The tourism council says no to a complete Sustainable Development Fee or SDF waiver for tourists. Instead, tourists visiting Bhutan will not have to pay the Sustainable Development Fee while in quarantine.
According to the tourism council, the decision is based on the advice of the Office of the Attorney General who upon the council’s request interpreted the Tourism Levy Act of Bhutan 2020. The council’s Director-General Dorji Dhradhul said someone who is in quarantine cannot be considered a tourist.
In September, the tourism association proposed the government waive the fee as a post-COVID recovery measure. According to the association, the move will attract more tourists when it reopens for business. Today, regional tourists pay SDF of 1200 ngultrum per day and international tourists pay 65 dollars.
“Such proposal requiring a tweak in the policy is short-sighted and can also bring irreversible damage to our tourism brand, the brand Bhutan symbolizing exclusive destination with exclusive experience for our visitors and the time-tested tourism policy and practice of high-value low volume. Any dent on this brand would be very difficult to correct as it took us fifty years to build it adding that there is no guarantee that arrivals will increase even if this proposal is implemented,” said Dorji Dhradhul, the Director-General of the TCB.
He added a similar proposal was implemented in the past which did not have any significant impact. “Based on our past experiences on a similar case, SDF waiver for eastern districts was implemented for a planned period to attract more tourists in the east. But we know there was no significant impact. Similarly, we had been implementing a low Minimum Daily Package Rate (MDPR) for all tourists to attract more tourists in off-seasons. Again, in this case, also, we have not seen any significant impact.”
He suggested that the tourism sector pursue other measures such as aggressive marketing and promotion and, new tourism products to bring in more tourists.
Phub Gyem
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
