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Bhutan Tourism |
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Bhutan Information |
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Trashigang:
More tourists
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| Tourists in Trashigang |
| Western
tourists with expensive cameras hanging around the neck are becoming a
common sight in Trashigang town at this time of the year.
"Except
for few government guests, tourists were hardly seen in Trashigang for many years," said Pema, a local businessman. "Not anymore now."
Tshering,
a corporate employee, said the number of tourists were unusually more this
year even though the festivals in the dzongkhag were yet to start. |
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Tourist
groups began arriving in Trashigang in September 2006. So far more than
35 groups totalling to about 250 tourists have visited the dzongkhag.
Tourists
said the unusual landscape of Trashigang, the outstanding dzong structure,
and the traditional handicraft centres were attractions. 'We purposely
came to see the place so that we could see the whole of Bhutan,' said a
German tourist Georg Vierheller. 'The scenery is different from other places
and it is very picturesque.'
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tourists took a day long excursion to nearby places like Trashiyangtse and Khaling and returned to Trashigang town in the evening. Some
tourists were on their way to the Guwahati airport in Assam, India, and
were halting in the town for the night.
The
increasing number of tourists has meant accommodation problems in Trashigang
town. The only hotel in the town that meets the standards to house tourists
is booked most of the time. |
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According
to the proprietor, Kinga, reservations were made by travel agents two months
in advance. The 20 rooms of the hotel are rented out for Nu. 1,500 to Nu.
1,800 a night.
Recently,
a government guesthouse was leased to a private operator and this added
12 more rooms for tourists.
Kinga
said that tour operators preferred to send their guests in small groups
to avoid the accommodation crunch. While a majority stayed in Trashigang
for a day or two, few groups have stayed for almost a week.
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Trashigang town |
| Kinga,
who also runs the government guesthouse, has received advance bookings
from more than 30 tour operators for the Trashigang tshechu in November
2006.
He
said that arrangements had been made for the tourists to stay in some of
the farmhouses in Pam, about five kilometres from proper Trashigang town,
and to camp out. |
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Trashigang
dzongda Minjur Dorji said that improved infrastructure including good hotels
along the lateral highway in Bumthang and Mongar was one of the reasons
for the increasing number of tourists visiting Trashigang.
"But
Trashigang needs suitable accommodation to draw tourists and we lack that,"
he said. He said that the dzongkhag was on the look out for good places
to build hotels. "It is one of the oldest towns in the country yet it is
very sad that we do not have good hotels here," he said, adding that this
had deprived the town of opportunities to host income generating schemes.
Dzongda
Minjur Dorji said that security issues in the past had affected tourism
in the east.
| Contributed
by Kesang Dema, KUENSEL, Bhutan's National Newspaper, 2006 |
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