Speaking about Tourism and Rural Development on the World Tourism Day yesterday, the Director-General of Tourism Council of Bhutan said that Druk Neykor will start in a month or two. The Druk Neykor or Bhutan Pilgrimage is a nationwide pilgrimage tourism product packaged to help both devout domestic and inbound tourists to visit the endorsed sites.
The discussion on Tourism and Rural Development saw an invaluable platform demonstrating the unique ability of tourism to drive economic development and provide opportunities. It was more so about tourism outside of the urban centres, to include those communities that are otherwise left behind.
The Tourism Council of Bhutan said that the Druk Neykor is expected to first accelerate domestic tourism in the country.
“Especially during such time, foreign tourists can’t come to the country. And you asked me why don’t we develop domestic tourism. That’s now true. It wasn’t a time to develop domestic tourism until the 12th Five Year Plan. But this time, along with the development of tourism, we also have plans to develop domestic tourism. Example, Druk Neykor is almost ready. The package was supposed to begin from October this year. But it will be by any means get ready November or December,” said Dorji Dhradhul, the Director-General of TCB.
For now, the council plans to initially begin the package with 16 sites identified in Thimphu.
Samten Dolkar