Handicrafts shops are complaining that tour guides are charging them hefty commissions. A consultative meeting among tourism stakeholders held recently discussed various tourism issues to help the tourism sector generate 25,000 jobs and contribute 15 % to the country’s GDP by the end of 2013. The meeting addressed stakeholders’ grievances on many issues.
As per the directive of the Tourism Council of Bhutan (TCB) through the TCB document: TCB/ABTO-05/2165, dated 30th July 2010, the following changes within the prevailing discount structure:
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: -
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.
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 [...]
Bhutanese tour guides have been in the limelight recently. In a meeting on the 24th of February 2010 with the various stakeholders in the Bhutanese tourism industry, the Prime Minister pointed out unprofessionalism and the lack of ethics among the Bhutanese tour guides. In the wake of all these unwanted attention, the Guides Association of [...]
Commission For Tour Guides