Tshewang Palden

Bhutan “happiness is a place” –An investigation to Explore the Relationship between the Happiness concept of the Bhutanese people and the value the concept adds to a Dutch visitor.

DISSERTATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is wholly the work of Tshewang Palden. Any other contribution or sources have either been referenced in the prescribed manner or are listed in the acknowledgements together with the nature and scope of their contribution.

Tshewang Palden Student at the NHTV University of Applied Sciences Master Program –Tourism Destination Management

December 2011

Tshewang Palden

Preface

We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have." - Frederick Keonig

Apart from it being mandatory to write a dissertation in order to attain a master degree in Tourism Destination Management, it was the experience of living a life in the Netherlands for the last 15 months, mingling and being apart of the Dutch community, and coming from Bhutan –the land of Gross National Happiness, all which cumulated to push the researcher to investigate -“what is happiness”.

Even though, happiness still is vague and subjective topic and there would never be an end to studies and research, yet the researcher took a step forward to investigate and explore how the happiness factor would relate to tourism and in which way it would be beneficial to both the communities–the Bhutanese and the Dutch.

With Bhutan having, launched the latest brand campaign, Bhutan “ Happiness is a place” since March this year and also taking into account that the Dutch visitor to Bhutan is comparatively less in comparison to the other European nationalities, thus the idea dawned as to make an investigation to explore: what is it about the Bhutanese people that makes Bhutan as a place of happiness and would it be of value to a Dutch visitor.

Execution and carrying out this research was never easy, but nevertheless the journey has now come to the end and I would like to thank the people who were involved in making this vague and subjective topic of happiness into something that I would like to now call tangible in form of the “values”.

Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Carin Rustema, for being who you are -always having time, good listener and making this dream into a reality. The staff and lecturers at NHTV University of Applied Sciences with a special thank you to Mr. Jos van der Sterren for believing in me.

Secondly, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the all the people that were involved from the Tourism Council of Bhutan, Gross National Happiness Commission, Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators, Hotel Association of Bhutan, Local travel agents in Bhutan and Netherlands, SNV Bhutan , Friends of Bhutan for having supported me in the data collection during the field work.

Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family for all their trust and confidence in me.

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Executive Summary Why Branding of Happiness?

• Bhutan is considered as a high-end destination with the policy of “high value, low impact/volume ” .It seeks to find a simple and common theme or a message, which would differentiate it from the other destination. A promise of a memorable experience and a land where happiness being is a natural point, thus leading to branding of happiness.

• The tourism industry in Bhutan is by far the largest generator of foreign exchange revenue. This new brand campaign intends to reach out to a niche market segment of tourism and increase the tourism numbers from the current 40,000 per annum to a target of 100,000 tourists by the end of 2012.

• Major visitors are from North America and Europe including Dutch visitors. Dutch holiday market is expected to grow in the long term and increase from 81% in 2007 to 84% in 2015.The frequency of travel is also expected to increase and in total the forecast is expected to be 40 million by 2015 with a growth rate of 1.5% per year. Therefore it is necessary to find out if the brand campaign can capture the potential Dutch market and make it one of the major source markets.

• The Dutch preference of a holiday is being able to experience something that is “authentic and unique“. Bhutan offers “happiness” as authentic unique experiences for any visitor.

The Research Goal is;

To Explore the Relationship between the Happiness concept of the Bhutanese people and the value the concept adds to a Dutch visitor?

In order to achieve the research goal, the following research questions need to be answered:

1.Why “Branding of Happiness” in Bhutan?

2.What are the factors that make Bhutan "a place of happiness”?

3.How does the happiness of the Bhutanese people contribute to the overall happiness of the country that qualifies Bhutan as a “Happiness is a place”?

4.How important is the Happiness of the Bhutanese in adding value to Dutch visitors.

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Research Findings and Analysis:

• Happiness is subjective, vague and a board concept.

• Happiness for Bhutanese is largely influenced by the concept of the Gross National Happiness (GNH) philosophy and the Buddhist religion that is more of emotional experiences.

• Happiness, for Dutch people, is triggered more by realistic and practical aspects.

• Happiness for a Bhutanese is a psychological well being, and happiness for the Dutch is a subjective well being.

• Similarities, found between Dutch and Bhutanese was associated with the meaning of happiness.

Conclusion

The happiness of the Bhutanese people may be an attraction for a Dutch visitor to a certain extent. However, these values derived from culture and tradition etc is similar across other neighboring countries. Hence a greater effort is required for Bhutan to differentiate itself as a destination of a truly authentic and unique experience. And in order for this to happen, the Bhutanese tourism board and others stakeholders involved must be aware of the differences in perception of happiness between the Bhutanese and the visitors and appreciate them. The need to genuinely happy and share the emotional and the cultural values that instill happiness in the Bhutanese must be explained and also ensuring how this experiences can be of value from a different cultural context.

In respect to the Dutch it is also equally important to realize the differences in the perception and acknowledge that sharing their expectations and experiences on happiness in Bhutan would encourage the Bhutanese to value what they have or do not have and reinforce this unique concept of Gross National Happiness.

III

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Table of Content Preface...... I Executive Summary...... II 1. INTRODUCTION...... 1 1.1 Why destination branding? ...... 1 1.2 Why Branding of Bhutan?...... 2 1.3 Why Bhutan “is a place of happiness ”...... 4 1.4 Relevance and contribution of this research...... 5 1.5 Research goal and questions ...... 6 1.6 Research structure ...... 7 2. DESTINATION BRANDING ...... 8 2.1 Definition...... 8 2.2 What is Happiness? ...... 12 2.3 Gross National Happiness: Its role and significance in Branding of Happiness ...... 19 2.4 Bhutan Happiness Ranking ...... 26 2.5 Conclusion ...... 28 3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLGY ...... 29 3.1 Data collection...... 29 3.2 Secondary Research...... 29 3.3 Primary Research...... 29 3.4 Interviews ...... 29 3.5 Questionnaires ...... 30 3.6 Sampling ...... 31 3.7 Themes used for the analysis ...... 33 4. RESULT ANALYSIS ...... 34 4.1. Cluster One Findings- Bhutanese Business Perspective ...... 34 4.2 Cluster Two Findings -Bhutanese Local Perspective...... 39 4.3 Cluster Three Findings-Dutch Local Perspective and Dutch Visitors to Bhutan...... 42 4.4 Similarities and Differences between the three clusters...... 54 5.CONCLUSION...... 61 6.RECOMMENDATIONS...... 64 7.DISCUSSION ...... 66 7.1 Limitations ...... 66 7.2 Reflections and contribution of this study ...... 66 7.3 Suggestions for further research ...... 67 8. REFERENCES ...... 68 9. APPENDICES ...... 77

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List of Appendices ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Appendix A Bhutanese Business Perspective 77 Appendix B Understanding of Happiness –Bhutanese Local Perspective 78 Appendix C Understanding of Happiness –Dutch Local Perspective 80 Appendix D Questionnaire for Dutch Visitors to Bhutan 81 Appendix E Recommendation Letter from Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators 84 Appendix F Recommendation Letter from Hotel Association of Bhutan 85

