Controlled Growth in Bhutan

Since it cautiously opened its borders 13 to foreign visitors in 1974, following the coronation of HM King Jigme Singhe Wangchuk, Bhutan has been earning about U$2 million a year from the tourist trade. Early in 1988, the Bhutanese Government virtually closed its borders and recalled its tourist promotion agents based abroad. Bhutan's Director of Tourism Jigme Tshultim told a group of North American travel agents then that restrictions against foreign visitors were adopted because tourism was under-mining "the Buddhist faith".

That decision had been based on the recommendations of a special committee for cultural affairs which analysed the effects of tourism on the local society. The report, submitted to the Bhutanese Parliament, described how cultural values had been severely affected by tourism. "Tourism is harmful to the holy nature of our Buddhist monasteries, contributes to the desecration of the country's holy places and corrupts the population," it pointed out.