Bhutan Tourism: An Analysis of Visitor Demographics and Trends Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the tourism industry in Bhutan, examining visitor statistics, demographic characteristics, and the economic impact. It delves into the growth trends of tourist arrivals, both overall and in terms of international leisure visitors, using data from 2018. The report breaks down visitor numbers by month, highlighting peak seasons, and analyzes the preferences of tourists to understand Bhutan's positioning as a tourism destination. The study also explores the government's approach to managing tourism activities and its contribution to Bhutan's economy, drawing on various sources to present a detailed overview of the industry's performance and evolution. It explores the impact of tourism on the socio-economic perspective and infrastructure development of the region.

Running head: BHUTAN TOURISM
Bhutan Tourism
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Statistics of the Visitor Arrivals:................................................................................................5
Demographics:.........................................................................................................................11
Changes in the Tourism Industry:............................................................................................15
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................24
References:...............................................................................................................................25

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Introduction:
The tourism activities is observed to have greater significance for the national and
region governments these days and one of the main reason behind the same is seen to be the
substantial scope of earning. According to the comments of Fang, Ye and Law (2015), the
emergence of the tourism industry is pretty significant in the modern world of business. The
mentioned industry is recognized as one of the industries with the highest amount of market
growth and that is certainly playing the triggering role for the companies in entering the
mentioned industry (Ukai, 2016). With a close consideration towards the increasing
preferences of the people across the globe towards participating in the tourism activities, it is
justified to say that the industry will only expand in future. In such circumstances, Eid
(2015), mentioned that the governments are also providing sufficient back up to the
companies functioning in the tourism industry owing to the scope of earning massive
revenues.
As per the esteemed opinion of Eid and El-Gohary (2015), majority of the national
and international governments are observed to be keen on providing land lease, financial
supports, tax relaxation and relaxation in the strict implementation of the legislations. Having
said that, Pulido-Fernández, Andrades-Caldito and Sánchez-Rivero (2015), claimed that there
are several reasons behind such actions from the part of the national and regional
governments. The tourism industry provides a series of benefits to the national and
international governments and that is one of the fundamental reason behind the increasing
interest of the national and regional governments. As per the comments of Schroeder (2015),
the enhancement in the tourism activities has greater significance in the socio economic
perspective for the regional and national governments. Unhapipat (2018), mentioned that the

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increment in the tourism activities develops a substantial demands related to a particular
destination.
The popularity of such destinations also rises as a result of the increasing tourism
activities. On the other hand, the demand of the tourism influences the governments to
restructure the destination in a perfect manner for ensuring that increasing the participation of
the tourists. Ray (2015), claimed that the enhancement of the tourism activities plays a
substantial role in strengthening the economic condition of a region. With increasing tourism,
the sum of the generated revenue by the regional and national governments increases in a
notable manner. Along with the improvement of the economic condition of the region, the
tourism activities increase the scope of employment in the region as well (Munawar, 2016).
On the other hand, the tourism activities is responsible for the cross cultural and social
transmission which strengthens the cross cultural knowledge of the tourists (Ray & Das,
2016). One of the important aspect of the increasing tourism activities is the improvement of
the infrastructure of the regions (Islam, Boro & Phuntsho, 2019). With an efficient
understanding of the benefits, the study is precisely dedicated in analysing the approach of
Bhutan government in managing their tourism activities. The study shows the contribution of
the tourism activities on Bhutan’s economy. The study delivers important statistics regarding
the visitor arrivals, demographic characteristics of the visitors along with the changes that
happened to the tourism activities of the nation in recent years.

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Statistics of the Visitor Arrivals:
(Information Courtesy: Tourism.gov.bt, 2020)
From the above statistics, it is visible that the country experienced the participation of
274097 number of tourists in the year 2018 (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). With a close look at the
statistics, a growth rate of 7.61% on a year on year basis in the year 2018, is visible
(Dailybhutan.com, 2020). Other than this, the statistics shows that the number of tourists in
Bhutan tourist destinations has increased in a notable manner in recent years. Along with the
increment n the number of tourists, the growth rate of inbound tourists is also in the positive
direction. In the year 2013, Bhutan tourism experienced substantial double digit growth in the
entry of the tourists. In two years’ time, the country increased the growth rate of tourist entry
to 16.21% from 10.25% of 2013 (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). 2016 is recognized as one of the
important year for the tourism industry as it is the year in which the nation achieved the
maximum yearly growth and that was 35.10% (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). Hence, from the