List of Figures

Figure 1 Visitor Arrivals to Bhutan (2001-2010) 3 Figure 2 Major International Source Markets. 3 Figure 3 Type of Visitor Arrivals to Bhutan 3 Figure 4 Factors impacting on the power of a destination brand 8 Figure 5 Destination image and destination branding 12 Figure 6 Framework for destination branding 12 Figure 7 Affective/Hedonic theory of how happiness is assessed 13 Figure 8 Cognitive theory of happiness is assessed -Multiple discrepancies theory 13 Figure 9 Input, needs and end of human societies 14 Figure 10 “Three levels of happiness 16 Figure 11 Four Qualities of Life 18 Figure 12 Four Pillars of Gross National Happiness 20 Figure 13 Nine Domains of Gross National Happiness 21 Figure 14 Well being of the UK studies 24 Figure 15 Ogilvy Butterfly (The first step) 25 Figure 16 Maslow Pyramid VS Tourism Triggers 26 Figure 17 HDI Values for Bhutan 28 Figure 18 The concept of sampling 32 Figure 19 The three types of clusters used for the analysis. 33 Figure 20 Themes used for to analyze the data. 34 Figure 21 Cluster 1-Bhutanese Business Perspective 35 Figure 22 Themes used for the analysis 35 Figure 23 The meaning of happiness from a Business Bhutanese Perspective 37 Figure 24 Key words to describe the satisfaction with life 38 Figure 25 Key words to describe the Bhutanese people 39 Figure 26 Cluster 2 Bhutanese Local Perspective 40 Figure 27 The Meaning of Happiness from Bhutanese Local Perspective 41 Figure 28 Satisfaction of Life from Bhutanese Local Perspective 41 Figure 29 Cluster 3- Dutch Local Perspective and Dutch Visitors to Bhutan 42 Figure 30 Expectations from Bhutan 42 Figure 31 The Meaning of Happiness from a Dutch Local Perspective 43 Figure 32 Satisfaction of Life -Dutch Local Perspective 44 Figure 33 What made you happy while you were in Bhutan. Dutch visitor to Bhutan 48 Figure 34 Which among the following made you happy while you were in Bhutan. 48 Dutch visitor to Bhutan Figure 35 Satisfaction of Life Dutch visitor to Bhutan 50

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Figure 36 Key words to describe the Bhutanese People 50 Figure 37 Dutch Visitor Agreement on Bhutan people being happy 51 Figure 38 Aspects that gave Upmost satisfaction to a Dutch visitor in Bhutan 52 Figure 39 Will Dutch Respondents go back to Bhutan 53

List of Tables

Table 1 Definition of Brand(s) 9 Table 2 Studies in relation to “happiness” 15 Table 3 List of interviewees in Bhutan 30

List of Abbreviations ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

BIT Bertlesmann Transformation Index BTM Bhutan Tourism Monitor CBS Central Statistical Bureau EDP Economic Development Policy EU European Union GNH Gross National Happiness GDP Gross Domestic Product HDI Human Development Index HPI Happy Planet Index ITTR International Travel and Tourism Research Association LCDs Least Developed Countries MDGs Millennium Development Goals Nef New Economic Foundation NSB National Statistical Bureau RGOB Royal Government of Bhutan SNV The Netherlands Development Organization UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Program UNWTO World Tourism Organization

Tshewang Palden

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Why destination branding?

Global tourism has seen a rise in the number of tourist arrivals since the last ten years, despite the challenges faced in 2008 & 2009 due to the global financial crises and the natural disasters experienced in 2010. Worldwide the international tourist arrivals, have reached 940 million in 2010, a rise of 7% over that of the previous year, with Asia (+13%) making it the first region to recover and the strongest growing region in 2010,while Europe was the slowest to recover (+3 %). Despite theses downfalls across the globe, the international tourism in 2010 earned 693 billion Euros, an increase of 82 billion Euros since 2009 where the earnings were 611 billion Euros. (UNWTO, 2011).

The increasing number of tourist visiting destinations has been a subject of focus for decades, with a shift towards evaluation and analysis of destination image that brings out the relationship between the destination image and preference or visitation intentions (Hunt 1975;Mayo 1973;Goodrich 1978;Scoot,Schewe,Frederick 1978; Milman and Pizam 1995). Destination marketing organizations and tourism offices across the globe have stressed finding newer ways to market their destination with marketing strategies, branding and packages that would cater to the tourist choice. According to UNWTO World Tourism Barometer 2011, over half of the international travelers in 2010 were found to be the ones engaged in traveling leisure, recreation and holidays.

Destination can lure tourist depending on many factor like image, attractions, accessibility, cost factor, reviews, word of mouth but however there is a need to be able to communicate the right message and image to the tourist as the traveler is likely to choose the destination with the most favorable image (Gartner, 1989). Branding has its history way back since the 19th century but, it is only from the 20th century it has been a “hot topic” in the travel and tourism research association annual conference and now has made it to the creation of the Journal of Brand Management with authors like D.Aaker, Fenichekk, Gertner, Kotler, Morgan, Pritchard, Pride, and Piggot,(2002). Branding is the single most important objective of marketing today and “is the glue that holds the broad range of marketing functions together” (Ries and Ries 1998) .

Branding is a critical success factor in the development of effective tourism strategies and plans (Baker and Cameron, 2008); and the need to market a destination has been well established as one of the essential management components required to ensure a competitive tourism destination (Crouch & Ritchie, 1999; Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). Therefore it is crucial for the destination, to be able to brand their image in the manner that is well received by the tourist. Destination branding evokes a traveler and represents the destination in the travelers mind and gives him or her a pre-taste of that destination (Fakeye and Crompton, 1991); and thus instilling the desire to choosing the destination. And therefore, the more favorable the image of the destination, the greater likelihood of choice (Goodrich,1978). Tourism research has shown that destination image is a key construct in the destination selection process (Baloglu & McCleary, 1999; Rittchainuwat, Qu, & Brown, 2001; Sönmez & Sirakaya, 2002).

Today, we are witness to the growing number of emerging tourist destinations with diverse offerings, striving to carve out a share of the tourism market. To improve the market position of a tourist destination, efforts must be made to develop the destination’s brand (Cetinski , Peric, Jurdana, 2006) .

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1.2 Why Branding of Bhutan?

There are several reasons why Branding of Bhutan was selected as an investigation for this paper and the reasons being: Firstly, while Bhutan was considered as a high end destination with the policy of “high value, low impact/volume ” (TCB 2011) and has been long associated with various names and taglines since it opened its doors to tourism in the 1970’s,the popular ones being - The land of the Thunder Dragon, Last Shangri-La, The Kingdom above the clouds, there was no coherent and consistent message conveyed to the travelers and readers. Therefore, it is necessary to find a simple and common theme or a message, which would differentiate Bhutan from the other destination, promise a memorable experience and also provide an insight to what the country has to offer.

