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By APD writer Rishika Chauhan
New Delhi, Feb.6-The National Assembly of Bhutan on Tuesday decided to impose a $17 daily tax on Indian tourists as 'sustainable development fee' from July 2020.
The rule was brought about by passing a ‘Tourism Levy and Exemption Bill of Bhutan’ 2020, with the intention of managing the increase in tourists visiting the country.
Tourists from the Maldives and Bangladesh will also have to pay the daily fee.
However, children from the three countries under the age of 5 will not be charged any fee and those between 6 and 12 years will have to pay around $7 per day.
The fee charged to tourists from India, the Maldives and Bangladesh is lower than the $65 fee charged to other foreign tourists. Tourists from other countries are also charged a compulsory “cover charge” of $250 per day.
A report in the Hindu states, “Indians mainly travel to the more developed western region of Bhutan. In a move to promote tourism in Bhutan’s eastern region as well, the government has decided to drop sustainable development fee charges for tourists visiting 11 of 20 total districts that fall in the east from Trongsa to Trashigang.”
Bhutan’s Tourism Council Director Dorji Dhradul was quoted in the report explaining, “The levy of sustainable development fee to regional tourists will help in ensuring an exclusive experience to all tourists which is the intent of our tourism policy of high value, low volume.”
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