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percentile change of the growth rate in the tourism industry, it is pretty prominent that the
tourist industry of Bhutan is expanding in a substantial manner.
Other than this, an efficient understanding of the expansion of the tourism activities in
the nation is pretty prominent in recent years and hat is recognized as one of the important
factor responsible for the increment of the number of tourist arrivals in the nation. With a
specific consideration towards the fact, it becomes important to analyse the entry of the
tourists on the basis of the monthly parameters to gain a better understanding of the peak time
of tourism activities in the nation. For the analysis, it is crucial to concentrate on current data
and for the same, the selection of the statistics of 2018 is considerably important.
(Information Courtesy: Tourism.gov.bt, 2020)
With a precise look at the statistics of the tourist arrival in the nation on the basis of
the months, it is prominent that the country experiences the entry of 4.06% of their total
annual tourist entry in the month of January (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). In the month of
February, 2018, the tourism industry of the nation experienced a rise in the number of tourist
entry and that is pretty prominent with the entry of 4.35% of the total number of tourists

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entered in the nation in the mentioned calendar year (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). The growth of
the number of tourist arrival increased almost twice in the month of March where the tourism
industry of the nation went up to experience the participation of 8.09% of the total number of
tourists entering the nation (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). In the month of April, the tourist arrival
increased and that was visible with the participation of 9.55 % of the total tourists entering
the nation throughout the year and in the following month which is May, the tourism industry
of the nation received the maximum number of tourist participation in their nation. In the
month of May, the country experienced the participation of 14.50% of the total number of
tourists entering the tourism industry of the nation throughout the year (Tourism.gov.bt,
2020).
Having said that, in the month of June, the tourism industry of Bhutan faced a
decrement in the number of tourist arrivals and that was visible with the decrement in the
percentage of tourists entering the nation in the same month. After the participation of
14.50% of the total number of tourists entering the nation throughout the year, the tourism
industry of the nation experienced the participation of 9.21% of the total number of tourists
entering Bhutan throughout the calendar year (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). The decline in the
number of tourist entering the market continues in the following month as well and that is
prominent with the participation of 4.48% of the total tourists entered the tourism industry of
the nation in the year 2018, in the month of July (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). The month of July
provides the second lowest participation of the tourists amongst all the months and is second
to only the initial month of January. The tourist arrival in the nation started to rejuvenate in
the month of August. In the month of August, the number of tourist arrival in the tourism
industry of Bhutan started to increase and that is visible with the participation of 5.18% of the
total number of tourists entered the nation throughout the year, in the month of August
(Tourism.gov.bt, 2020).

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The growth of the tourist arrival kept on increasing in the month of September as well
and that is visible with the participation of 7.31% of the total number of tourists entered in the
nation in 2018, in the month of September (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). The rise in the number of
tourists arrived in the nation reached to a significant stage in the month of October where the
country experienced the participation of 13.70% of the total number of tourists entered the
nation in the year 2018 (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). As a result, it is understandable that the
October is the month which is recognized as the second largest month in terms of the arrival
of the tourists entering the nation. In the following month, the number of tourists entered the
nation came down to 9.85% of the total number of tourists entered in the nation throughout
the year 2018 (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). In the month of December, the number of tourists
entered in the nation is approximately 9.73% of the total number of tourists entered the nation
throughout the year (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020).
On the other hand, the evaluation of the international leisure arrivals is considerably
important for assessing the significance of the Bhutan government in managing their tourism
activities.
(Information Courtesy: Tourism.gov.bt, 2020)