Secondly, the tourism industry is by far the largest generator of foreign exchange in the country and contributed USD 35.98 million as a direct gross earnings an increase of +12.36% over 2009 (BTM 2010). It has created employment opportunities (direct and indirect) for over 17,000 Bhutanese (NSB 2010).

Thirdly, the country has won a couple of international awards and made its mark in the tourism industry, like for instance in 2006 the country received the silver award for the “Top destination” and in 2009 made it to the top 10 finalist in the Wanderlust Travel Awards. Furthermore also received the “Most Refreshing Tour” in the 25th ITE (International Travel Expo) in Hong-Kong in June 2011(TCB 2011) and there, lies a great potential and scope for Bhutan to grow and be a competitor in the tourism industry.

And in addition to the above factors, the economic development policy of 2010, identifies the tourism sector in developing the “The Brand Bhutan” which should showcase and reflect the values of the Bhutanese society in which the culture, tradition and the conservation of the environment are reflected. This can be seen in the branding of Bhutan through the “happiness concept” that has been adopted by the tourism council of Bhutan since March this year.

Currently, Bhutan withstands as one of the most favorite tourist destinations for its unique culture and tradition, pristine environment, and for its fiercely guarded policy against mass tourism. The latest branding is a bold statement that has stretched the concept to an entirely different level, almost abstract but deeply rooted in its Buddhist philosophy and now a guiding development philosophy for the nation. The country has adopted this branding and the target to raise the number of tourists visiting Bhutan from the current 40,873(BTM 2010) to over 100,000 in the next two years.

However, tourism in Bhutan is far below the potential that the country has to offer. A total of 40,873 visitors came into to Bhutan (BTM & TCB 2010). From the total number of visitors that came into Bhutan, it was found out that the major source market were from 10 countries (Australia, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Thailand, United States of America and United Kingdom), that accounted for 27,196 visitors from the total of 40,873 visitors came into to Bhutan. From this list it was revealed that the largest source market was the United States of America with (5,189 visitors) and the least number of visitors were from the Netherlands (847 visitors) .The following page, will depict two graph (figure 1) will depict the number of total number of visitor arrivals for a decade to Bhutan (2001-2010), the second graph (figure 2),the Major International Source Markets and the third graph , will depict the Type of Visitor Arrivals .(BTM 2010 & TCB 2010).

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Figure 1 : Visitor Arrivals to Bhutan (2001-2010). Source: BTM (2010).

Figure 2 : Major International Source Markets. Source: BTM (2010).

Figure 3 : Type of Visitor Arrivals to Bhutan . Source: BTM (2010)

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1.3 Why Bhutan “is a place of happiness ”

Bhutan is a small Himalayan kingdom with an of area of 38,389 sq The ubiquitous blue km and population of 695,822 (NSB 2010), sandwiched between poppy flower of the high by her the giant neighbors, India and China .The country managed to maintain its deliberate policy of isolation up to the 1960’s, Himalayas with the fearing the influences of the outside world that could undermine above catchy slogan the culture and values of the Bhutanese people. The benevolent announces the latest ruler has safely guarded it for centuries and today stands ready branding of Bhutan as and poised for development and modernization (Mancall 2005). Today, the country has gained worldwide recognition for being a unique tourism the only country that has prioritized Gross National Happiness destination. The brand over that of Gross Domestic Product, a philosophy propounded by logo has been created the 4th Druk Gyalpo Jigme Singye Wangchuk in 1972. with a purpose of Since then, Bhutan has been one of the few Asian countries to finding happiness in the have consistently made it amongst the top developed nations in simplest of things such the happiness index. In 2007 researchers in the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom created and mapped out the first as the national flower – world map of happiness in which Bhutan was ranked 1st in Asia the blue poppy and yet and 8th in the world (HPI 2007). In terms of overall happiness with teases a visitor chasing regard to the well-being and satisfaction of the people, which was the most elusive goal of an attempt to measure International happiness (HPI 2007), Bhutan ranked 13th among 178 nations. the modern society, “happiness While Bhutan has always been one of most favorite and now a top emerging destination (Wanderlust Travel Awards 2010 and National Geography 2010); it was the initiative of the Tourism Council of Bhutan to brand Bhutan with this latest tag line.

Bhutan has already made its mark in the tourism platform as a high end traveler destination engulfed in mythology, In addition, the “happiness” concept as part of the brand that attempts to motivate the visitors to travel to the only country in the world that prioritize happiness over GDP” (Nadik ,2011).

A pride of independence with a comfort of security, a strong motto “one nation, people” with a sense of belongingness to the TSA WA SUM –The King, Country and Government and furthered guided by the Buddhist philosophy of Gross National Happiness are some of the development assets of the country (Bhutan, 2020). Furthermore, with the access to free education, free health care, being satisfied in the simplest things and having belief in the government (Christensen,2007) are some of the factors that make a country happy just like the Danes who are the happiest country in the world (HPI 2007). Furthermore the Bhutanese are satisfied in the simplest of things, appreciate cultural values and live in a close –knit community that makes it even more unifying and add to the reasons to support why the country is one of the happiest in the world.

The country religion also has a major role to play in making the Bhutanese happy. Buddhism considers the path of mental or spiritual development superior to that of material development. What really matters is to psychologically detach oneself from matter and strive for liberation and enlightenment, which is considered the ultimate state of happiness and fulfillment (Tideman, 2001). Bhutanese generally have inner peace and are content with what they have and thus live in

Tshewang Palden a happy work environment in which they consider happiness over material wealth and tangible products. Thus the country prioritizes Gross National Happiness over Gross Domestic Product.

The brand Bhutan having been developed with a catch line and with pictures representing the happiness, bound to be found, while visiting the country has been branded by the tourism council of Bhutan, keeping in mind the aspects as explained in the EDP 2010. It must be noted that Happiness is a common desire that is felt by every human being and for the Bhutanese it is conservation of the culture and preservation of the natural environment that creates an ideal condition for the individual to pursue happiness (Gross National Happiness a meeting between two cultures Gross National Product 2001) and thus the branding has been based on the aspects that are all under the umbrella of GNH.

Researchers like (Lawson and Band-Boyy, 1977) supported that brands have a multidimensional image in which there are two primary dimensions-cognitive and affective component works to build up the destination image. The former includes the beliefs and knowledge about the physical attributes of a destination and the latter considers the quality of feelings towards the attributes and the surrounding environment (Baloglu & McClearly, 1999). Brand Bhutan is seen with the logo of the national flower, the blue poppy with a tag line as Bhutan “happiness is a place” in which the essence of Bhutan and GNH is reflected (TCB 2011). This brand logo, seeks to accomplish a multiple function. The physical attributes -which comes to the visitor in form of nature and culture and the quality of feeling that comes with experience as an escape line and filled with a wonder for a memorable experience in happy country.

