Tourism council of Bhutan to increase fee for monuments

Thimphu : The Tourism Council of Bhutan said on Tuesday that the entrance fee for monuments across Bhutan would be raised starting January 2020.

The council also called the relevant stakeholders and agencies concerned to take note of the revision of the fees and inform their clients.

The highest visiting fee has been revised on Tiger's nest in Paro district, from 7.14 U.S. dollars to 14.25 U.S. dollars for adults, while monuments including Trashichho-Dzong, Memorial Chorten and others were raised from 4.28 U.S. dollars to 7.14 U.S. dollars. The students visitors were however given discount of 50 percent.

This is a regular hike and is also one of the measures to improve and regulate the tourism in the country, said a tour agent. The entrance fees are charged to resolve problems regarding overcrowding due to rise in regional tourists over the years. Charging of entrance fee for the monuments will also contribute to improve tourism related facilities such as rest room, sheds and canteens, officials said.

"A proper guidelines and regulation in place for regional tourists would help curb inconvenient incidents like the one that occurred last month, where an Indian tourist was detained for standing on top of the chorten at a iconic Dochula-pass," said Rinchen, a tour guide.