While Bhutan Tourism has been enjoying healthy footfall from India, Thuji Dorji Nadik, Acting Managing Director, Tourism Council of Bhutan stated that the country is considering using Guru Padmasambhava in their tourism promotions to attract more tourists from the neighbouring Himalayan regions. Guru Padmasambhava, also known as the Second Buddha, was a sage guru said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Tibet, Bhutan and neighbouring countries.
“Although we are a Buddhist country and get inquiries about Buddhist Pilgrimage Tourism, we have no connection with the historical Buddha. We can’t even claim that he came to Bhutan! Hence, we want to promote Guru Padmasambhava for this sector. He was believed to have been born in Pakistan and flown on a tiger across India, Nepal and Tibet. This angle thus fits in more perfectly with us and connects all the Himalayan region countries, from Pakistan right down to Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim and so on, allowing us to tap all these markets,” he said.
In Bhutan, Guru Padmasambhava is associated with the famous Paro Taktsang or “Tiger’s Nest” monastery. Later he travelled to Bumthang district to subdue a powerful deity offended by a local king. Padmasambhava’s body imprint can be found in the wall of a cave at nearby Kurje Lhakhang temple.
Speaking about the Indian market in particular, Nadik stated that, as tourism is evolving it is becoming very clear that destinations cannot rely on long haul arrivals. “The Indian neighbouring states are all aware of Bhutan, which makes them very important. Increasingly, western and southern India are getting to know more about it as well. We have direct flights to Delhi, but due to a lack of marketing budget, we were not aggressive in the past, and as a result they were not very aware of Bhutan either,” he said.
He further added that Mumbai is a market growing in importance, with Druk Air, whose plans to launch direct flights to Mumbai last year are currently on hold, hoping to get airport slots in the city’s upcoming T2 terminal. “Like Heathrow’s second runway issue, Mumbai had its capacity issues and were unable to give us an appropriate slot. They had a lot of grandfather rights there and the early morning slot that we were given was not very feasible. So we have put it on hold, but it’s very much on the cards. We are all waiting for the T2 to open so we can try again. Druk Air is also restructuring, and have increased their fleet size. In fact, one of the reasons for their fleet expansion was to include Mumbai flights.”
According to Nadik, with the devaluation of the Rupee, Bhutan is a great destination choice for India at the moment, as the currency has remained stable. Even the US$200 visa fee charged to western countries does not apply to Indians, who have the option Visa on Arrival, and even the option of travelling on just their voter ID cards.
“We are getting a lot of interest in destination weddings from India. We have identified three major tourism sectors we can cater to – nature, culture and wellness. Of course, India is way ahead of us in wellness, so that may not be a crowd-puller, but the other two facets do well. Events are also gaining momentum, but we are not yet ready for MICE in the actual sense of the word. Meetings and Incentives are possible, but we don’t have the infrastructure for Conferences and Incentives. There are also natural limitations and low airline capacity, which will limit numbers for MICE anyway,” said Nadik.
Furthermore, Bhutan hopes to position itself as a connector hub for North East India and Thailand as well. “We are providing a lot more connectivity to the North Eastern region of India than India herself does. Since we launched flights from Guwahati and Bagdogra, we have seen a number of Indians flying into Bhutan and subsequently travelling to Thailand. So we are looking at not just attracting inbound tourists to Bhutan, but also ferrying them ahead to Bangkok and so on,” said Nadik.
Highlighting their works with the Indian travel trade, Nadik stated that roadshows and participation in events such as SATTE have become regular features.