Personality of a brand is that which has the characteristic that differentiates itself from the other destinations in terms of the experience or the product offered. Lim and O”Cass,(2001);points out the a strong brand can differentiate a product from its competitors and while further explained by (Morgan et al., 2003); as a brand’s personality has both a head and a heart: its ‘head’ is its logical features, whereas its ‘heart’ is its emotional benefits and associations. With the branding of the new official logo that was launched by TCB in Berlin in March 2011,Bhutan embarks on a journey to convey the image of its destination to be identified with happiness. This brand logo being largely influenced with the GNH policy and has its aspects of the GNH incorporated as seen in the tourism video that has the logical features and as well as the emotional benefits in which the culture, tradition and a sense of well being is reflected to bring about Bhutan being a happy place.

According to (TCB 2011) the brand logo has been created with a purpose of finding happiness in the simplest of things such as the national flower –the blue poppy. Bhutan, which has been following the Buddhist philosophy that real happiness can be found in the simplest things and this flower helps to evokes feelings of love, is associated with happiness in general, suggests a non- materialistic pursuit of happiness, and signifies harmony and endless peace. Thus, it signifies finding happiness in the simplest of things as “happiness”, is achieved through a balanced approach to life by both individuals and societies (Sachs ,2011).

1.4 Relevance and contribution of this research

This research intends to equip and supply an overview of the branding of “happiness” for the Kingdom of Bhutan. Tourism stakeholders and destination managers will be also provided with the information on the perception of the travelers to Bhutan and also whether the “happiness” concept has worked in favor of the visitors in making it a priority destinations and what could be done otherwise to improve Brand Bhutan from the visitor point of view.

Academic researchers, international marketing and tourism executives can also use this research, to communicate to the audience, the image, identity, personality of the brand which, can be

Tshewang Palden crafted and amended to adapt to their destinations and how it can stand out of the crowd to ensure that it is able to maintain its stand with its competitors with a value of being unique and promising a visitor satisfaction.

The reports of the study NBTC-CBS carried out in 2008 called “Future for the Vacation market”2007-2015 states that the Dutch holiday market is expected to grow in the long term and is expected to increase from 81% in 2007 to 84% in 2015.The frequency of travel is also expected to increase and in total the forecast is expected to be 40 million by 2015 with a growth rate of 1.5% per year. The Dutch preference being authentic unique experiences as a part of their holiday (Mintel, 2011); and these experiences can be found in Bhutan and would work towards increasing the visitors to the country and thus also make this as a step towards the target of attaining a 100,000 tourist by the year 2012.

In addition to the above, this research will also provide information on the concept of Gross National Happiness and on its growing popularity in the developed countries e.g. countries like France, Germany, etc who had stressed on the economic indicators as their growth model but are now turning towards the happiness index of their people, which has so long been forgotten in their pursuit of materialistic wealth.

Overall, the main objective of this study is that; the tourism executives and destination managers to, identify what is the perception of the visitors on a branding strategy and how it could be worked out in favor of the concerned destination. This research can also be adjusted and amended to suit other destinations that are in favor of coming up with branding strategies for destinations. 1.5 Research goal and questions

The Research Goal is

To Explore the Relationship between the Happiness concept of the Bhutanese people and the value the concept adds to a Dutch visitor?

In order to achieve the research goal, the following research questions need to be answered:

1.Why “Branding of Happiness” in Bhutan?

2.What are the factors that make Bhutan "a place of happiness”?

3.How does the happiness of the Bhutanese people contribute to the overall happiness of the country that qualifies Bhutan as a “Happiness is a place”?

4.How important is the Happiness of the Bhutanese in adding value to Dutch visitors.

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1.6 Research structure

The structure of this paper will consists of seven chapters in which the first chapter will introduce the dissertation in which the back ground to the study will be discussed in which the sub chapters will include discussion as to why destination branding, why branding of Bhutan and what are the conditions that favor Bhutan as being “Happiness as a place “. Further, the chapter will lead to the relevance and contribution to the research and then will end with the Research goals and questions.

The second chapter will look into the literature review in which destination branding will be further discussed with the image and personality along with its frameworks .It then continues with bringing out to the reader what is happiness and with the Affective and Cognitive theory of Happiness .The chapter moves on with Gross National Happiness –a guiding philosophy that prioritizes “happiness over Gross Domestic Product “and how it plays a significant role in branding of happiness.

The third chapter brings out the how the research is designed and what are kind of methods have been used in order to attain the data need for the research and analysis of this dissertation. A short introduction to sampling, cluster sampling, the clusters and themes will be also discussed in this chapter.

The fourth chapter will present the three clusters and its findings. Three main clusters have been created, so that the data each group that have been interviewed or surveyed can be expressed in clarity and with a proper structure. It will also look into the similarities and comparisons between the three clusters.

The fifth chapter of the dissertation will conclude the report, with highlight on the main findings of the research analysis.

The sixth chapter will look into the recommendations for the concerned tourism board and others concerned stakeholders. The Limitations, Reflections and contribution of this study and Suggestions for further research will also be reflected in chapter the seventh chapter.

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2. DESTINATION BRANDING

This aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of destination branding and how “happiness ” has been adopted as a branding strategy for Bhutan based on the findings of the available literature review, which will further lead to the reasons for carrying out the research –which will be explained in chapter 3. In order to make a clear understanding of this chapter, it will be divided into three sections: 1) What is Happiness? • This section will focus on the definition of happiness and its approaches, and bring forth what is happiness for a Bhutanese. 2) Gross National Happiness-Its role and significance in Branding of Happiness • This section will reveal; Why GNH is it is a developmental philosophy in Bhutan, and its role and significance in branding of happiness.

3) Bhutan Happiness Ranking • This section will showcase the happiness studies that have been conducted on a global scale and point out where Bhutan stands in happiness ranking. 2.1 Definition

 Brand The term “brand” has more or less the same meaning by defined in a different context by different authors and researchers. From the following table of definitions one cannot fail to notice that most authors have used the terms “identity” and “differentiate” which are the core principles on which a brand is developed. Below is a figure that has been put forward by (Mc Ericson ,2006); in which the brand and its core elements /factors that influence the brand has been highlighted and works in favor of most brands be it as a product or as a destination.

Figure 4: Factors impacting on the power of a destination brand. Source: Mc Ericson (2006)

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Table 1-Defination of Brand(s)

S.NO AUTHOR DEFINITION/CHARACTERISTICS OF A BRAND YEAR 1 Aaker Primary role of a brand is to identify the goods 1991 or services of either one seller or a group of sellers, and to differentiate those goods or services from those of competitors 2 AMA (American “A brand is a customer experience represented NA Marketing Associations) by a collection of images and ideas; often, it refers to a symbol such as a name, logo, slogan, and design scheme. Brand recognition and other reactions are created by the accumulation of experiences with the specific product or service, both directly relating to its use, and through the influence of advertising, design, and media commentary." 3 Kotler and Gertner Postulates that ‘differentiate products and 2002 represent a promise of value’ but also ‘incite beliefs, evoke emotions and prompt behaviors’ 4 Cai A brand element comes in the form of a name, 2002 term, logo, sign, design, symbol, slogan, package, or a combination of these. 5 Morgan, Pritchard, and Brands create a perceived distinctiveness by 2003 Piggott inciting belief, evoking emotions and triggering behaviors because they have social, emotional and identity value to the users. 6 Pitt,Opoku,Hultman,et.al Brands are symbol around which social actors, 2006 including firms, suppliers, supplementary organizations; the public, customers and even nations construct identities.

