On my post of Saturday the 13th of July, 2019, I had written that Mr. Lars-Eric Lindblad of Lindblad Travels, USA brought in the first ever tour group into Bhutan – which is true and it was faithfully recored by me in my post: “History Of Tourism In Bhutan: PART III of V”. However, one Mr. Mukesh Gupta of Bhutantravel.com makes the following comment on my Blog Post of 12th July, 2019 titled “History Of Tourism In Bhutan: PART II of V”:
Mukesh Gupta February 10, 2022 at 11:39 AM
I am somewhat surprised that who ever complied this arduous history forgot to mention the fabulous contribution of SUMMIT TOURS and Fr Richard McDonald of Darjeeling. It was him and his agency Summit Tours that was the first agency to actually send western tourists to Bhutan way back in the mid 70's. This was a group of American / Western Tourists organized by the legendary Lars Eric Lindblad of the iconic Lindblad Travels. I was personally involved with Summit Tours as well as with Wangcha Sangay and coordinated with him in running trekking programs, etc. and was the person to bring in the first group of experts into Bhutan for a reconnaissance of river rafting possibilities into the kingdom. Thank you
Mukesh
http://bhutantravel.com/
There is no factual error in what I had written – Mr. Lars Eric Lindblad of Lindblad Travels was indeed the person who led the first ever tour group to Bhutan in 1974. What I had omitted to mention – of which I was not aware then - is that there was an Indian tour agent involved behind the tour group – Summit Tours of Fr Richard McDonald from Darjeeling.
The history of Bhutan’s tourism is so much richer because of the input of Mr. Mukesh Gupta. Thus I am making a minor addition to my post of 13th July, 2019: “History Of Tourism In Bhutan: PART III of V” which can be accessed at:
https://yesheydorji.blogspot.com/2019/07/history-of-tourism-in-bhutan-part-iii.html.
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