Government Playing BHARAKUTI

A friend forwarded to me TheBhutanese’s front page news report of April 8, 2023 that read: “Govt allows around 1,600 more tourists at old SDF rate”. Since I am not on the Facebook, or any other social media sites, I do not know the full content of the report. But I fear that some may miscomprehend the issue. Thus I would like to make the following clarification so that the matter is not twisted out of context.

Venue       : ThePema by Realm, Motithang

Day               : Saturday

Date       : June 18, 2022

Occasion       : Informal briefing by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bhutan

Subject       : Government’s proposed changes in tourism policy of 2022

Attended by  ~ Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bhutan and select Members of the PMO;

~Director General of TCB and some Members of the TCB management;

~Two Members of the government’s Transformation Team;

~Dasho Kinley Dorji (Ace) past Secretary of MoIC; and

~Four Members of the non-traditional media - yours truly included.

His Excellency the Prime Minister honored me by inviting me to initiate the discussions.

I submitted that I speak on my own behalf and that of Bhutan Sustainable Tourism Society (BSTS) - of which I am a Member. I submitted as follows:

That the government has the right and the authority to introduce any and all changes as it sees fit;

That the tourism sector was not against the policy - but at the timing of its implementation;

That for a seamless migration from the old to new ways of doing things, the industry will require time - to understand and adapt;

I submitted that tourism business was not like running a grocery shop where you up the shutters and start selling your potatoes and onions;

That tourism business is conducted over days and weeks and months and even years. That introduction of new rules and regulations out of the blue would severely disrupt and lay asunder the tour operators’ ongoing negotiations with overseas agents and other prospects;

Lastly, I pleaded that even if the government is adamant about implementing the new rules with total disregard for the operational difficulties, the government should honor the commitments made by the tour operators - based on the rules and regulations that were in force - when the discussions were initiated. That reneging on the commitments halfway through the discussions would portray Bhutanese operators as unreliable and untrustworthy, with long-term implications to the industry;

I pleaded that if nothing, the government should honor all commitments made by the tour operators - before the new rules were sprung on them - whether or not the tour was confirmed, and whether or not payment received.

To this, the Hon’ble Prime Minister asked me:

“But Aue Yeshey, how can we verify that the business was in discussion?”

I said that it was simple - ask the tour operators to provide trails of their emails - validating that the business was in discussion before the introduction of the new rules.

Consequently the Hon’ble Prime Minister remarked thus:

“Aue Yeshey gii labmi lu denba du. DG Dhradhul, please sit with the tour operators and sort this out. If they can prove that it is a business-in-progress, we should not have any problems accepting them under the old SDF rate”.

POINT: If the Cabinet has recently allowed 1,600 tourists to come in under the old SDF, I would like to point out that the decision to do so was made by the head of the government on 18th June, 2022.

It should not be seen as an act of favoritism on the part of the DNT government. Or, as an act in deviation of the standing rules. What is to be seen is whether the tour operators - Amen and Rewa - were able to substantiate convincingly - if the tours were already in discussion before the new rules came into effect.

Let us not be petty. 1,600 tourists is a big number for a minuscule country like Bhutan - it means a lot to us, particularly when we have been reduced to clutching at straws.

Like a lady tour operator told me yesterday at the VAST over a cup of lemon-honey tea - courtesy of Azha Karm - that the government has been playing “bharakuti”. That does not mean we citizens have to – we have to keep our heads firmly screwed on over our shoulders.