Bhutan opens for tourists after 2 years

The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan Friday finally opened its borders to international tourists, including those from India, after being closed for two and a half years due to Covid-19 pandemic.
   Bhutan’s Ambassador to India, Major General Vetsop Namgyel said fully-vaccinated travellers are now welcome and tourists would no longer be required to be quarantined upon arrival.
Namgyel said the strict measures adopted by the Bhutanese government during the pandemic helped the country save lives.
   We took two and a half years to open our international borders, as our priority during the pandemic was to prevent the loss of lives. So we took very stringent measures. This was very effective as Bhutan hardly had any fatalities from Covid-19,” the Bhutanese Ambassador stated.
   “As of today, there will be no more quarantine for people coming to Bhutan. There will be no test on arrival. Only vaccine certificate needs to be shown,” he added.
The envoy said there will be a daily fee for tourists to enter Bhutan. Namgyel said the Bhutanese government’s tourism council has fixed a fee of Rs 1,200 per day for Indians. For other international tourists, the fee is USD 200 per day.
“The tourism council did a review of policies to find out if we have to keep Bhutan as a high or low volume tourist destination. For Indian tourists, Rs 1,200 per day will be charged by the Bhutanese government as Sustainable Development Fee (SDF),” the ambassador said.
“I don’t think that (Doklam issue) has anything to do with the tourism industry. The tourism industry functions away from the border. Tourists go for trekking routes and that will not be affected,” Namgyel said, discounting any effect of the border dispute with China on tourism.
-B