Believe in Bhutan: Book a meeting at ITB for sustainable, affordable, life-changing tours

Believe it. 

Bhutan, the land famed for its Gross Nation­al Hap­pi­ness, majest­ic land­scapes, and unique cul­tur­al exper­i­ences, is now more access­ible than ever for travellers. 

This is thanks to sev­er­al key improve­ments in travel pro­ced­ures, includ­ing a sim­pli­fied visa pro­cess, reduced Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Fee (now US$100 per day), and increased flight options. 

Not only that, Bhutan is rolling out a new cata­logue of sus­tain­able and low-car­bon tours at ITB Ber­lin 2024, thanks to the invalu­able assist­ance of the European Uni­on (EU)-funded SWITCH-Asia Pro­gram.

Learn more about SWITCH-Asia activ­it­ies in Asia: switchasia.travelife.info.

And book a meet­ing with the Bhutan team at ITB Ber­lin 2024: switchasia.travelife.info/book-bhutan

‘Bhutan Believe’

The 2024 “Bhutan Believe” sus­tain­able tour bro­chure cur­ates a unique set of tour pack­ages, tour oper­at­ors, and hotels from Bhutan that are all sus­tain­ab­il­ity cer­ti­fied under SUSTOUR Bhutan. The pro­ject con­tin­ues to add more Trav­elife trained tour oper­at­ors and Bhutan Green Hotel Stand­ard hotels.

SUSTOUR Bhutan is sup­por­ted by the Asso­ci­ation of Bhu­tanese Tour Oper­at­ors (ABTO), the Hotel and Res­taur­ant Asso­ci­ation of Bhutan (HRAB), ASR, ECEAT, and Trav­elife, and is fin­anced through SWITCH-Asia. 

An example of Bhutan’s new sustainable tours

Sus­tain­able Bhutan tours are designed to immerse you in the Kingdom’s rich cul­ture while min­im­ising your envir­on­ment­al foot­print. Tra­verse serene land­scapes, vis­it tra­di­tion­al vil­lages, and exper­i­ence mind­ful inter­ac­tions with loc­als. Stay in eco-friendly accom­mod­a­tions that pri­or­it­ise sus­tain­able prac­tices, from waste reduc­tion to energy con­ser­va­tion. Con­sider this example:

Heart of the Himalayas

Embark on a soul-enrich­ing spir­itu­al sojourn in Bhutan.

• Tra­verse the serene land­scapes of Paro, Thim­phu, and Punakha to dis­cov­er ancient temples and mon­as­ter­ies nestled amidst the Himalayas. 
• Explore the icon­ic Tiger’s Nest Mon­as­tery, perched dra­mat­ic­ally on a cliff, and feel the spir­itu­al energy of Kyichu Lhakhang, one of Bhutan’s old­est temples.
• Dive into the cul­tur­al heart of Thim­phu with vis­its to Tashich­ho Dzong and the revered Chan­gangkha Lhakhang. 
• Absorb the tran­quil­ity of Chimi Lhakhang and the grandeur of Punakha Dzong. 

This cur­ated jour­ney prom­ises a har­mo­ni­ous blend of breath­tak­ing land­scapes and divine spir­itu­al­ity, offer­ing a ful­filling and trans­form­at­ive exper­i­ence in the mys­tic­al king­dom of Bhutan.

It’s a SUSTOUR-recommended ‘Low Carbon Tour Operation’

Tour: Heart of the Himalayas

Total In-coun­try Car­bon Foot­print per per­son = 104kgCO2e

Reduc­tion since 2019 aver­age tour oper­a­tion = ‑60%

About SUSTOUR Bhutan

The SUSTOUR Bhutan pro­ject is an innov­at­ive and prac­tic­al approach to improv­ing sus­tain­able con­sump­tion and pro­duc­tion in Bhutan’s tour­ism sec­tor. It is sup­por­ted by Asso­ci­ation of Bhu­tanese Tour Oper­at­ors (ABTO), the Hotel and Res­taur­ant Asso­ci­ation of Bhutan (HRAB), ASR, ECEAT and Trav­elife, fin­anced through SWITCH-Asia

Includ­ing the whole value chain — tour oper­at­ors, hotels, res­taur­ants, guides, and trans­port­a­tion — SUSTOUR Bhutan has intro­duced inter­na­tion­al stand­ards of awards and cer­ti­fic­a­tion as well as developed low-car­bon and car­bon-neut­ral tour­ism pack­ages with strong inter­na­tion­al mar­ket appeal.

The SUSTOUR Bhutan project’s aim is to con­trib­ute to sus­tain­able, inclus­ive, and resi­li­ent tour­ism devel­op­ment in Bhutan. The pro­ject sup­ports Bhutan’s trans­form­a­tion towards a green eco­nomy by enhan­cing the sus­tain­ab­il­ity and com­pet­it­ive­ness of tour­ism as a key sec­tor. Some 100 hotels have been trained to go green. Around 200 of their sup­pli­ers are being trained as well. Besides the hotels, almost 100 tour oper­at­ors are trained to become greener.

Now in its fourth year of pro­ject imple­ment­a­tion, SUSTOUR Bhutan’s cur­rent focus is on fur­ther strength­en­ing stake­hold­ers at nation­al, des­tin­a­tion, and indi­vidu­al enter­prise level, and rolling out new sus­tain­able and low-car­bon products to market. 

This is where Bhutan’s pres­ence at ITB Ber­lin 2024 plays its part. Book a meet­ing with the Bhutan team at ITB Ber­lin 2024: switchasia.travelife.info/book-bhutan/

Learn more

Learn more from the 2024 “Bhutan Believe” sus­tain­able tour bro­chure (PDF).

Con­tents ^