Thimpu: After shutting its doors to international tourists for two and a half years during the Covid pandemic, Bhutan re-opened its borders today.
The reopening has come with a revised tourism levy, called the Sustainable Development Fee.
Bhutan raised its Sustainable Development Fee to $200 per visitor per night from the $65 it had been charging foreign tourists for the last three decades.
Indians were not charged anything before the pandemic began, but rules specify that they now have to pay a sum of Rs1200. However, the revised fee for Indian tourists was never implemented.
In March 2020, Bhutan shut its borders to visitors – a major source of income – after detecting its first case of COVID-19.
