I mentioned that Palau’s Whipps had also identified a country, the Maldives, whose tourism development he views as anathema to what he hopes for his nation. I asked Tobgay if he, likewise, could identify destinations he saw as inspirational and ones that epitomize what he hopes to avoid.
He began with a philosophical prelude. “The importance of tourism is that it’s a connector of people, countries and cultures. Businesses can’t do that, yet tourism is largely driven by market forces and commercial interests,” he said. “Businesses are trying to convince you to consume all the time and therefore risk losing that connection. The important thing is to connect to people; it’s what Anthony Bourdain did. The world has always benefited from, and desperately needs, more connections between people, cultures and lands.
“Where has tourism gone right? Where has it gone wrong? It’s straightforward: You look at where connections happen and where they don’t,” he continued. “Show me a place where local residents don’t want tourists, and I’ll show you a place where tourism is failing. It could be that Venetians are unhappy because their city is overcrowded. It could be the native people in Australia don’t want people climbing Uluru. If the indigenous people, the residents, don’t want to welcome tourists, you might want to rethink your policy.
“On the other hand, show me where tourists are not regarded as burdens and intruders but are received as guests, with open hearts and open minds by the local community, and I’ll show you a place where tourism is succeeding.”
Were there specific practices that might foster both the positive and negative outcomes he described?
“We naturally want to welcome guests. If my home can accommodate only five people, I may be delighted to squeeze in eight, but if you give me 50, I will not have a home.”
It is not, he said, simply a matter of what in the travel industry is known as “carrying capacity.” More important, he said, is “welcoming capacity.”
“If you are operating beyond your welcoming capacity, whether it’s infrastructure or something to do with resident’s social habits, you’re not going to be able to connect. Hosts won’t be happy, and tourists are not going to achieve what they seek.”
Tobgay pegs Bhutan’s “welcoming capacity” at 300,000 annually. “Today we’re operating at about 160,000 to 170,000. When we reach 300,000, we will need to have a discussion: Can we really accommodate more? If so, we might increase the numbers. If not, we can control the numbers by raising the Sustainable Development Fee, which goes to protecting our environment, free education and free healthcare.”
It’s interesting to me that two leaders of small countries that are considered “developing” — Bhutan’s GDP ranks 172 and Palau’s 208 among world economies — are more tuned into the human benefits and natural protection of their countries than more economically powerful countries, which tend to focus on visitation numbers and economic lift. Marketers for developed countries tout the human connection, but these small countries focus on delivering it.
