Bhutan daily

About Us Welcome to Daily Bhutan, formerly known as New Bhutan Times. Established in June 2017, Daily Bhutan seeks to deliver content, updates and features about the Kingdom to readers beyond Bhutan. We hope to act as the “gateway” to Bhutan, a place where you can understand more about this tiny Himalayan country. At Daily Bhutan, we curate the top news from Bhutanese publications that appeal to foreign readers. We also cover lifestyle features and human interest stories that we believe the international audience will be interested in. We are a young website that hopes to tell the remarkable story of a young democracy that possesses a unique identity and place in world history, and also one that is doing its part to thrive in a world that is constantly changing. Our News section aggregates top stories from Bhutanese publications and in our Features section, we tell of stories to do with extraordinary and ordinary Bhutanese. The Sports section contains updates on the sports and athletic scene in Bhutan, while our Business section provides an insight into the entrepreneurial spirit of the Bhutanese. Our section on Travel is an informative one that hopes to give a better understanding of traveling within the country and the Lifestyle section covers entertainment, food and other features. We hope you will continue to enjoy reading the content from our website. We value your opinions and do reach out to us at [emailprotected] if you have any comments or feedback. Press releases...

June 15th, 2023 In a world often filled with uncertainty and turmoil, Bhutan, the Land of the Thunder Dragon, has always stood as a beacon of tranquillity and harmony. Today, we celebrate a momentous occasion that fills our hearts with joy and renewed optimism—the forthcoming arrival of the third child of Their Majesties, The Druk Gyalpo and Gyaltsuen.

THIMPHU -- The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, regarded as one of the world's most exclusive travel destinations, reopens to tourists on Friday after a closure of around two and half years because of COVID-19. But the resumption of tourism and quarantine-free entry for fully vaccinated travelers comes with a steep hike in the tourist tax, among other changes designed to keep Bhutan a high-end, sustainable destination. This has left many operators, still reeling from the pandemic, uncertain and anxious.

Prime minister Dr Lotay at the National Assembly (Source: Kuensel) On the 24th of June 2022, the National assembly passed the Tourism Levy Bill of 2022. With this new act, the sustainable development fee (SDF) of 65 USD per night has now been increased to 200 USD per night. Along with the increase in the SDF, the Minimum Daily Package Rate (MDPR) has been removed. What was the tourism structure in Bhutan? Previously visitors to Bhutan were subject to a MDPR of 200 USD - 290 USD per person per night, depending on the number of travellers and period of travel. 65 USD Sustainable Development Fee was paid to the government, and the remaining amount was used for lodging, guide, transportation and lodging. What is the new proposed tourism bill? With the new bill being passed, all international tourists visiting Bhutan will have to pay 200 USD SDF per person per night, and they will also have to separately pay for accommodation, meals, transport, and guides. How about regional tourists visiting Bhutan? This is the latest tourism bill that has been passed after the Tourism Levy Bill of 2020. As per the Tourism Levy Act of Bhutan 2020, regional tourists from Bangladesh, Maldives and India will be charged a concessional Sustainable Development Fee (SDF). The levy of SDF came into effect from 1st July 2020. The SDF for regional tourists is set at 1200 BTN (~15 USD) per night, and they will have to hire a guide and transportation. What if I have already booked my tour to Bhutan? For t...

They say nothing worth having comes easy, and that’s certainly the case with But to get here, to get around while here, or even to spend day after day in its high altitude villages, is not for the faint of heart–or pocketbook. Plus, there’s the whole putting chilis in everything. One might be tempted to say a journey to Bhutan begins with the long flight to Asia, but more than most destinations, a trip to Bhutan begins at home. Since you cannot go around the country alone, you must determine which guide you’re going to use or go through a tour operator. You need to apply in advance for a visa, obtain travel insurance, and figure out the logistics of getting there as you typically fly first to Bangkok or Singapore, have a couple days of layover, and then to Bhutan. (There are also flights from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, but a layover in those places is more complicated.) Every destination requires you to grapple with what you want to see in the time you have available, but with Bhutan the stakes are higher—$200 a day higher, to be precise. That’s because in addition to what you spend on hotels, guides, food, and shopping, Bhutan charges a Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) of $200 a day as part of its approach to limit mass tourism and attract a certain type of traveler. Getting to Bhutan from the U.S. adds a certain weight to the word journey. I had a 13-hour flight to Doha, two-hour layover, and then a seven-hour flight to Bangkok. Since there weren’t daily flights on D...

Identification. Druk-yul means "Land of the Thunder Dragon." Most Bhutanese refer to their homeland as Druk-yul, the original and still official name. Bhutan, the name given to the country by the British, is the name used for most official and international business and reference. The name Bhutan may be derived from the ancient Indian term "Bhotania," which means "end of the land of the Bhots" (Tibet). Because a number of stone tools and megaliths (large stones used in prehistoric monuments) have been found in Bhutan, it is believed that Bhutan was populated as early as 2000–1500 B.C.E. The society of Bhutan today is made up of several ethnic groups. The Sharchops, who are believed to be ancestors of those earliest residents, live mostly in eastern Bhutan. Their early ancestor tribes may have originated from Burma (Myanmar) and northeast India. It is also believed that Indo-Mongoloids (usually referred to as Monpas, which means non-Tibetans) migrated into Bhutan two thousand years ago from Arunchal Pradesh, Nagaland, northern Burma, and Thailand. The Ngalops live in western Bhutan and migrated from the Tibetan plains; they are credited with being the first to bring Buddhism to the country. The other main ethnic group is the Lhotshampas, who were from Nepal originally. The Lhotshampas migrated to Bhutan toward the end of the nineteenth century. Location and Geography. Bhutan is located in the northern area of South Asia and is also in the eastern Himalayan mountain area. It...