Hammering The Iron When It Is Dead Cold

The overpowering sense of feeling of alienation in our own country and within the sphere of our own calling – is a feeling that sickens us to the core. The tourism industry players may be short on intelligence and long on stupidity – but we have experience and institutional memory on our side. Some of us have been playing the field even before some of the eminent members of the decision making process were conceived.

!! Please !!

It is a pity that the government and its august Transformation Committee found it necessary and pertinent to sideline the industry players such as the ABTO, GAB, HAB, HRAB and BSTS, in their decision making process. To depart on the premise that the industry players and stakeholders cannot and will not contribute to a far more workable and transformative reform proposals is to believe that the tailor can do a better job than the carpenter.

Talking of which the government seems to be in confusion when they talk of the 720,000 Bhutanese people being the “stakeholders” of tourism or the tourism business. In our view they are beneficiaries of tourism – the principal stakeholders are the guides, hoteliers and the tour operators. And, these 720,000 go to make the sum total of Bhutan – the government is only one of the spokes in the wheel.

We are not in any confusion here – we agree and accept that the government has the mandate to try and do what best it can for the country and the people of Bhutan. However, it is good social and political grace to bring on board the people who will be impacted the most, by the decisions they make – whether good or bad. We are all fully aware and accept that at the end, the government can, and will do, exactly what it wishes to do – we are all resigned to that reality. But it is good politics to be seen to be democratic in its approach to governance. It is good politics to give us the sense that people matter, that stakeholders matter, in their scheme of things. Exclusionist policy is bad politics - at the end the dogs can continue to bark - the caravan will move nonetheless.

With the tabling of the proposed Tourism Levy Bill of Bhutan 2022 in the National Assembly, the death knell for the tourism industry has been sounded! From where we stand, everything about the proposal is wrong and ill-timed - it will imperil the tourism industry beyond repair.

The global tourism industry has been wounded and maimed by the pandemic and is groping on its knees. Across the world, governments are being imaginative and attempting to heal the wounds with progressive policies in an effort to resuscitate the industry that is panting for breathe. And what is being proposed in Bhutan? - we are attempting to hammer the iron when it is dead cold.

Bhutan’s tourism industry is not opposing the proposed transformations. We are merely asking the government to defer the implementation to a more appropriate time – it is common sense to introduce change when change will work.

The Parliamentarians who are going to be deliberating on the proposed reforms were given few hours to digest the proposals. For them to make informed decisions - they need time to understand the complexities that surround the tourism business and how it works. This is another reason why our request for the deferment of the implementation of the reforms should make sense to the government - it is not an unreasonable request. It is a request that is bound to result in a more educated decision on the part of the lawmakers.

Our efforts are collaborative - not obstructionist in nature.