The Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) recently announced that the entrance fee for monuments across Bhutan will be raised from January 2020. Referring to this, TCB’s Director-General Dorji Dhradhul said that there is no specific reason for this revision, and it is just a periodic revision.
Latest reports suggest that while the visiting fee for Tiger’s Nest in Paro district has been revised from $7.14 to $14.25, other monuments including Tashichho-Dzong, Memorial Chorten and others witnessed a fee hike from $4.28 to $7.14. Students are, however, given a discount of 50 per cent.
An official also mentioned that this hike will also be one of the measures to regulate and improve tourism in the country. The entrance fees have been decided and charged to resolve problems regarding overcrowding, which are mainly because of regional tourists over the years. An official in the know-how stated that with this move, it is expected that charging of entrance fee for the monuments might contribute to improve tourism-related facilities, such as sheds, restroom, and canteens.
A tour guide also mentioned that proper guidelines and regulations for regional tourists would help curb inconvenient incidents. The said revision notification further coincided with the matter of regional tourists leading discussions in the tourism sector. This is the reason why many concluded that the revision had been announced to control entry of regional tourists at historical sites. However, there are many people, who welcomed the said revision and are of the view that it will help resolve overcrowding at historical sites.
