Bhutan welcomes visitors back after Covid with honey, turmeric, and SIM cards

 Digital Desk: " Atithi Devo Bhava" 

Twenty-three foreign visitors arrived in Bhutan on Friday, the first since the Himalayan kingdom reopened its borders after more than two years of closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with officials hoping tourism will help revive the local economy.

The country known for its natural beauty and ancient Buddhist culture, tucked between China and India, first opened to wealthy tourists in 1974.

After detecting its first case of Covid-19, it closed its borders to visitors, a major source of revenue, in March 2020.

The constitutional monarchy of less than 800,000 people reported just over 61,000 infections and 21 deaths in the last two fiscal years, but the $3 billion economy contracted in the last two fiscal years, pushing more people into poverty.

"Tourism is more than just revenue for us," said Dorji Dhradhul, Director General of the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB), after greeting the first visitors at the country's only international airport in Paro, near Thimphu.

He stated that the tiny country desired to be "very much a part of the entire world."

"We believe that through tourism, we can do that... take advantage of their support and goodwill," he said . 

According to the authorities, each visitor who arrived aboard the first flight from Kathmandu in neighbouring Nepal was given small packs of organic honey, tea, Bhutanese turmeric, and a local SIM card in a tote bag as a gift.

Bhutan raised its Sustainable Development Fee from $65 to $200 per visitor per night in July, saying it wanted to welcome more tourists who could spend money. Officials said the fees would be used to offset tourists' carbon footprints by planting trees, upskilling tourism workers, maintaining hiking trails, reducing reliance on fossil fuels, and electrifying transportation vehicles.

according to a report,  approximately 315,600 tourists visited in 2019, up 15.1% from the previous year, with visitors contributing approximately $84 million to the economy on average each year for the three years preceding the pandemic.