My heart, soul and passion - all of them are expended by things related to Bhutan’s tourism and the fear that the country’s most vital industry that accrues benefit to all across the board spectrum of Bhutanese society may now be in uncharted territory. If that were not enough, some insulting occurrences have further aggravated my sense of woe:
- The news report on 16 November, that Bhutan was awarded the Editors’ Choice Award as the ‘Best Emerging Destination’ at India’s Travel+Leisure show held in New Delhi.
Hello, excuse me but I thought we are already an established and world recognized destination of choice, having won (a) World’s Sustainable Destinations’ Earth Award - 2018, (b) Green Destination Gold Award 2019, (c) International Destination - Best Green Country Award 2020, (e) Travel Lemming named Bhutan as the best place to travel in Asia, (d) Awarded Lonely Planet’s Best Travel Destination 2020, etc. etc.
- The selection of Trans Bhutan Trail (TBT) by The New York Times, Wonderlust and World Travel Mart Awards, for a variety of travel related awards.
These recognitions are rather funny, if not outright unrealistic, because as far as I know, this newly introduced tourism product has not yet undergone the acid taste. As a Bhutanese I should be proud that this product has been acknowledged by the world travellers - but I believe that there is no sufficient grounds for this - not as yet.
Are we still emerging? I thought we had already arrived!
As a Bhutanese I hunger for world recognition for what we can do and what we are capable of achieving. Given our geographical positioning, our compact population size and the phenomenal natural endowment we are blessed with, excellence is not beyond our grasp. But alas! we choose to gloat over our falsehood and marvel at our excellence at window dressing and cosmetic work - that are at the core of our Achilles heel.
We need to learn to look facts squarely on the face. Unless we do that, the splendor that we chase will remain an enduring mirage.
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