India has emerged as the number one source market for the Kingdom of Bhutan. “India is one of the most important and emerging source market for Bhutan and we have witnessed increase in arrivals from India. The total arrival from India in 2015 was 91,733, which is an excellent growth from this market. India is the largest source market for us,” Chhimmy Pem, Director, Tourism Council of Bhutan, said.
In 2015, total visitor arrivals to Bhutan grew by 16.21 per cent to 155, 121 arrivals. International arrivals constituted 37.09 per cent or 57,537 individuals while regional arrivals constitute 62.91 per cent with 97,584 arrivals. India attributes to 92.98 per cent of total regional visitors followed by Bangladesh at 7.84 per cent and Maldives 0.07 per cent.
Speaking about the marketing strategy in India market Pem added, “We have a PR company who assist us in promoting Bhutan as a high end destination. Besides, we also have plans to target few travel fairs and to organise roadshows, media fam, tour operators fam and joint marketing activities. We also participate in travel fairs and roadshows in different cities of India.”
Nearly 48.29 per cent of regional visitors spent between one to five nights in Bhutan. On average, Indians lead the list with an average of 12.5 nights. Pem said, “On an average Indians spent around 12.5 nights in 2015 in our country. With so much demand from the India market and given the current growth trend we are expecting more arrival from India by end of 2016.”
India stands on the top as the largest source market followed by China, US, Thailand, UK, Singapore, Germany, Japan, Australia, France, and Malaysia.
According to the Bhutan Tourism Monitor Report 2015, the most popular destinations in Bhutan were Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Wangdue Phodrang, Bumthang and Trongsa.
