KATHMANDU – Bhutan will lower the nightly fees it charges tourists who stay more than four days, in an attempt to boost visitor numbers that are still a fraction of the level before the Covid-19 pandemic.

When the scenic Himalayan kingdom reopened its borders for tourists in September 2022 after more than two years of pandemic closure, it raised its Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) to US$200 (S$268) per visitor per night from the US$65 it had charged for about three decades.

The authorities say the SDF is designed to attract wealthy tourists by discouraging budget travellers who spoil the environment.

The funds maintain the pristine landscape and offset the carbon footprints left by visitors.

Bhutan bans mountain climbing to preserve the sanctity of its peaks, and draws only a fraction of the tourists that visit nearby Nepal.

Effective from June until the end of 2024, tourists paying the daily fees for four days will be allowed to stay an extra four days. Those paying SDF for 12 days can stay for a full month.

“If more tourists stay longer in Bhutan tourism can help our economy to grow faster,” said Mr Dorji Dhradhul, director-general of the Department of Tourism.

The incentive applies only to tourists who pay in dollars, and not to visitors from neighbouring India who pay in rupees.

Mr Dhradhul said Bhutan wanted to gradually raise the contribution of tourism to 20 per cent to its US$3 billion economy from about 5 per cent now. He did not give any timeline.

Mr Dhradhul said more than 47,000 tourists had visited Bhutan since January and the country was on track to achieve its “modest” goal of receiving 86,000 visitors by the end of the year, compared with about 315,600 in 2019, before the pandemic. REUTERS