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From the above statistics, it is visible that there were approximately 63367 number of
international leisure arrivals in the nation in the year 2018 (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). The
statistics shows that the tourism industry of the nation experiences a steady participation from
the tourists in the international leisure arrivals in recent time. In the year 2013, the tourism
industry of Bhutan experienced 0.73% increment in the percentile growth of number of
tourists entering the nation and the percentage increased to 30.92 in the following year
(Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). Having said that, the calendar year 2015 had been the worst
performing year for the tourism industry of the nation when it comes to the entry of the
tourists in the international leisure arrivals. In the year 2015, the Bhutan tourism industry
faced a decline of 15.77% in the tourist arrival percentile changes (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020).
The international leisure arrivals came back to track again in the year 2016 when the tourism
industry of the nation experienced a positive percentile change of 11.89% (Tourism.gov.bt,
2020). The growth continued even in the year 2017 where the tourism industry of the nation
experienced a percentile increment of 14.05% (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). However, the tourism
industry of Bhutan again slowed down a bit in the year 2018 when the percentile increment in
the participation of the number of the tourists in the nation was only 1.76% (Tourism.gov.bt,
2020).
Apart from this, Suntikul and Dorji (2016), mentioned that an important criteria for
assessing the excellence of a tourism destination is seen to be the potential of the destination
in attracting the tourists. According to the esteemed opinion of Schroeder (2015), the
purchase preferences of the tourists is primarily dependent on their choice regarding the
parameter of destination that they prefer. In a more simplified manner, the purchase
preferences of the customers depends on the fact whether they prefer to explore the culture,
societal beliefs, traditions, ethnicity, language, beliefs and values of a region or they are more

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interest in exploring the natural beauty of a destination. The purchase preferences of the
tourists depends on whether they prefer to participate in activities such as trekking or the
adventure sports and along with that, in many occasions, the purchase preferences of the
customers are observe to be influenced by potential of the destination in offering the spiritual
or the wellness services. Hence, the tourist destinations are also categorized in these
parameters for offering optimum quality desired services to the customers. With a precise
understanding of the same, it is crucial to analyse the preferences of the customers entering to
Bhutan. The evaluation of their preferences will certainly highlight their understanding or
consideration of the genre of tourism destination, they consider Bhutan to be.
(Information Courtesy: Tourism.gov.bt, 2020)
With a close consideration towards the above mentioned statistics, it is clear that the
tourists who are choosing Bhutan for their tourism activities, are primarily influenced by the
wide variety of the Bhutanese culture. 86.41% of the total number of tourists participated in
the tourism activities of the nation in the year 2018, are largely inclined towards the
exploration of the Bhutanese culture (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). Other than this, the tourists

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preferred the nation in substantial manner for the conduct of their trekking activities and that
is prominent with the fact that 5.97% of the total tourists preferred the nation for participating
in the facilities of the trekking activities (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). According the esteemed
opinion of Tshering and Fujita (2016), Bhutan is a beautiful nation placed at the lap of
Himalaya. The nation is filled with natural resources and that also delivers considerable
amount of competitive advantage to the tourism industry of the nation. 3.76% of the tourists
who had participated in the tourism activities of the nation in the year 2018, had preferred
Bhutan for the wide variety of the natural resources and beauty associated with the same
(Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). Bhutan is also recognized to be a preferred destination amongst the
tourists for the purpose of adventure and that is visible with 3.13% of the total number of
tourists preferring the adventure tourism activities and facilities of the nation
(Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). Other than this, preferences of the tourists over the spiritual factors
in the nation is observed to be bit limited and that is evident with mere participation of 0.72%
of the total tourists participating the in the tourism activities in the nation for the purpose of
spiritual factors and wellness (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020).
Demographics:
With an insightful understanding of the statistics of the visitor arrival, it is important
to analyse the demographic segmentation of the customers. Bhutan experiences the
participation of tourists from a range of the countries such as India, USA, Bangladesh, China,
Singapore, Thailand and United Kingdom.

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(Information Courtesy: Tourism.gov.bt, 2020)
From the above statistics, it is evident that the Indians are the largest group of tourists
preferring the Bhutan tourism industry for their tourism activities. In the year 2018, 191836
number of Indians have travelled to Bhutan for the purpose of the tourism and the share of
tourists is 69.99% of the total number of tourists participating in the tourism activities of the
Bhutan tourism industry (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). Next to the Indians, are the people from
United States as 10561 number of citizens of the mentioned nation have travelled to Bhutan
for exploring the tourism attractions of the nation (Tourism.gov.bt, 2020). Other than this, the
tourists from the countries like Bangladesh, China and Singapore also participate in the
tourism activities in Bhutan. In the year 2018, 10450 number of tourists from Bangladesh,