Tourism Policy

Tourism in Bhutan was privatized by the Royal Government of Bhutan in 1991 before which time the tourism industry was solely run by the government. However despite of the privatization of tourism, the tourism licenses were still relatively restricted to only 33 tour operators until 1998. After the silver jubilee coronation of our 4th king Jigme Singye Wangchuk in the year 1999, the government liberalized the licensing policy particularly for tourism industry and started issuing licenses to all interested people. Today it is a vibrant business with over 400 tour operators bringing over 25000 tourists a year. The government has targeted to bring in 100,000 tourists by 2012. The Tourism Industry in Bhutan is based on the principle of sustainability, indicating that tourism must be environmentally and ecologically friendly, socially & culturally acceptable and economically viable. Thus it adheres strongly to a policy of low volume high quality and high value tourism. The number of tourists visiting Bhutan is regulated at a manageable level. The control on the number of tourists is exercised through a policy of government regulated tourist tariff of US$ 200 (will increase to UD$250 w.e.f January 2011) per person per night. However this policy does not mean that the tourists cannot visit Bhutan after certain numbers. As long as the tourists can afford to pay, there is no restriction on the numbers to visit annually.
All tours must be booked through recognized Bhutanese Tour Operator such as Experience Bhutan Travel and the same agent will provide entire land arrangements.