This kingdom is steeped in history, but our gaze is fixed on the future. The future requires us to protect and preserve our heritage but also to forge new pathways leading forthcoming generations to fresh possibilities. This is our moment of evolution; a moment devoted to ensuring that the opportunities our young people seek are found, and realised, here. Our ancestors gave us roots. Now, we help our descendants take wing.

We, the Bhutanese people, take seriously our responsibilities to each other and to our environment. From our reopening on September 23, 2022, we ask each visitor to Bhutan to make an active and meaningful contribution to our kingdom’s preservation and progress.

The Sustainable Development Fee (SDF) enables investment in transformative programmes that sustain our cultural traditions, protect our environment, upgrade infrastructure, and build our resilience. Critically, it supports the creation of training, mentorships and further education that will create long-term opportunities for our young people. Your contribution is not only a critical investment, it is a gesture of belief in our ambitions and our capacity to achieve them. We like to believe that the SDF will create additional value to guests who come to Bhutan, rather than an additional cost. Another way of looking at the SDF is a ‘pay it forward’ concept, whereby you will ensure that the future visitors to Bhutan will get an as good, or even better experience.

Responsibility, transparency, dependability and trust are at the core of who we are, and of our partnership with our visitors. As we build our nation, we strive to be accountable in our dealings and provide clarity on how the SDF will be used.  

We use the SDF responsibly.

Article 14 of our constitution mandates that all taxes, fees and levies, which include the SDF, are deposited into a Consolidated Account. By law, funds from this general account must cover government recurrent expenditure, to ensure the stability and reliability of government operations. Residual revenue from this account is allocated to specific developmental activities, including building schools, providing free healthcare, skilling youth, maintaining forests and wildlife, providing fresh drinking water sources, renovating historical Dzongs, and other initiatives..

In short, funds from this consolidated general account, including SDF contributions, finance:

• recurrent expenditures, which includes salaries and interest payment on loans, to maintain stable and operational government services for the Bhutanese people;
• development projects selected by the government and outlined in Bhutan’s Twelfth Five Year Plan: 2018-2023 issued by The Royal Government of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Commission.