Individuals intending to visit Bhutan are no longer required to present travel insurance along with their visa application.
Such a decision was introduced on April 23, 2024, by Bhutan authorities in an effort to make travel more accessible for tourists, VisaGuide.World reports.
The Bhutanese authorities introduced such a requirement during COVID-19 as a protective measure against unforeseen emergencies, including medical expenses associated with the pandemic.
Although travel insurance is no longer mandatory, the Department of Tourism still recommends that visitors have it as a precautionary measure.
The mandatory requirement of travel insurance is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect for processing visas to facilitate seamless travel for tourists. However, it is recommended for tourists to possess travel insurance as a precaution in case of unlikely emergencies associated with any international travel.
The Bhutanese government has announced several measures aimed at attracting more tourists and helping the industry recover from COVID-19.
These measures include reducing the tourist daily fee from $200 to $100, which entered into force in September 2023 and is valid for four years until August 2027.
Bhutan saw a notable increase in the number of tourists during the first three months of 2024, according to official statistics. More specifically, 25,003 tourists visited Bhutan during this period, as revealed by the Department of Tourism.
Such a figure represents a 97 percent increase compared to the 12,696 arrivals recorded in the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, the busiest month during the first quarter was March 2024, with nearly 15,000 arrivals.
As further revealed, most of the tourists – accounted for 60 percent – were from India. The rest of the tourists that visited Bhutan during this period were from the US, China, the UK, Germany, Singapore, France, Italy, Malaysia, Vietnam, Australia, and Canada.
According to Carissa Nimah, Chief Marketing Officer of the Department of Tourism, the almost double growth in tourist figures can be attributed to several reasons, such as the reduced daily fee to $100 per night.
Additionally, there has been a substantial increase in global awareness about Bhutan among potential guests and global travel agents, thanks to concerted promotional efforts from the whole industry and extensive media coverage.
As further revealed, Bhutan has expanded its tourism efforts at new global markets, and the authorities anticipate a strong tourism year in 2024.
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