Tourism Reforms: Need For Deferment Of Its Implementation To a More Appropriate Time

Today the tourism industry players and stakeholders are frantic - caused by the hearsay of the supposed tourism reforms being proposed by the government. Like I have always said - no deal is done until the cash is firmly in the pocket - thus whatever is being put out currently should be treated with a pinch of salt. It is not the real deal - the real deal will come after the deliberations in the National Assembly and the National Council and finally after obtaining Royal Assent, upon harmonious agreement between the two Houses. Unless the Tourism Reform Bill is considered an EMERGENCY or is designed to offset a CALAMITY that is about to befall the nation, this process of passing a Bill requires multiple Parliamentary sittings - it cannot happen in one sitting.

Laws bring order, not chaos

Some utterly incredible information are being put out in the marketplace - such as increasing the SDF to US$200.00 per person per night halt; doing away with the MDPR, hotels being allowed to do tour business, and the removal of the need to book tours through licensed tour operators etc. etc.

Of the 931 articles on this Blog, 56 of them – including this one, are on tourism - I have gone hoarse talking about it. Thus I do not intend to discuss the merits or demerits of the proposed reforms. I am told that a group comprising of experts and specialists on tourism and tourism business have worked on the proposed reforms that are being suggested - thus I am not qualified to offer a contrarian view to those of the experts and the specialists. I am sure that they would have thought of what is best for the country and the people of Bhutan. I am in no doubt that the experts and the specialists would be fully aware that when we do reopen tourism in this country - we would be doing so in an atmosphere of a global economy that has been maimed and devastated by the pandemic. Rightly, the industry’s reading is that tourist arrivals in the next 2 - 3 years would be very minimal - thus any policy change will have to keep this eventuality in focus.

Before I go on to the points I want to raise - I want to touch upon a disturbing view that was supposedly expressed during the TCB Council Meeting on 16th June, 2022. I am told that when questioned on why the industry players and stake holders were not consulted on the proposed reforms - the answer given was that there were too many conflicting views among the stakeholders. This is to suggest that resolving conflicts is to ignore the conflicts. From what I know, conflict resolution happens when you discuss the conflicts and work around them.

Coming to the point I want to raise before it is too late – I have only one:

PLEASE DEFER THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE REFORMS TO A MORE APPROPRIATE TIME.

That is all I ask - that the government and the lawmakers are welcome to introduce any reforms they wish - but to please be practical in the implementation of those contemplated reforms. For the record, Members of the BSTS (Bhutan Sustainable Tourism Society) had already submitted to the Chair of the TCB - that any change in policy should be implemented only after a year of its promulgation. The reasons are as follows:

Tourism business is not like a grocery business - that you up the shutters and start selling your potatoes and onions. Planning travel happens many months and even years before the actual travel. Like the Indian would say - it does not happen “Chat Maangni Patt Shadi”.

The Westerners are not like the Bhutanese - the last minute scramblers. They plan their travels way ahead of time – they save and allocate their travel budget many months or even years ahead. They buy their international air travel tickets many months in advance - because if they buy early - they get it cheaper. The Bhutanese tour operators start selling tours many months ahead of the actual travel date. This means that tours are sold, hotels booked, travel itinerary decided, airline seats reserved, guides allocated - many months in advance. Let me give you an example of how travel happens.

Stephen Frederick Jones of Sacramento, USA was 17 years old when he made first contact with Bhutan. That was on 29th April, 1965. He fell in love with Bhutan and swore that he would one day visit the country. He planned and saved for the next many years. Finally, on 12th October, 2017 he made it to Bhutan – after 52 years of planning and saving and pinning. When he arrived Bhutan as my guest, he was 69 years old. Since then his love for Bhutan grew even more – resulting in over US$40,000.00 donation of personal money - to do meaningful projects for the benefit of the Bhutanese people. His last donation was to the Bhutan Stroke Foundation this month – to help the organization be better equipped.

This is how tourism happens – no Chat Maangni Patt Shadi!. Also, the message here is clear – the benefit of tourism goes beyond the collection of SDF – the benefit of a contented tourist has long term benefit to the country – we should always remember this.

All large Bhutanese tour companies work through established foreign tour agents. These foreign agents work with the prospects many months ahead – decide everything in advance – including collection of advances for the tours booked and sold. Thus transections happen many months ahead. Therefore sudden changes in policy should not be implemented immediately – or it will impact the businesses already concluded on behalf of Bhutan by foreign tour agents. If we do there will be loss of face for the agents who have helped protect and further the brand BHUTAN. There may even be legal complications - for reneging on an understanding that has been reached at.

Most of the Bhutanese tour operators had remained hopeful that things would return to normal after the pandemic - based on that hope they have been renewing their licenses for the past two years - without a chetrum of business. Now suddenly they might get the sense that they have been mislead by the government.

Certain discussions may have been already initiated by tour operators - some may be on the verge of closing deals - based on the existing terms of engagement. Sudden and out of the blue changes will impact these discussions and business prospects. Tour operators cannot turn around and say sorry - we made a mistake. To protect the brand Bhutan, tour operators and their foreign agents need to be seen to be dependable partners or service providers - or the world will ridicule us as untrustworthy people. That will be terrible for brand Bhutan.

The government and all relevant agencies should ensure that business is not allowed to be disrupted by sudden changes in policy – given the nature of the business, industry players should be given sufficient time before new policies can come into effect.

Apparently some exiting players are managed out - some new ones are being ushered in. I understand that issue of visa and receipt of tour payments are being redirected to some other agencies – the old system is being done away with. All these are fine and OK – but don’t you think we need time for the new players and new systems to find synergy among each other? Don’t we need time to smoothen out the kinks and the initial hick ups that are bound to emerge under an untested system and method of doing business?

It is for all the above reasons that a deferment of the implementation of the reforms is practical - until such time that we are ready to migrate to a new business model.

I believe that there is no need to rush to our graveyards – we can do it in good time and with ease.