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Category: Autumn Edition

How Outsiders View Changes

Autumn Edition , Introduction We are friends of Bhutan. Our feelings for the country go back 27 years. We were then residents in Bhutan and have worked there for various periods since then. In between longer stays we have visited Bhutan numerous times. We have travelled to every dzongkhag in the country...

Managing Numbers – An Environmentalist’s View

Autumn Edition , Environmentalist and sustainable tourism development activist, Karma Tshering, believes that progressive development can be easily met simply through pragmatic approaches, consensus, and partnerships. The Druk Journal: You believe that the Bhutanese identity, stemming from our environment and our culture, has made Bhutan a tourism hotspot? Karma Tshering: Exactly. Basically,...

Then and Now – Adventurers Lead the Way

Autumn Edition , An interview with Brent Olson, Managing Director of Business Development at GeoEx, a San Francisco based travel company that for the past 35 years has been a leader in adventure travel and in introducing American travellers to Bhutan. The Druk Journal: Why did you first decide to organise tours...

Then and Now – Here Come the Japanese

Autumn Edition , An interview with Michiko Wakita who pioneered early journeys of the Japanese tourists to Bhutan and has been a regular visitor to Bhutan since the 1970s. The Druk Journal: Why did you first decide to organise tours to Bhutan ? Michiko Wakita: Bhutan was well-known among the fervent but...

Chinese Tourists in South Asia

Autumn Edition , China remains the world’s biggest market in outbound tourism, with nearly 150 million (M) Chinese travelling abroad in 2018, up 14.7 percent year-on-year, according to a recent report by the China Tourism Academy and Ctrip. In 2012, China became the world’s top spender in international tourism and continues to...

Kerala’s Responsible Tourism Approach

Autumn Edition , Tourism, a multi-faceted industry cutting across various productive sectors of the economy, plays a significant role in the growth of developing and developed nations. It mobilises resources, generates employment, and drives regional development. Being a capital-light and labour-intensive industry, tourism is also an effective tool to address issues related...

Tourism Trends in India

Autumn Edition , Once upon a time, not so long ago, one of the pleasures of going to Shimla was the picturesque three-hour drive from Kalka in the plains of north India, up to the Deodar-scented hills and bracing air of Himachal Pradesh. Last year, making that same journey, I found it...

Tourism in the Himalayas

Autumn Edition , Since opening its doors to the outside world in 1951, Nepal tourism has weathered the onslaughts of political upheavals, regime change, national insurgency, earthquakes and floods, as well as external forces such as wars, blockades, terrorism, and plagues that have affected global travel patterns. In 2018, foreign arrivals to...

Tourism in Nepal

Autumn Edition , Nepal opened up to the world in 1950 and has a history of nearly 70 years of tourism that has been filled with multiple layers of challenges and growth. Therefore, it will be interesting to understand Bhutan’s tourism development and growth compared with Nepal.   Bhutan Tourism As We...

The Sacred Mountains of Bhutan – Reprints of Past Articles

Autumn Edition , Kuensel 10/7/1984 Twenty-one snow-shrouded peaks in Bhutan, all over 7,000 metres, which have for centuries afforded the country an impassable natural protection and been the essence of its “Shangrila” image could now be almost worth their weight in gold, with mountaineering fast developing as the main activity of Bhutan’s...

Concept of Ecotourism

Autumn Edition , An old Asian saying aptly warns: “Tourism is like fire; you can either use it to cook your food or burn your house down.” This is relevant in the tourism– environment discourse because they are intricately interlinked. Many studies warn us about the negative impact of tourism on the...

Tourism and Hotels

Autumn Edition , Retired teacher and businesswoman, Kencho, planned to build a huge resi-dential complex in Babesa, along the expressway. With a shopping complex on the ground floor, she would never have problems finding tenants. Then the idea changed. Three factors convinced her. There is a cap on construction loans, and interest...

Tourism and Transport

Autumn Edition , Transport is integral to the tourism industry. If tourism has grown, it is largely because of improved transportation. This holds true for Bhutan, yet access can make or break a destination. Today, as thousands of vehicles enter the country with the sudden growth in regional tourism, questions are being...

Overwhelming Sacred Spaces

Autumn Edition , Growing Trends in Tourism It used to be that visitors to Bhutan would mention Taktshang (Bhutan’s famed Tiger’s Nest) with awe and consider it a privilege to be able to climb the steep trail on a spiritual journey. Today, tourists are asking: “ Should we do Taktshang, is it...

The Risks of High Volume Toursim

Autumn Edition , High-volume Tourism is Doing Irreparable Damage to Bhutan His Majesty the Fourth King of Bhutan’s vision for the country was one of universal sustainability, manifested in adherence to the philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH). His vision was to modernise Bhutan and develop a country with economic, environmental, social,...

The Bhutan Brand

Autumn Edition , The Importance of Brand Delivery Few countries have as strong a nation brand as Bhutan. Worldwide, there is widespread brand recall for happiness as a key Bhutanese brand attribute. The universality of this brand affinity is something quite rare among place brands around the globe. Happiness is what most...

Tourism Policy – the Way Forward

Autumn Edition , Under the blessed stewardship of our visionary Kings, from the very start of tourism in the early 1970s, we have always been on the right road: a road that is less travelled; a road that is globally envied; a road to a very special destination — a destination that...

Editorial

Autumn Edition , A Deep Dive into Tourism in Bhutan “… in the 1970’s, tourism as an industry was only introduced after the Coronation of His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo. It was suggested to us then that Bhutan would benefit economically from bringing as many tourists as possible into the country…...