Indian tour operators interested in Bhutan

February 13 – In what is known to be India’s largest tourism fair network, Bhutan was among the more than 50 countries participating in the fair held in Mumbai, which drew 186,000 visitors from February 6-8. The annual event offered opportunity for tourism destinations and companies around the world to exhibit their products to travel industries and major outbound markets in India. The tourism council of Bhutan (TCB), comprising 13 tour operators and hoteliers, including Druk Air, received... Read more

250,000 tourists per year

September 12: Bhutan’s tourism industry, which is expected to grow considerably in the next three years, is very much a work in progress. The GNH commission and a team of experts from McKinsey and company, a consultancy firm, have recently projected an increase in tourist arrival to 250,000 annually within the next three to five years. The number includes high-end as well as regional tourists. The number is the result of an in depth analysis, looking at the current policies, access, infrastructure,... Read more

Matsutake tourism

1 September: The Sangay shamu (masutake), which Genekha farmers call their source of happiness – because of the good price it fetches – is indeed a source of happiness, says a group of Japanese tourists, who came to enjoy the flavour at the Amankora lodge, Thimphu. The white bulbous head mushroom, grown mostly in the wild pine forests of Thimphu and Bumthang, attracts over 30 to 40 Japanese tourists every year to Bhutan. The pine (matsu) mushroom (take) is the most anticipated of autumn... Read more

BTTF 2009

The Tour Operators Association of Bangladesh (TOAB) has invited Bhutan to participate in the Bangladesh Travel and Tourism Fair 2009 (BTTF 2009) to be held from 1-3 October 2009 in Dhaka. Tour Operators and Hoteliers interested in participating in this fair may contact Thinley Wangdi, Assistant Marketing Officer of the Tourism Council of Bhutan. TOAB has offered complimentary accommodation (twin sharing) and local transport to the participants.  Read More →

The trouble with tourism

Tour operators seek govt. help in solving the industry’s problems 7 August: Not everything is hunky dory with Bhutan’s main hard currency source and the country’s second largest revenue earner – the tourism industry. There are many issues that need to be addressed by the government for the industry’s growth, according to the association of Bhutanese tour operators (ABTO), who presented their problems to the government on Wednesday. The major issues, they say, are with... Read more

Dragon’s gift in San Francisco

May 18: Dragon’s gift: The sacred arts of Bhutan“ the exhibition on the sacred arts of Bhutan at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, USA drew a record number of people. Over 70,000 people visited the exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco in 79 days. This is a new record for the museum. On May 10, the last day of the exhibition, over 6,000 people came to see the sacred arts of Bhutan. Bhutanese monks, who are participating in the exhibition, consecrated two sand mandalas. Dragon’s... Read more

Birdwatching in Samdrup Jongkhar

The southeastern town of Samdrup Jongkhar is a small border town, six hours drive from Trashigang. With generally warm weather, the district is ideal for birdwatching.  Read More →

Drametse Ngacham exhibition in Geneva

A photographic exhibition ‘Drametse Ngacham ‘ The Mask Dance of the Drums from Drametse, Bhutan will be open to the public from 1 April 2009 for about a month at the La Cite du Temps exhibition gallery in Geneva, Switzerland. Yoshi Shimizu, a freelance photographer, in collaboration with the royal government of Bhutan and UNESCO, undertook the project to make a photographic documentary of the Drametse Ngacham in Drametse, Bhutan, in November 2008. The Permanent Mission of the Kingdom... Read more

Bhutan awarded “Top Country 2009″

The Tourism Council of Bhutan, recently received a certificate from the Wanderlust Travel magazine awarding Bhutan the finalist Top Country 2009 for the Wanderlust travel awards. Bhutan was one of the top 10 finalists for the Wanderlust Travel Awards. In 2005, Bhutan won the Silver award from the Wanderlust Travel Awards for the Top Country. The Wanderlust Travel Awards is on their 8th year and is voted by nearly 3,000 consumers and based on customer satisfaction levels over the past year. The Paro... Read more