals and cultural sites. Figures show ‘cultural’ tourists make up over 80 percent of the total arrivals.
Furthermore, the nature of such cultural products does not lend tourism in Bhutan to repeat visitations – close to 90 percent of tourists over the last five years had visited Bhutan for the first time.
The government’s decision to allow the two airlines – Druk Air and a new Tashi Air – to operate domestic flights in the eastern and central Bhutan might come as a boon for these regions.
As of now, entry into the country by air is limited to Paro through a single airline with concomitant capacity problems while entry via road has again been limited to the border town of Phuentsholing.
Source: bhutantoday