The hotel industry that has seen an explosion in recent years and directly dependent on tourism will be in for shake up with the Tourism Council of Bhutan relooking at the tourism policy.
The council, a government agency, has an objective – reacting, rethinking, and recovery post-Covid-19. The recovery post-Covid-19 is to look into tourism policy and make tourism efficient.
One of the many strategies, an important one, is to reinforce Bhutan as a high-end tourist destination and strictly implement the “high value, low volume” policy.
This means hotels, especially budget hotels, might have to rethink about their business modules post-Covid-19 because of the change in policy the government is looking into. Emphasizing on Bhutan as a high-end destination would mean providing tourist with star-rated hotels and high-end tourist’s facilities.
Following the impact on the hotel industry and the loan interest waiver and loan payment coming to an end, hotels might have to look into strategies to survive.
The government is discussing with Royal Monetary Authority should the deferment continue, which is expected to be announced next week.
But Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering told Kuensel that it is important for hotels to relook into their business strategies and see if they still want to continue as a hotel or look for alternatives, for instance, converting to apartments.