The Department of Tourism, under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Employment, has launched Tashel Melong, an annual tourism snapshot designed to assess, reflect, reinvent, and reimagine tourism. The publication aims to share insights on the sector’s performance and highlight strategic activities undertaken by the Ministry, the Department, and industry partners to develop Bhutan into a high-value, regenerative tourism destination.
Tashel Melong—with Tashel meaning tourism and Melong meaning mirror—serves as a mirror for Bhutan’s tourism sector, reflecting achievements, challenges, and opportunities. It allows our partners to pause, assess, and make informed decisions that drive improvement, innovation, and sustainable growth. It is intended to support evidence-based, data-driven decisions for both public and private partners in tourism.
The snapshot is closely aligned with Bhutan’s national development priorities, especially the 21st Century Economic Roadmap, Bhutan Integrated Tourism Masterplan 2025–2034, and the Industrial Development Roadmap. These strategic guiding documents recognize tourism as a core economic driver, with a long-term goal of contributing 10–15% to the national GDP by 2050, while ensuring alignment with the principles of Gross National Happiness (GNH). Tashel Melong 2025 demonstrates how interventions over the year reflect these priorities and shape Bhutan’s tourism trajectory.
The report highlights a strong recovery and sustained growth in 2025, with 209,376 tourists visiting Bhutan—a 44.33% increase over the previous year. Notably, visitors from Countries Other Than India (COTI) accounted for about 40% of arrivals, which was only 27% in 2019. Most countries across the globe saw an average of 4-12% growth in international tourist arrivals, making Bhutan’s tourist arrivals growth of 44.33% in 2025 one of the highest, significantly exceeding the typical international growth range. This positions Bhutan not only as a fast-recovering tourism destination but also as one of the standout performers globally in terms of year-on-year arrival growth in 2025.
Tourism revenue from Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) collections reached USD 43.31 million (Nu. 3.95 billion), a 49.1% increase from 2024. Tashel Melong 2025 offers a concise overview of arrivals, revenue, market trends, promotional efforts, service standards, and product development initiatives. It also highlights extensive marketing and digital outreach, enhancing Bhutan’s international visibility, alongside focused efforts to strengthen professionalism, compliance, and capacity building across the tourism value chain.
The publication showcases new events, attractions, amenities, and sustainability initiatives that promote year-round, regionally balanced, and regenerative tourism. Additionally, several digital and institutional platforms—including the Tourist Registration System, Tashel ZoomDu, Tourism Ideation Forum, Monthly Tourism Bulletin of Bhutan, dedicated social media channels, and the Tourism Services Portal—have been introduced or strengthened to improve coordination, engagement, co-creation, and information sharing with industry partners.
“Tashel Melong is intended to be both a mirror and a compass for Bhutan’s tourism sector, and it is a reflection of the hard work of the tourism industry” said the Director of the Department of Tourism. “It allows us to assess our collective efforts and reflect on what has worked, and reimagine how we move forward together. The 2025 snapshot shows strong recovery and encouraging diversification, while reinforcing our commitment to evidence-based, regenerative tourism that delivers long-term value for communities, the economy, our cultural and natural heritage, and Bhutan.”
