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Bhutan Tourism
Tourism has been an important industry and the
country's
largest foreign-exchange earner since its inception in
1974. Most
tourists visit cultural sites--particularly dzong
and
temples--and observe seasonal festivals featuring masked
dances and
archery contests (archery is the national sport of Bhutan)
or go on
trekking expeditions on foot or mounted on horses or yaks.
Limited
to land travelers from India until Druk-Air's
international service
became operational in 1983, tourism was closely controlled
by the
state-run tourism agency, the Bhutan Tourism Corporation.
Tourism
reaped increasing foreign exchange in its first decade,
ranging
from US$300,000 from 390 visitors in 1976 to US$1.4
million from
1,325 visitors in 1982. By 1984 some 2,000 tourists
visited Bhutan
annually. By 1987 revenues had risen to more than US$2
million
earned from the 2,524 tourists who visited the country
that year.
The government then decided to limit the number of
tourists to
around 2,000 a year and restricted access seasonally and
to certain
historical, cultural, and scenic sites. These restrictions
resulted
in decreases to 2,199 tourists and to revenues of US$1.9
million in
1988. In 1991, however, the Ministry of Trade, Industry,
and
Tourism announced plans to gradually double the number of
entry
visas granted and to reduce the charges levied on tour
operators.
The changes provided for the privatization of the Bhutan
Tourism
Corporation. In addition, whereas only group tours were
allowed
before 1991, after that date individual tourists were
franted visas
for prearranged tours. Visited from 1987 to 1990 by only a
few
travelers, many of Bhutan's religious sites were becoming
more
accessible to tourists in 1991. However, a substantial per
person
tariff, ranging from US$80 to US$200 per day depending on
the time
of year and type of package visit, was kept and helped
boost
revenues.
Opened to increasing tourism, Bhutan planned to turn
over its
government-run hotels to private management to improve its
lodging
accommodations. The largest number of tourists from a
single
nation, nearly 600 in 1988, came from the United States,
and
tourists from West Germany and Japan were close behind in
numbers.
Data as of September 1991
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