Fee Enterprise

Couched below a picture of the Himalayan blue poppy, the national flower, the inscription on a pamphlet by the Tourism Council of Bhutan reads, “Happiness is a place.” Often dubbed “the last Shangri-La”—after the fictional place described in James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Hori zon—Bhutan markets itself as a “high-end” and “exclusive” tourism destination. The country’s tourism policy is guided by Gross National Happiness, a multidimensional strategy of development pioneered by Bhutan’s fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, that propagates the idea that human development goes beyond economic growth and involves social, environmental, cultural, and governance dimensions.

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