Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
The "kingdom of happiness" is feeling sad as it faces unprecedented emigration and rocketing youth unemployment alongside other economic challenges.
As Bhutan tries to restore its fortunes, "tourism is seen as a major lever to pull", said Bangkok Post (BP), so there's "good reason" to visit the tiny Himalayan nation now, "before bigger crowds descend", added Bloomberg UK.
Major lever
When he was running for office last year, Tshering Tobgay, now prime minister, pointed to an average economic growth rate of just 1.7% over five years and said Bhutan's economy was "on the brink of collapse".
There are now high levels of youth unemployment, dwindling foreign currency reserves and one in eight Bhutanese lives in poverty, according to a report from the World Bank. This has led to many residents trying their luck elsewhere: "last year, 1.5% of the population moved to Australia to work and study", wrote The Guardian.
As more people leave, fewer arrive. Bhutan welcomed 103,000 visitors in 2023, about two-thirds below its pre-pandemic record reached in 2019, so tourism is considered vital to address the economic problems. The new target is to return to 300,000 visitors annually, but with a "more diverse consumer base", said BP, including at least 50% from non-Asian markets.
Since Bhutan started welcoming tourists in 1974, it has focused on "low-volume crowds and high-paying guests" who are drawn to panoramas of "sweeping Himalayan mountain vistas and Buddhist monasteries perched on cliffs", but it has also "earned a reputation" for being "inaccessible to the average tourist".
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