New trends in tourist arrivals

Going native: Tourists at the Thimphu tshechu  Inter alia, in terms of places of origin and ports of entry, as per a new report Almost 80 percent of the tourists, who flew into the country last year, had travelled to Bhutan solely for holidays, while the rest were on official or business tours, the recently launched Bhutan tourism monitor states.

 Tourism arrivals last year were recorded at 105,407, an increase of 64.62 percent from the previous year. Of the total 54,685 were international or dollar paying tourists and 50,722 were regional visitors from the neigbouring countries of India and Bangladesh. “Of the total arrival last year, 77,700 visitors were tourists, who solely visited Bhutan for the purpose of holidaying,” the tourism monitor states. Among the arrivals, Japanese tourists surpassed arrivals from the United States, which, until last year, continued to dominate international tourist arrivals. Last year, Japanese tourist arrivals constituted 15.98 percent of the total arrivals, followed by USA with 13.67 percent and China with 8.57 percent. “Arrivals from Zambia, Seychelles and Malta were recorded for the first time, suggesting a growing interest for Bhutan in the global community,” the tourism monitor states. The major entry and exit ports used by tourists last year were Bangkok, Thailand and Kathmandu, Nepal with 41.49 percent and 25.90 percent of the total arrivals. This, according to the tourism monitor, is a notable change as Delhi, India used to be the most preferred port than Kathmandu in the last few years. “International visitors entering Bhutan seldom use the Bodh-Gaya sector,” states the report. The monitor also states that the Singapore sector, which was opened in the third quarter of 2012, also saw significant arrival figures, suggesting a viable entry point for visitors. Like the past years, Bhutan continues to be a cultural destination, with about 99.26 percent of the tourists visiting on cultural tour. Nature-based activities, such as trekking, bird watching, flora and fauna and adventure sports, accounted for 13.04 percent. Last year, the average length of stay stood at 6.90 days, a slight decrease from 2011’s 7.53 days, which was attributed to the significant growth rates in arrivals from Asian markets, who usually have shorter lengths of stay. Trends for source markets, such as USA, Japan or Europe and their average length of stay, however, remain almost the same over the years. The source market with highest average length of stay was Switzerland, spending around 10.91 days in Bhutan, followed by Netherlands, Australia and Germany. “Asian tourists staying for shorter duration is a stable trend and does not seem to change with the years,” the tourism monitor states. Last year, Chinese visitors stayed for 4.96 days, while the Japanese and Thai tourists stayed for 4.88 and 4.21 days respectively. Going by the arrivals, Malaysia stands as an emerging Asian market, being featured in last year’s top ten markets. 
 Source: Kuensel
 By Kinga Dema