 Branding

As defined by Anholt (2003) branding means that countries behave in many ways just like branded product, services and other branded offerings will be perceived in particular ways by large groups of people both at home and aboard by being associated with certain qualities and characteristics and which has been furthermore supported by (Cai ,2002); in which he states that branding is to build a positive destination image that identifies and differentiates the destination by selecting a consistent brand element mix .The concept of image and personality go hand in hand with the destination branding of which it will be furthered discussed as we move on with this paper.

Now to understand what destination branding is all about from the views and works of different authors and academicians, which has been discussed, in the following pages.

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 Destination Branding

The history of “destination branding” and can be traced back to the late 1990’s when researchers from the tourism industry participated in the conference of the AMS (American Marketing Science) in 1997 and presentations was made in the following year at the TTRA’s(The Travel and Tourism Research Associations) where the theme was “Branding the Travel market”. To add to this up came the Journal of Vacation Marketing that was dedicated to “Destination Branding” in 1999 which was followed by destination marketing in 2003 with the periodic publication in the “ECLIPSE” .Thereafter, there has been much work and research being carried out in this field.

The, success stories of countries has been a topic for discussion as seen in the case of Scotland and more recently New Zealand, both of which have been fine examples of successful branding strategies. Scotland as uniquely strong in integrity, inventiveness, tenacity, and spirit -Hamilton (2000), and 100% Pure New Zealand Campaign which was found to be a huge hit as it was supported with marketing research and partnerships (Morgan et al ,2006), which had included the mix of values, emotions and identification of the country, all of which that binds to reinforce the unique image and personality of a brand which would make it different from its competitors, for destination branding activities should also be focused on maintaining and enhancing visitor loyalty to ensure long-term destination success (Blain,Levy & Ritchie,2005).

Destination branding can be defined as a way to communicate a destination’s unique identity by differentiating a destination from its competitors (Morrison & Anderson, 2002) and can not exist by itself and thus is a mix of components like image, personality which cumulative to form its identity. According to Ekinci (2003), the words ‘brand’ ,‘branding’ and ‘destination image’ have appeared in many academic references, with no apparent effort made to distinguish between destination image and destination branding. These concerns are also expressed by( Cai ,2002); and (Konecnik ,2004).

Destination branding is the set of marketing activities that (1) support the creation of a name, symbol, logo, word mark or other graphic that readily identifies and differentiates a destination; that (2) consistently convey the expectation of a memorable travel experience that is uniquely associated with the destination; that (3) serve to consolidate and reinforce the emotional connection between the visitor and the destination; and that (4) reduce consumer search costs and perceived risk. Collectively, these activities serve to create a destination image that positively influences consumer destination choice.

On the other hand destination branding is a complex task; it involves distilling a wide range of tangible and intangible attributes of the destination while keeping the values of several stakeholders involved (Buhalis,2003) and also ensuring that the brand have a consistent advertising and reinforcing a differentiated brand message (Nielsen ,1995), (Biel,1997), (Sebastiao ,1999), and (L. Berry ,2000) with destination logos and associated “taglines” with the more comprehensive process of destination branding (Blain,Levy & Ritchie,2005) all which are incorporated with the framework since “tourism destinations are intangible and tourists often have limited knowledge and experience, previous research consistently concludes that destination images strongly influence tourist choice ”,(Tasci & Gartner,2007); (Um & Crompton,1990).

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Destinations marketers and tourism personals have to understand “unlike other tangible products, tourists are not able to “test drive” and try the destinations before making a choice (Eby, Molnar, Cai ,1999); (Gartner ,1989). Therefore that best of the destination has to be fitted within the branding strategy, so it would to work in best in their favor of attracting the tourist and making their destination as a preference It is crucial for destination branding to be able to inculcate image, identity and personality for it be able to stand durable and leave a lasting impression which, would strive to enable and evoke a traveler to make it as a choice among scores of others destinations. The figures that follow in the next page will show the associations of branding with the components that will be explained with the following text:

The image of a destination brand can be described as “perceptions about the place as reflected by the associations held in tourist memory( Cai ,2002) and thus it is “ A strong, unique image is the essence of destination positioning for its ability to differentiate a destination from competitors to get into the consumers’ minds, which simplify information continuously (Botha, Crompton, & Kim, 1999; Buhalis, 2000; Calantone, Benedetto, Hakam, & Bojanic, 1989; Chon, Weaver, & Kim, 1991; Crompton, Fakeye, & Lue, 1992; Fan, 2006; Go & Govers, 2000; Mihalic, 2000; Mykletun, Crotts, & Mykletun, 2001; Uysal et al., 2000) which stands out as one of the key components of destination branding .

Identification in destination branding is also crucial in tourism as it “involves the explication of the source of the product to consumers. While a product in general terms represents a physical offering, which can be easily modified, a place as a product is a large entity which contains various material and non-material elements to represent it” (Florek, 2005) and where it is supported by the works if( Cai ,2002) where he claims that destination image cannot expand to destination branding without the consideration of brand identity.

As brand personality it has been defined by J.Aaker (1997) “the set of human characteristics associated with a brand “ to which Azoulay and Kapferer (2003) have given a more precise definition: “the unique set of human personality traits that are both applicable and relevant to the brand “ and thus destinations brands needs to establish a brand personality and make links to the tourist self image through their travel motives (Ekinci ,2003);,for it can serve as a power marketing tool in successfully branding of destinations .

Other than the components mentioned above, travel experience (King ,2002 ; Sirgy and Su ,2000) has also be considered as one of the elements that make up a success of branding a destination.

All in all; branding a destination has been found as “the most powerful marketing weapon available to contemporary destination marketers” due to ‘increasing product parity, substitutability and competition’ (Morgan et al ;2006 ) and for (William et al; 2009) profess that branding in tourism is increasing due to globally growing needs for corporate partnerships for accessing to scarce resources and for more unique and cooperative positioning in the competitive market place and has to be done wisely and with a lot of ground work as it is one of the decisions involved in developing a tourism marketing strategy. It is an important part of a product planning. The branding process in tourism involves researching, developing and implementing an organization’s brand decisions as well as maintaining brand equity.” (Witt, S.F., Moutinho, L, 1994).

Thus destination branding not only provokes the traveler’s decision but also leads to earnings for the country, providing employment opportunities but also channels an avenue to develop in infrastructure and other facilities.

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Figure 5:Destination image and destination branding. Source :Ekinci (2003)

Figure 6 2.2 What is Happiness?

