The days of traveling to Bhutan without tourism duty are over. The government of Bhutan has issued new travel tax for tourists from Bangladesh, India and Maldives. Due to a new decision in the Ministry of Tourism of Bhutan, from now on you will have to pay for a trip to this beautiful country. This decision of the Legislative Assembly of Royal Bhutan will take effect from July this year. However, many are worried that the decision will reduce the number of Bhutanese tourists.
According to India Today, the new rules of the Bhutanese government state that no foreigner under the age of 5 will have to pay an entry fee. Money should be given to those aged 8-12 years. This rule is being introduced for the citizens of Bangladesh, India and Maldives.
1,200 gultrams per day for adults (about 1,438 Bangladeshi rupees). And for 6 to 12 year old children it will take 800 gultrams. The new fee is called Sustainable Development Fee (SDF)
According to the Bhutanese government, many foreign tourists (especially from India, Maldives and Bangladesh) visit Bhutan every year. The fee was introduced to cope with the pressure of the tourist crowd.
According to the Bhutan-India Friendship Treaty of 1949, Indians used to travel to Bhutan for free. That rule is going to change from next July. However, citizens of different countries including Europe, America, Japan had to pay 250 per person. It remains the same.
Switzerland means Bhutan within reach of a large part of India. Bhutan is an easy destination for tourists from the surrounding areas of West Bengal, especially as it is close to North Bengal in India. And the big reason is that you don't need a visa. You can leave Bhutan if you have a passport. Even if you don't have a passport for India, you can go to Bhutan if you have a permit or approval. Earlier, tourists from Bangladesh, India and Maldives had to have valid travel documents to visit Bhutan. There was no entry fee. If only I had a passport. But this time I have to go to Bhutan for money.
Due to a new decision in the Ministry of Tourism of Bhutan, you will have to pay for a trip to this beautiful country from now on. Photo: Collected
If you go to Bhutan by road from India and Bangladesh, you have to get an entry permit from the country's immigration department, Funtshelling. And those who fly to Bhutan have to get a permit from Paro International Airport. That entry permit is only for Thimphu and Paro.
The Bhutanese government has said that the new fee will be launched from July this year Therefore, if you want to enjoy the beauty of Bhutan for free, you have to go before July.
Bhutan is one of the countries in the world where tourists have to pay the highest tariff. International tourists have to spend ২৫ 250 a day on various fees. Of this, 75 is a sustainable development fee and ড 40 is a visa processing fee. For so long, regional, that is, Indian and Bangladeshi tourists did not have to pay anything, but from now on, regional tourists will have to pay more than 17.75 per day per head.
The Bhutanese Ministry of Tourism recently said that providing high quality services to tourists was one of the reasons for the change. They have claimed that the quality of service could not be maintained as the number of tourists has increased almost 10 times in the last 10 years.
If you want to see Punakha Jung, once the capital of the country, you have to pay an entry fee to
According to statistics, a total of 274,000 tourists visited Bhutan in 2017. At least 200,000 of them were from India, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Among them, the number of Indians is the highest. At least 1 lakh 80 thousand. The country's tourism ministry has claimed that the main reason for this is the exclusion of tourism duty.
After hydropower, tourism is the largest source of revenue in Bhutan. A representative of the Bhutanese government told the Indian newspaper Business Standard that a number of companies were renting houses at very low prices to tourists from the three neighboring countries in the eyes of the Tourism Control Board. He said the closure of such illegal "guest house" and "home stay" services had also served as a consideration in formulating the new policy.
In the case of Bangladesh and the Maldives, the issue is limited to tariffs, but in the case of India, analysts believe it has some political overtones. The confrontation between the Indian and Chinese armies at Dokalam a year ago has created an atmosphere of some skepticism about India with Bhutan. As a result, it is believed that there is a political reason for this. That means this decision to reduce Indian tourists.
However, many fear that this decision will reduce the number of Bhutanese tourists.