Bhutan’s governing philosophy of “Gross National Happiness” has been heralded the world over for balancing economic growth with the well-being of its residents.
But recent discussions of “Gross National Happiness 2.0” by its newly elected Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay suggest that change on some level is underway because the country struggles with an economic crisis that is left it — as Tobgay has said— “teetering on the point of collapse.”
GNH, because it’s known, has been the tenet of Bhutan because it was introduced by the previous king Jigme Singye Wangchuck within the early Nineteen Seventies.
But with youth unemployment rates of nearly 30% and about one in eight people living in poverty, has Bhutan reached some extent where its quest for national happiness must change?
“Yes and no,” Tobgay told CNBC in an interview on May 10. “Yes, because we have to grow our economy.”
However the tenets of GNH is not going to be abandoned, he added.
“Should we throw caution to the wind? No. We are able to grow, and we are able to grow in a fashion that’s balanced.”
Finding a recent equilibrium
Bhutan will proceed to strengthen its economy in ways which might be sustainable, equitable and “balanced with social progress, environmental protection, cultural protection and good governance,” he said.
“In these areas we have now succeeded, like no person could have imagined,” he said.
Seen from the successes of the social progress area, we have now failed economically.”
Tshering Tobgay
Prime minister of Bhutan
But he also signaled that the principle applied up to now can have been too one-sided.
“We have been extremely cautious, very conservative, so we have now lagged,” he said. “Checked out a method we have now not likely failed. But seen from the successes of the social progress area, we have now failed economically.”
Tobgay also said that Bhutan has been similarly guarded in its approach to tourism.
“We have been extremely cautious in how we have now opened ourselves to the remainder of the world so far as tourism is anxious,” Tobgay told CNBC. “We have been very conservative, very cautious.”
If Bhutan erred, it was on the side of sustainability and conservation, he added.
“We’re paying for caution straight away.”
Doubling down on sustainable tourism
Bhutan’s tourism industry is recovering slower than other countries in Asia. In 2023, international arrivals within the country were a 3rd of 2019 levels.
The country has modified its controversial “Sustainable Development Fee” thrice because it reopened in September of 2022 — first increasing it to $200 per adult per day, then lowering it twice.
Those changes created “a number of confusion,” said Tobgay. “At the same time as we speak, tourism is now starting to select up, but to not pre-pandemic levels.”
Yet despite the economic windfall that mass tourism can bring, Bhutan isn’t retreating from its “high value, low volume” approach to tourism, Tobgay told CNBC.
Today, its Sustainable Development Fee is $100 per adult per day, but Tobgay said, “Truth be told, I believe $200 per day as a sustainable development fee many tourists are willing to pay.”
He said Bhutan continues to be focused on increasing tourism “while at the identical time controlling the numbers.”
The country’s burgeoning tourism industry is one avenue to “generate the sort of jobs that our able, our very capable youth aspire for,” he said.
1000’s of young Bhutanese employees have left the country in the hunt for employment opportunities abroad, in accordance with Reuters. Within the 11 months preceding May 2023, some 1.5% of Bhutan’s population moved to Australia alone for jobs and skills training, the report said.
“We hope that that is a brief development … and can give us time to strengthen our economy, through tourism, but through other interventions as well,” said Tobgay. “Then our kids will remain here, those that are working outside, who would have gained precious experience, would return back home.”
