The recent change in the brand for Bhutanese tourism from its old tagline Happiness is a Place to Believe, and the increase in Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) sparked a great deal of debate and stimulated different wavelengths of societal dialogue. Enough ink has been spilt in every media forum by all walks of people, pouring in their standpoints – both in favour and against the current brand. Since I lack the fundamental financial acumen, I regrettably eliminate SDF from the limelight of discussion. Instead, I remain fascinated to deliberate some of my thoughts in the light of changing names.
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| Bhutan Believe |
When the only difference is the name
Initially, I was also swayed to think on this subject of naming and renaming phenomena. But I am already accustomed to this culture of how avid and obsessed we are in this gamble of name-changing malady. In the name of change, we are deeply infatuated with only changing names, and that is it. I can vividly recall that in the place where I domiciled, one of the schools was originally identified as a junior high school. A few years later, the same school was renamed a middle secondary school. Then the politics and political parties emerged to take the batons of this name-changing relay race. Buying the same nametag of change, two distinct neighbouring schools situated in the same locality were merged under one organisational jurisdiction and named the central school. During the tenure of a new political party that reverberated to overhaul the old education system, the union of the two schools done by the previous political party were dissociated and retroceded the schools with the same ancestry surname.
While the change in the name of the school was obvious and publicly evident, the quality of amenities and infrastructures have regrettably remained unchanged. The scarcity of teachers, heavy instructional hours, awful bosses, sickening policies, pitiable working conditions, deprived career and Professional Development (PD) opportunities, cramped classrooms, and sterile internet access to name a few are still ubiquitous and an antique thing in the museum of our school’s plight. Perhaps, we remain utterly confused with the definition of change.
As a former schoolteacher, I have a decent memory and understanding of how this word change typically remained as the keyword in the vocabulary of our policymakers. However, when I recurrently saw little or no change, like Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, I always lived by the dictum: What’s in the name? If we do not practically operationalise the concept of change in action, what good does it do by simply changing the name? That was why, in 2001, when my name was erroneously changed from Damcho Wangdue to Dumcho Wangdi by one of the blind drunk census officers, I remained least bothered.
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| Bhutan Happiness is a Place: Old Tourism Tagline |
Change in the Tourism Brand
Returning to the change in the tourism brand, I hold very idiosyncratic viewpoints for the change in the name this time after I attended a seminar organised by the Royal Institute for Governance and Strategic Studies (RIGSS). With the new brand, Believe, I believe that there are multiple things that it can offer – if we think broadly and optimistically.
For a small Kingdom like ours, which is often overwhelmed with resources and capital limitations, it is way beyond the latitude of the nation to accommodate a huge volume of visitors. That is why His Majesty the 4th Druk Gyalpo was very farsighted during the benevolent reign that he steadily emphasised High Value, Low Volume tourism in Bhutan. Besides leaving abundant monarchic legacies including the noble philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), His Majesty the 4th King has already visualised, in days of yore, that if the health of the nation is lost, it would be difficult if not, impossible to recuperate to its unprecedented form. The health of Bhutan as a sovereign Kingdom lies heavily on our unique culture and the intact natural environment that remains pristine and unadulterated. We have read in the past that in many countries what Bhutan have today has been long lost, and it is, therefore, critical that we preserve what is precious to our country. Thanks to our holistic developmental paradigm of GNH which emphasises the nation’s economic prosperity without losing the elements of spirituality, culture, and environmental sustainability. At the heart of this paradigm is happiness and well-being for the Bhutanese people.
Why do we need change?
I concur with the notion that if a nation aspires to progress, the generation of revenue is extremely important at this time of rapid globalisation, digitalisation, and commercialisation. It has even been more important since the COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented era of hardships for the people altering our regular ways of livelihood. Post-pandemic, Bhutan embraced eye-opening experiences that cautioned with and offered both life-changing and life-threatening lessons to survive as a nation. Consequently, we have gradually started to self-actualise that the income derived due to mass tourism is not always nourishing for the nation’s future, especially in terms of sustaining the happiness and wellbeing of the Bhutanese. That is, happiness and well-being are matchless values that cannot be substituted, bought, or imported with any foreign outings.
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| Mask dances as one element of culture (Image source unknown) |
What believe could mean
Although the brand believe appears to be dull, abstract, and subjective in its interpretation, the overall change in the tourism brand was timeous. If broadly construed, believe can imply that Bhutan has stalwart faith in her potential to rise higher and grow stronger. Believe embrace a strong conviction that we are competent of taking this nation forward as a sovereign Kingdom for many generations to come. Beyond all, believe is a signpost to serve as a stark reminder to the policymakers that for a fragile economic nation like ours, we cannot afford to focus singularly on mass tourism if we are to uphold the sovereignty of our Kingdom.
What tourism means for Bhutan?
One key focus of discourse that emerged due to the change in brand and subsequently increasing the SDF was regarding the volume of tourists vising Bhutan. Many remained sceptical that the national brand will limit the profile of tourism, but I continued to think otherwise. Elsewhere, tourism is largely marketed by publicising towering skyscrapers, spectacular beaches, modern technologies, a large museum, world-class recreations and entertainment centres, bubbling nightlife, and magnificent metropolis to name a few. In Bhutan, since its inception, tourism is promoted to showcase national identity through our unique culture and intangible values associated with environmental sustainability, serenity, peacefulness, tranquillity, and spirituality.
Tourists who were drawn to visit Bhutan frequently were informed of our national aspirations, and they applauded their visits by embracing these ideals with a strong ethical compass. With the new tourism policy, which charges travellers $200 per night, it is never a signal to limit such tourists visiting the country. Instead, for a nation that depends excessively on its natural environment – both for the development and Kingdom’s prosperity, it intends to offer an additional experience of values from the little coffer we have. The lesser the volume, the better the quality and higher the standards in the value of their experience.
What lesson can we draw?
Bhutan may remain on the bucket lists of travellers who are still looking for certain ideals, such as sustainability, tranquility, sacredness, peace, well-being, and harmony – values that our development philosophy (GNH) strives for. If there is a sharp dip in the volume of tourists, it may intrude on Bhutan’s generation of revenue as tourism is the second largest income-generating source after hydropower. Even if there is less volume of tourists visiting after this new policy, instead of making plans to revert and recycle mass tourism, it is wise for our policymakers to recognise that tourism is not just an avenue to generate revenue and sustain our Kingdom’s future of self-reliance and sovereignty. It is imperative that we look for ways to support ourselves independently to lessen our propensity to rely on other countries. It is time we begin with small steps.
