The government announced yesterday the creation of an autonomous agency to take the lead role in managing and developing the tourism industry in the country.

To be called the National Tourism Board, it will function as an intergovernmental agency with its broad policy guidelines directed by the government. NTB will receive block grants from the government based on the formula that will take into account the contribution of the tourism sector to the national exchequer, according to the announcement.

A government executive order, to be issued next week, will formalize the establishment of the NTB and the existing department of tourism (DoT) will be reconstituted in accordance with NTB’s new structure.

The positions and staff of the DoT will not be transferred automatically to the NTB and all transfers and appointments to the NTB will be determined by the board of directors and managing director.

The NTB board will be headed by the prime minister as the chairman, a government secretary as the vice chairman, with the managing director of Druk Air, secretary of the GNH commission, head of Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators (ABTO), directors of the dratshang lhentshog, forestry department, bilateral department and one representative of the dzongdas as its members. The managing director of the NTB, who will function as the member secretary, will be appointed from the civil service on secondment.

At a press conference yesterday afternoon in Thimphu, prime minister lyonpo Kinzang Dorji said that the NTB was formed in keeping with the vision of His Majesty the King towards developing a dynamic economy as the foundation for vibrant democracy.

“NTB was created to maintain the “uniqueness and exclusivity” of touring Bhutan to both international and regional clientele and to have an autonomous agency to manage and develop the tourism industry,” he said.

It will institute a multi-sectoral approach to cooperation and collaboration to optimize revenue generation from the tourism sector and its benefits for fuelling the broader socio-economic development process in the country, he added.

Asked if new infrastructure would be built soon, the prime minister said that the board will accord priority to infrastructure development and take up the construction of the Gelephu International Airport in the 10 Five Year Plan. “The government will give importance to tourism to generate foreign exchange, develop the economy, and generate employment,” he said.

The DoT’s director general, Lhatu Wangchuk, said that about 100,000 jobs would be created in the sector in the 10th Plan, a bulk of which will be from the hotel industry.

Lhatu Wangchuk said that the department had proposed and supported the creation of NTB because the tourism department needed more flexibility to move forward. “The department cannot progress if it is bound by rules like other governments departments,” he said.

The director general said that except for ABTO there was no one on the NTB’s board who understood the tourism industry. “We have many people who have worked with the department for years and have tremendous knowledge of the industry and issues facing it,” said Lhatu Wangchuk. “Perhaps the government should think of appointing some of these people among the board members.” Source: Kuenselonline