Explore the Beauty and Peace of Bhutan with ‘MyBhutan’
What are some of the foreign locations that come into your mind when you look for peace and serenity? Among a whole lot of locations, Bhutan would have also topped the list. In last several years, Bhutan has been doing everything requisite to introduce and showcase the world its beauty and heavenly ambience. Today we will talk about a travel service which has been working towards boosting the tourism sector in Bhutan. We are talking about none other than MyBhutan itself.
MyBhutan was founded by His Royal Highness Prince JigyelUgyenWangchuck and Matthew DeSantis in 2013 with the interest to allow for guests to explore deeper into Bhutan while also supportingsome of Bhutan’s most importantnonprofit initiatives. They are boutique in nature and take pride in delivering comfort blended with extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime journeys through one of the world’s most remote and unexplored countries.
Talking about the forte of the company, ever since the industry privatized in 1991, the majority of all Bhutan travel has circulated around the same general route and program. In a country so unique in culture, diverse in environment, profound in ancient wisdom and healthy in livelihood, it seemed misguiding not to curate new experiences that allow for the guests to access Bhutan’s people and place beyond the industry norm. This is a pioneering approach for the Bhutan tourism industry.
The founders of the MyBhutan know that Bhutan is a trip of a lifetime; even for the most experienced traveler. Considering this, their team — based in the capital city of Bhutan and the United States — meticulously designs every detail of every experience and pushes the boundaries beyond ordinary travel so that the guests leave Bhutan with the satisfaction of their trip having been as unique as they are.
The provider of high end experience
Talking about the goal of the company, apart from specializing in providing the highest end experiences in the Kingdom, MyBhutan launched a program during Q4 of 2019 which they hope will set a new industry standard for collectively protecting Bhutan’s environment. MyBhutan made the commitment to become Bhutan’s first plastic-free travel operation and fully green trekking service. They are now developing a model with foreign parties who have similar interests so that they could extend this program beyond MyBhutan and to other Bhutanese tour operators. They are also emphasizing upon healthy public relations, strong team coordination and zero tolerance towards both disposable plastics and trekking practices that harm the environment.
To carve a niche in the domain, they spent a lot of time composing their team. Since their values are so important to them, it was necessary to find environmentally concerned and socially conscious team members. Not only did they set the highest recruiting standards in the industry for their team members to be experts in tourism, but each person had to be a leader.
You may recognize some names on their executive team. Their CEO Matthew DeSantis (one of Bhutan’s longest residing foreigners) and Director of Operations ChechayNidup work alongside each other. Together, they organize and manage the company’s daily operations and services. Eric Wilson is their CMO, Brian Partridge is their CTO, Milton Glaser is their Design Director and Bethany Betzler is their Partnerships Director. Their technology team is based in the United States, Bhutan and India. Their sales, customer support, and service teams are based in Bhutan. Their media department is a blend of both local and foreign team members.
“Aside from being proud that I get to work with such an eclectic group of people, I am most proud that MyBhutan has developed a community-minded arm of its business that invests in projects for the greater benefit of the nation”, asserts Chechay. In addition to supporting nonprofit organizations, MyBhutanhas created various wildlife protection projects and is a key contributor to a private initiative led by the Central Monastic Body to preserve the country’s tangible history for generations to come.
See the unseen and hear the unheard
Before even welcoming their first guest, MyBhutan spent years meeting with government officials, religious leaders, rangers, village headsmen and families all throughout Bhutan in order to create experiences that had never before been developed in Bhutan. Their mission was to travel the length and breadth of Bhutan in a bid to see the unseenand hear the unheard. This approach conditioned them to have the most unparalleled network, deepest knowledge base, and most extensive collection of content in the industry.
Talking about the competitive advantage of the company, their access to Bhutan’s people and place is unprecedented.
Chechay gives credit to her team for helping her become a leader. Her service team comprises the industry’s most talented guides and drivers. Their sales and customer support teams are super attentive to detail and very responsive to their guests. Their technology team is innovative, flexible and intelligent. She finds her inspiration from His Majesty the Fourth King of BhutanJigmeSingyeWangchuck. “I grew up admiring His Majesty’s far-sighted vision and his interest to measure Bhutanese wealth through happiness (the Gross National Happiness policy)”, she says.
As far as decision making is concerned, most of the company decisions are made collectively. However, in order for these collective decisions to be successful, it is important that the people making them are thoughtful individuals. So, team recruiting is one of the most important decisions that she takes herself since it is the root to many of their other decisions!
In comparison to other Bhutanese companies, MyBhutan likely has Bhutan’s most progressive, modernized and technology-driven work environment.’They also invest in human capital development; enhancing team members’ skill sets or helping them to acquire new ones. “We believe that our company experiences higher productivity and greater creativity when team members have the freedom to explore new projects on their own. With this freedom, however, we expect high performance. I believe our performance expectations are some of the highest in Bhutan”, says Chechay.
Bhutan has managed to preserve its unique culture and traditions and conserve its pristine environment thanks to the nation having remained in absolute isolation until recently. A journey to Bhutan is a life-changing experience. People leave this last Shangri-La with a clearer sense of understanding of both themselves and their surroundings.
MyBhutan is leading Bhutan tourism into a higher quality generation of exploration through their beautiful nation; and it takes leaders like ChechayNidupto make this possible.
