Daily tax for international tourists raised to USD 200 a night

Regional visitors will be levied INR 1200 a night

Thimphu: International tourists visiting Bhutan will be charged  USD 200 a night as daily tax levied as a “sustainable development fee”.

The fee will not cover expenses for hotel, food, transport and guide, which visitors will have to pay for separately.

Previously the daily tax was USD 65 a day, which was included in the minimum daily tariff rate (MDPR) of USD 250 a day, and covered hotel, food, transport and guide expenses.

With the hiked daily tax, the MDPR is being done away with to provide more flexibility to visitors. Visitors need not follow strict itineraries like in the past and can directly engage and pay for services accordingly.

It is now optional for visitors to come through a tour operator and can make bookings directly with (tourist certified) hotels.

According to the government the hike in daily fees, reinforces Bhutan’s high value low volume tourism policy, which in recent years was showing signs of veering towards “mass tourism”.

In 2019, Bhutan saw more than 300,000 tourists, two thirds from the region. Regional tourists (from India, Bangladesh and Maldives) will be levied a fee of INR 1200 (USD 15) a person a night.

The government plans to use tourism tax revenues to improve infrastructure and services and promote carbon-neutral tourism for a more sustainable tourism sector.

The new regulations have shaken the industry, particularly tour operators that number more than 6,000, which was hoping that the government might provide some concessions like tax free travel to help the industry rebound.

Tourism is Bhutan’s main hard currency earner generating an estimated revenue of USD 80 million in 2019.