Bhutan is seeing an increasing number of people building tourist hotels. Between 2013 and 2014, 28 hotels were established. Today over 48 hotels are being constructed and another 13 has been proposed for construction according to records maintained by the tourism council.
There are also an equal number of those who are planning to convert their real estate into hotels and tourist accommodation.
This huge investments in the hotel sector that is working up to billions of ngultrums is being attributed to the slowdown in the economy in 2012 as a result of a severe shortage of Indian rupee. The slowdown had wide ranging implication across various sectors of the economy.
Almost all the sectors have become unattractive after the economic slowdown save for the tourism sector that remained robust as it did not have to depend as much on the regional market.
Officials from the hotels association of Bhutan said, market sentiments and business confidence has been growing in the tourism sector with the government offering special packages, more airline and improved connectivity, discount offers and holding events such as the visit Bhutan Year. At the same time, the number of tourists has also been steadily increasing over the years.
But the concern however is; will there be enough tourists to stay in these hotels?
He said there are risks and the hotel industry might as well follow a similar trend like the real estate. Almost all the hoteliers have taken huge loans from the banks. Should the number of hotels increase significantly and tourist inflows remain the same, it will severely impact hotel business. And this has the potential of triggering another crisis.
Competition among the hoteliers has already started with hoteliers providing credit to travel agents. However, many believe that the tourism sector has better prospect with the government laying emphasis on the sector by initiating several plans and programs geared towards bringing in more tourists.
Sonam Tshering, who owns a recently built four star Hotel in Thimphu, said an increase in the number of new hotels must also see an increase in the number of tourists and government policies must back it up. Tourism he said was an important sector, which has wide ranging implication across the economy. When there are more tourists, everyone benefits including guides, travel companies, hotels, retailers and transport agencies.
