Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators

Tourism and Biodiversity – World Tourism Day

August 24, 2010

As per the decision of the 2nd Tourism Council (TCB) meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister, the World Tourism Day on 27th September 2010 should be celebrated on a much bigger scale in order to advocate more awareness and reach. This is to be jointly organised by the tourism stakeholders in the private sector with ABTO taking the lead in organizing the event.

ABTO President for 2010

July 31, 2010

During the 63rd ABTO Executive Committee meeting held on 29th July 2010, President Yeshey Norbu formally submitted his resignation to the Committee from the post of ABTO President-ship. The reason for his resignation being mainly, not being able to commit adequate time towards the Association, hence his inability to do justice to the post as well as to the Association and its members.

Update on the Tourism Development Fund (TDF)

May 28, 2010

The following is the latest state of the Tourism Development Fund (TDF), after Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO) passed an Executive Order to allocate Nu. 26 million towards destination marketing: -

Hotel Standards

March 19, 2010

A 6-member team led by Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) started a countrywide hotel standardization and classification assessment on the 4th of March, 2010. The assessment is in line with the government’s decision which requires all hotels catering to tourists to be upgraded to a minimum of 3-star category.

Controversy Over Tourism Development Fund

March 13, 2010

The government’s decision to use Nu 26 million from the tourism development fund (TDF) as funding to market Bhutan as a tourism destination under the McKinsey plan has led to differences between the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO) and the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) over the fund’s control and ownership.

USD 250 A Day

March 10, 2010

The country’s tour operators are doubly happy about the government’s decision to strike down the tariff liberalization proposal (by McKinsey) and instead raise it to USD 250 a tourist a day. Many tour operators felt the new tariff revision was timely as the old USD 200 tariff existed since 1989, when the 36-year old tourism sector was run by the government. It was handed over to the private sector in 1991.