{"id":14140,"date":"2019-02-11T10:58:43","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T10:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/?p=14140"},"modified":"2020-12-22T15:11:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T15:11:38","slug":"is-bhutan-the-worlds-most-expensive-travel-destination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.experiencetravelgroup.com\/blog\/is-bhutan-the-worlds-most-expensive-travel-destination\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Bhutan the world\u2019s most expensive travel destination?"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/12″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”10\/12″][vc_column_text]\u201cBut Bhutan costs a fortune, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d my friend Emma remarked when I told\u00a0her I was going to Bhutan late last year to scope it out as the latest exciting addition to ETG\u2019s growing portfolio of specialist destinations.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Sunset<\/p>\n

She wasn\u2019t the only one. It seemed that people I spoke to knew two things about Bhutan: that it was a country which measured its \u2018gross National Happiness’ instead of its GDP and that it was an expensive travel destination to visit.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly not somewhere you can go \u201con a shoestring\u201d, to use the title of my 90\u2019s Lonely Planet backpacking bible. That much is certain. You cannot travel independently in Bhutan; it\u2019s just not permitted (hence Lonely Planet never wrote Bhutan On A Shoestring!). All travel must be with a guide and driver who you will need to book via a tour operator, such as Experience Travel Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is a minimum spend of $250 per person, per day, which reduces to $200 in the winter months. This minimum spend is often misinterpreted as a daily fee on top of everything else, but in fact, it goes towards your visas, licensed guide, driver, accommodation, government taxes and so on. Put simply, in Bhutan they\u2019ve put a price on what it’s worth to have us in their country and they\u2019ve decided how many of us lot they want. It’s both clever and simple when you think about it and perhaps a model that other \u201cover-touristed\u201d destinations could learn from.<\/p>\n

\"Have<\/a><\/span>