ABSTRACT
According to the Bhutan Tourism Monitor (2013), 72 per cent of surveyed tourists in Bhutan reported cultural activities as a major motivation to visit that country, and the following year, over four-fi fths of international tourists (86.34 per cent) visited Bhutan for cultural sightseeing (Bhutan Tourism Monitor 2014). Attending religious festivals is one of the most popular cultural activities among foreign tourists. In 2013, 44,252 tourists visited Bhutan, and the Bhutanese government has announced that it aims to increase the number of annual tourist arrivals to 200,000 by 2018. The attributes of happiness , spirituality and cultural authenticity are prominent in Bhutan’s tourism image, and are perhaps most clearly exhibited in the traditional festivals that draw many foreign tourists as spectators.
