BHUTAN TOUR AGENCY

The Tourism Council of Bhutan is pleased to present the Bhutan Tourism Monitor (BTM) 2018 and 2019– an annual statistical publication. This important report presents the performance of the tourism industry in the year 2018, market trends over the years, and various other analyses on the key aspects of tourism in Bhutan. The report also seeks to provide the tourism industry with information, findings, and analyses to meet varied needs to support their marketing and commercial decisions relating to the sector.

Bhutan’s stourismindustrycontinuedtogrowin2018contributingsignificantlytowards socio-economic development through revenue and foreign currency generation and employment creation amongst others. A total of 274,097 foreign individuals visited Bhutan in 2018 which is an increase of 7.61% over 2017. International leisure arrivals grew by 1.76% to 63,367 over 2017 while arrivals from the regional market grew by 10.37%.

Bhutan continues to gain impetus in the international tourism community as a sustainable tourism destination which is evident from the growing popularity resulting in increasing arrivals annually. Bhutan was awarded the Earth Award by the Green Destinations in 2018 which was area-specific for the efforts and commitment of Bhutan in taking care of our mother Earth. Following the Earth Award, TCB pursued to conduct a large scale whole country GREEN assessment and Bhutan was presented with Green Destinations Gold Award after a thorough four months onsite and online auditing of the submissions made by TCB to the Green Destinations panel. Both the awards were presented in ITB Berlin during the ITB tourism fair which is one of the biggest in the world that brings together travel professionals from across the globe. The awards are a true recognition of visionary leadership of our Kings under Wangchuck Dynasty and Bhutan’s consistent effort and commitment in preserving its rich culture and traditions, environment, and social well-being among others. Bhutan now features in the global green travel map.

Despite the growth, we still face the problem of seasonality and unbalanced regional spread. As a destination with an emphasis on sustainability at the core of its development agenda, it is important that appropriate interventions are put in place to further sustainable growth with an emphasis on the regional spread and to make Bhutan a year-round tourism destination.

To this end, it is only imperative that we continue to make concerted efforts to develop and promote sustainable tourism in Bhutan for greater benefits. For this, emphasis will be placed on better visitor management to enhance visitor experiences and spread tourism benefits to wider sections of the population through innovation, service excellence, strong and diversified product portfolio.

Bhutan Tourism Monitor Report 2018 

Bhutan Tourism Monitor Report 2019.