“Happiness” is a board concept and is subjective hence the definitions of happiness can vary and depending on the kind of research that is being carried out, the kind of cultural back ground it happens to take place in or simply the approach towards happiness. Its nature and meaning to happiness has been a topic for research and discussion for many centuries so much so that that a new inquiry into this study has resulted in the “scientific ”study of happiness that has allowed the social scientists, philosophers and economist to bring about their interpretations and add a new meaning to the happiness studies (Dutt and Radcliff 2009) Happiness can be an interesting topic in academics and also for research and thus has been approached from various angles and subjects like scholars in the field of Economics like Schor

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(1998) Veblen (1899) and Frank (1999) have based their research on how money can bring happiness to an individual or a nation as for the Political scientist like Lane & Putnam (2000) have made an attempt would be to bring out how the government policies effects the happiness of the people and the country. Psychologist would see it differently and bring their focus with notion of happiness on mental processes and the sociologist would focus on the interactions of communities and broader effects on culture and happiness.

But most recently it’s the social science, that seeks to define happiness by asking people on how happy they are or how well satisfied they are with their lives, which is the subjective well- being of the people .The variations of happiness and its contribution to subjective wellbeing across individuals and countries has been explained using the theories used by Ruut Veenhoven, a Dutch professor at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, who focuses the theories on (1) traits, (2) social comparison, (3) satisfaction of needs .However it must be also noted that the wellbeing can not be well represented by a single dimension, so researchers have to examine both the hedonic and eudaimonic aspects of happiness and well being to obtain a more complete understanding of positive human health (Ong , 2006 ). Figure 7&8 will further explain the Hedonic approach /affective and eudaimonic/cognitive approach to “happiness” or “well-being ” Figure 7 : Affective/Hedonic theory of how happiness is assessed –Broaden and build theory Source :Fredrickson’s (2004)⇓

⇑ Figure 8 :Cognitive theory of happiness is assessed -Multiple discrepancies theory

Source:Michalos’s(1985)

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Well-being is a complex construct that concerns optimal experience and functioning. It can be seen from research in empirical psychology (Cacioppo & Berntson ,1999;Deci 1975),well being (Diener 1984), and the promotion of wellness (Cowen 1991),positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi 2000).The current research however being focused on well-being can be derived from general two perspectives(Ryan and Deci 2001) :

1.The hedonic approach, focuses on subjective well-being, which is frequently equated with happiness and is formally defined as more positive affect, less negative affect, and greater life satisfaction (Diener & Lucas 1999) and reflects the view that well- being consists of pleasure or happiness (Kahneman et al 1999). This concept plays a significant role in happiness while dealing with connectivity to social aspects and is prevalent among individual well being studies.

2.The second approach which is the eudaimonic viewpoint, which on the other hand focuses on psychological well- being, which is defined more broadly in terms of the fully functioning person and has been operationalized either as a set of six dimensions (Ryff 1989), or a set of wellness variables such as self-actualization and vitality (Ryan & Deci 2000) and is that well-being consists of more than just happiness. It lies instead in the actualization of human potentials (Waterman 1993).

In order to understand a basic model of how long, happy, fulfilling lives can be an end meet , Figure 9 as been put forward by (Happy Planet Index in 2009)

Figure 9: Input, needs and end of human societies Source: HPI (2009)

Experts in this field of happiness studies have come up, with strategies in which they can best define happiness, for what it denotes for the country in overall and to the people in particular. In which “For nations to compare one’s position typically in terms of income, social status or other measures of consumption against some external standard ”;(Diener et al..,1999),which differs from “An individual who is experiencing psychological well- being is leading the “good life”, which is an essential component to authentic happiness (Seligman ,2002) or Hierarchy of needs (Maslow 1954) which states that more the needs are meet, the more rewarding and fulfilling one is likely to find life .Thus, Happiness is a large word encompassing many shadings of feeling and emotions and No single definition can do full justice to all that it embraces ”(Bok 2010).

Table 2 will show some of the inter-link of happiness studies that have been conducted globally in order to understand and find a deeper meaning to happiness or the well –being of the people.

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Table 2: Studies in relation to “happiness” S.no Research Area Author & Year 1 Easterlin paradox-relationship Easterlin ,1974; between happiness and wealth 2 Happiness and psychology Nesse & Williams ,1996;Nesse, 2005;Woodstock & Custovic ,1998;Bowden et al ., 1990;Burns 2005;Greenway,1995;Ulrich et al ., 1991 ;Ottosson & Grahn 2005;Kaplan & Kaplan ,1989;Kaplan,2001;Danner et al ., 2001,Fredrickson & Levenson ,1998 ;Maruta et al., 2000;Ostir et al ., 2000 ;Vailant,2004.

3 Happiness and time use Harvey&Pentland,1999;Juster&Stafford,1991;Andor ka,1987;Hill&Stafford,1980; Kahneman et al., 2006;Böhnke,2005;Galay 2008.

4 Happiness and Living Standard Brotchie,1978;Falkenberg,1998;Frey & Stutzer ,2002;White ,2006;Rutland ,1999;Shrotryia ,2004) ,

5 Empirical studies in Happiness – Di tella and MacCulloch, 2006;Frey 2008;Frey & determinants of individual well- Strutzer ,2002;Layard ,2005 ,Van Praag & Ferrer-i- being Carbonell,2004.

6 Happiness and Buddhism Schumacher’s ,1966;Puntasen ,2001;Tideman 2003,

Although its difficult to define the word “happiness” and even explain why researchers have concluded to highlight on the importance of happiness globally yet, a small country like Bhutan, with a population of less than a million and the people who have seen welcomed modernization only since the last couple of decades stands out to be the one and the only country that pursue to attain the happiness as its goal so much so that it has made GNH as a development philosophy. There has been much done in the happiness studies like its well-being (Marks and Shah 2004),Layard (2005) points that happiness should become the goal of policy ,and the progress of national happiness should be measured and analyzed as closely as the growth of GNP.On the other hand Psychologist like Ed Diener and Martin Seligman 2004 argued that policy decisions ‘should be heavily influenced by issues relating to well-being ‘and that periodic, systematic assessment of well-being will offer policy makers a much stronger set of findings to use in policy making decisions. This has been further supported by (Diener ,Lucas ,Schummack and Helliwell,2009 ) in their book ‘Well-being and public policy ’,which makes a forceful and detailed case for subjective indicators of well-being to aid the policy process.

The well-being has been a key component(s) in making Bhutan 8th in the World Map of Happiness and leaving behind many more advanced and developed countries. It is infact the only country in Asia to make it to the top ten. The next section will bring forth what is happiness for the Bhutanese and how the country has been able to score a 6.1 in terms of life satisfaction a comparable figure in comparison to the happiest country in the world –Denmark with point of 8.1 (HDI 2005).

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Happiness for the Bhutanese: For a small Himalayan kingdom that has been seen modern development only for the past few decades and where culture and tradition is naturally inborn and lives in the minds the people, happiness seems to be prevalent in the daily lives of the Bhutanese population. With free access to health, education, and with the people’s love for the king and the country, the Bhutanese people are content with their lives and have a sense of belongingness to what they stand for. Humility, sincerity, humbleness, and ignorance are some of the ways in which the visitors have described the Bhutanese people (meida/blogs).

