Thimpu (TAN): Grappling with more tourists than its infrastructure can handle, the reclusive Bhutan is looking to take steps to check the number of tourist arrivals.
The Changangkha Lhakhang (temple) above capital Thimpu has recently seen huge crowds of tourists. This is a place where parents bring newborns to seek blessings and they have had to jostle for space, a report in The Hindu said.
This has triggered a debate in the country whether it should impose tougher regulations for tourists, the bulk of whom are from India.
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“It was suffocating for the mothers who were trying to get blessings for their children. They could barely say their prayers and they were very upset,” the report quoted a a guard outside the temple as saying.
On June 7, the Tourism Council shut the temple to all tourists for the three months.
When the temple reopens for tourists, it will charge an entrance fee of BTN 300. Other religious complexes are following suit.
As part of its policy of promoting “high value, low volume/ impact” tourism, Bhutan charges a USD 250 mandatory cover-charge per day for all tourists except those from India, Bangladesh and the Maldives. Indian tourists, however, make up for the bulk of visitors to Bhutan.
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“Indian visitors are very welcome in Bhutan, but if our infrastructure is not able to cater to them, or if our tourism industry is unable to entertain the guests well, then that is not good for them either,” Bhutan’s Prime Minister Lotay Tshering told The Hindu. “The increasing numbers of tourist arrivals are to our advantage economically, but our biggest worry is that there should be no friction between our visitors and our Bhutanese people.”