Figure 10-shows the “Three levels of happiness” as put forward by Daniel Nettle and Marty Seligman, which will be used to explain the Happiness in Bhutan.

Figure 10: Three levels of happiness (Daniel Nettle and Marty Seligman)

 Level I- Set of associations linking happiness to positive emotions and good feelings –feelings of pleasure and joy:

From January 2006 to June 2007 the Center for Bhutan Studies (CBS) in joint collaboration with Dr Takayoshi Kusago of Osaka University, Japan; designed a questionnaire survey and conducted a pilot survey on the Psychological Well-Being (PWB)/Subjective Well-being (SWB) in Bhutan, which among the well-being analysis, one of which was dedicated to bringing out the relationship of the level of happiness with the emotions of the Bhutanese people.

Categorization was done as the people with higher psychological wellbeing and the ones with lower psychological well-being .The ones with higher psychological wellbeing are the ones that that scored higher than average on the level of happiness, higher in quality of life, higher enjoyment in life, higher life satisfaction and with more positive emotions. These people were the ones, who were more spiritual, have more instrumental and emotional support around themselves. But in order to get a true picture of subjective well -being it was necessary to have an overall balance of positive and negative emotions .As Kahneman (1999) suggests that the “objective happiness” can be measured by tracking people’s momentary experiences of good and bad feelings. The mean level of subjective well-being by the frequency of positive emotions that

Tshewang Palden were based on experiences of -calmness, empathy/compassion, forgiveness, contentment, and Generosity and with the negative emotions that were expressed in form of sadness, anger, resentment, envy, guilt, selfishness (CBS 2007)

I feel good most of the time, hence I must be happy ‘ (Schwartz and Strack, 1991),this is often reflected in the affective theory of happiness which has been showcased in the lives of the Bhutanese people, as explained with the help of the CBS studies on “life satisfaction and emotions” Frederickson (2001) states “positive emotions are worth cultivating not just as end states in themselves but also as a means to achieving psychological growth and improve well being over time” as seen with the most popular definition of happiness as put forward by Layard (2005) that ‘“Feeling good, enjoying life and wanting the feeling to be maintained “

 Level II -encompassing a sense of satisfaction and well-being, a set of judgment of one’s condition and state:

The affective side of happiness is experienced in level II, in which ‘a common sense of well-being, finding your life enriching or rewarding or feeling satisfied or fulfilled by it ‘(Sumner, 1997). Such has been seen with reference to the history of the country, in which the Bhutanese people have lived a life that has been protected and sheltered from the outside influences and in a bubble, in which the people have the basic amenities and live in a day to day basis, that was resultant from the “policy of isolation” which ended only in the early 1960’s.Contrary to its neighboring countries, like India, Nepal and Bangladesh, Tibet that have suffered political unrest colonization, rapid and chaotic modernization, poverty and major natural disasters which all have added to its hostile conditions and emerging dissatisfaction among its people.

Veenhoven, 2004 supports the idea that happiness is a understood in the context that is how much one likes the life one lives, which is how one evaluates life as a whole positively. Evaluation or Liking of life is synonymous with “satisfaction” in life. In line with what Veenhoven defined, the Bhutanese people have been following a path that has development of pursuits of values that are consonant with the Bhutan’s culture, institutions and spiritual values, which is reflected in the concept of Gross National Happiness (Ura and Galay 2004). The concept will be discussed in detail in the next section of this paper.

Buddhism, the main religion of Bhutan could also seen as a factor in making the Bhutanese realize the state and condition that they are in and adding a greater sense of satisfaction to their lives. Buddhist teachings says that “Happiness is a quality of the mind that arises from positive mental attitudes which among others, include the intention never to harm the desire to help and support to those around us and the remain contented with ones life ”,(Tashi 2003) ,thus the Bhutanese are seen to be happy and content with being with good health and good family life which meets some of the priorities in life satisfaction studies (CBS 2007)

Being a developing country that has been support in form grants and aids as seen from Official Development Assistance (ODA). In the 1980’s it was 50% of the GDP and helped to pay 70% of the total Bhutan budgetary expenditure but now 2005-2010 external grants are 15.5 % of GDP on a average US$ 175 million a year (financed 38 % of the total expenditure) which reflects the dependency and a move to self reliance .64% of the grant comes from the Government of India and other donors e.g (ADB, Austria, Denmark, EU, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland ,UN system and the world bank(DRC ,RMA 2010).This help that is extended to the country is a realization in the consciousness of Bhutanese people that it for the support of these countries that have economic and technological advancement has slowly begin to creep into the country. This has been possible to due the diplomatic relationship that the rulers have managed to maintain for decades now and its appreciated as the fund makes provision for infrastructure and other basic

Tshewang Palden necessities that makes life easier and convenient. All these developments which is now taking place in and around the country has strengthened the faith of the Bhutanese and lead a sense of accomplishment which leads to a good feeling and satisfaction of who they are and the country that they reside in.

Figure 11 will further help to explain the four qualities of life that can complement “happiness”.

Outer Qualities Inner Qualities

⇓ ⇓

Figure 11 Source: Veenhoven 2000

 Level III-having to do with the quality of life as a whole with human flourishing, with fulfilling one’s potential, with human excellence and the good of life.

In the third level, the tendency lies wherein the people experience a feeling of goodness and contentment in their lives this can be supported by the works of Veenhoven in the set point theory and cognitive theory in which life is evaluated positively.

Further the ‘four qualities of life model’ put forward by Veenhoven 2009 will be used to explain the third level of happiness as experienced by the Bhutanese:

1.Livability of the environment in which it denotes the ‘ meaning of good life ’. Livability refers to the characteristics of the environment in the words of Veenhoven, and this can be viewed different from different subject areas, like an environmentalist/ecologist would see it as the livability in regard to the environment preservation. Here in light to Bhutan, people are happy for many reasons and one being the country that they live in which has 64.5 % of forest cover (Kuensel 22nd April 2010) and with the Land Act of 2005 saying that 60 % of the land should be kept for forest cover. Bhutan has been also identified as the Global 10 hot spots in the world (UNDP 2010). This makes the people to be surrounded by nature and that does not have much to deal with in terms of air pollution, traffic jams or mushroomed developments, but live in a environment that is natural and pure. Sociologist on the other hand would see livability in terms of the ‘quality of society ’ is an positive outcome that has resulted from having the feeling of ‘Tha Damsti and Ley Jumdrey’ which is loosely translated as respect to the regards and respect for elders, leaders ,neighbors and others (Gayleg 2003).

2.Life ability of a person denotes ‘life chances ’ and the way humans equip to cope with the problems in life (Veenhoven 2003) and ‘capability’ (Sen 1993). With regard to this quality of life the Bhutanese are fortunate to have been guarded and protected in a bubble that has been safeguarded by the righteous rulers and thus lives up to the words of John Ruskin a 19th century British art critic that ‘the country is richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings’. And as followers of the Saint Guru Padmasambhava, Bhutanese tend to

Tshewang Palden adapt to the preaching of Guru that ‘don’t consider this life’s happiness experiences as permanent or complete,rather he/she tries not to have any attachment towards happiness and sources of happiness in this life ’.

3.Utility of Life as defined by Veenhoven refers to the notion that ‘good life must be good for something more than itself ’ and also that adds ‘meaning to life’. His Holiness the Dalai Lama said in one of his preaching’s that ‘If you have a good heart, a warm heart, warm feelings, we will be happy and satisfied ourselves, and our friends will experience a friendly atmosphere as well. This can be experienced from nation to nation, country to country, continent to continent’. So being a Buddhist, with beliefs in karma, dharma and nirvana’, the people are inclined to thinking of societal happiness rather than individual happiness, which is one of main goal for the country in achieving overall happiness as expressed as Gross National Happiness (which will be explained in the next sub chapter).

4.Enjoyment/Satatisfaction of Life, which is in regard to the subjective appreciation of life, which can be seen as subjective well -being or happiness. As human beings, we have the tendency to experience, judge, and make a comparison of the tangible and sometime even intangible things (Veenhoven 2003). Kanahan (1999) says frequent experiences of such passing pleasures is probably a necessary condition for enduring satisfaction with life –as a whole, but probably not sufficient one since life–satisfaction requires also a sense of meaning to which Easterlin and Sawangfa supports by Happiness is the net outcome of satisfaction with all of the major domains of life, and no single domain is sufficient to explain the various patterns of overall happiness’ .Thus this quality in life is one of the hardest to reach out for as ‘successful pursuit of happiness promises not merely to be self –serving but to contribute to a better, stronger, more caring society (Bok 2010), therefore the Bhutanese ,have been lead by Gross National Philosophy a developmental philosophy and a guide to the following the steps towards happiness. 2.3 Gross National Happiness: Its role and significance in Branding of Happiness  Gross National Happiness The notion of Gross National Happiness (GNH) as first conceived by the King of Bhutan –presents paradigm shift in development economics and social theory .GNH can be regarded as the Buddhist equivalent to Gross National Product (GNP), which is conventional indicator for a nation’s economic performance. But GNH as the next evolution in GNH can also be regarded as the next evolution in indicators for sustainable development, going beyond measuring merely material values relevant to life on this planet, including the most subtle and profound: happiness (Tideman, 2003). Looking into its importance for a young and developing nation, GNH has become the philosophical foundation for the policy-making process and implementation in Bhutan and has been indicated in the 9th and 10th Five Year Plans of Bhutan. It is a program of social and economic change towards operationalization of the notion of good development that promotes collective happiness as its ultimate value (Karma, 2005). It was in the late 90’s,the priority areas of culture, environment, governance, and balanced and equitable development came to be known as the four pillars of GNH (CBS 2007) as seen in figure 12 .

Gross National Happiness contains four main pillars: • Sustainable and equitable socio-economic development • Conservation of environment • Preservation and promotion of culture • Promotion of good governance

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Figure 12: The Four Pillars of Gross National Happiness; Source: CBS 2007

1. Sustainable and equitable socio-economic development Economic growth is essential to support and nurture the spiritual and social needs of society. Thus, economic development is not an end in itself but is one of the many means to achieve GNH (Karma 2005) Social sector has it priority in Bhutan and it is estimated that 30% of the national budget of Bhutan is placed on the social sector which is the health and education sector. There is a huge commitment and provisions that are considered by the government to ensure and to safeguard the livelihood of the people and taking health and education as an important aspect in the socio- economic development in the country along with the care and socio economic services which were the mandate of the government to strengthen this pillar of GNH. Largely because of GNH, Bhutan has seen improvement in many key development indicators, which include: • Per capita income • Life expectancy • Infant and maternal mortality rates • Health coverage • School enrollment • Literacy rates • Redistribution of income through personal tax and business tax have been introduced. Tourism sector that comes under this mandate will be discussed further on in this chapter.

2. Conservation of environment The government understands the needs of the common man and values, whose livelihoods is dependent on the natural environment. Religion in form of ‘Bonism’ is still found in the country and people respect the forms of nature. Through education and awareness programs the Bhutanese know that the environment needs to be preserved for the future generation and thus helping in conserving the environment as they are aware of the outcomes. Policies have been introduced and laws have been made in order to conserve the environment, which are • Characterization of the country as a biodiversity hotspot • Increased preservation policies-bio diversity preservation policies 72% forest cover, 26% protected areas,9% designated as biological corridors • Constitution of the Kingdom requires that the country will keep a minimum of 60% forest cover • Bhutan has been recognized as one of the 10 global hot spots.

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3. Preservation and promotion of culture Preservation and promotion of culture was essential for the functioning of a harmonious and progressive society (Thinley 2004). It is yet another important another factor in development and GNH strategy, as Buddhist cultural pureness ideology is widespread. It has been observed that culture and its promotion is a critical factor that leads to the happiness and contentment of an average Bhutanese (CBS Survey 2006-2007), thus the government has ensured that preservation and promotion of culture is carried out in the country through the following: • Preservation of tangible and intangible aspects of culture (conservation and restoration of monasteries, support of traditional songs, music and dances) • Bhutanese values are promoted in schools. • Preservation of traditional societal norms, extended family networks, community organizations, are encouraged.

4. Promotion of good governance Good governance comes in Bhutan came in form of decentralization of the government (administrative and political decentralization). This took place in 1981,in order to allow the people at different levels to plan and prioritize development activities (Gewog (GYTs in 1991)/ Dzongkhags (DYTs in 1981). Then in 1998 His Majesty withdrew from the executive function of government in and universal voting rights were introduced in 2002.In 2008 the first democratic election was held and with a goal of multi-party system, which allowed the empowering the people. Democracy 82 out 128 countries 4.65 as compared to 2008 which was 3.75 per (BTI 2010/2008) Bertelsmann Transformation Index )

Furthermore, in order to monitor the Bhutan progress along the path of GNH, the CBS in 2005 was assigned develop vital elements into which the GNH development philosophy would fall into, thus resultant into the nine domains psychological well-being, health, time-use and balance, education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community vitality, ecosystem diversity and The Gross National Product vitality, and living standards. counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ... the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl... Yet [it] does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play... the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages... it measures everything, in short, except that Figure13, Nine domains of GNH, Source CBS 2007 which makes life worthwhile.’

According, to Buddhism, happiness is an inner experience, Robert Kennedy 1968 available to anyone, regardless of wealth and property .By developing the mind, our inner qualities; we can experience perfect wholeness and contentment. Finally, if we share with others, we will find that competitors do not

Tshewang Palden surround us. GNH –four pillars and the nine domains has seeker to find a path that can lead to over well –being/happiness.

In describing the country (Powdyel 2003) remarks ‘Bhutan is the adobe of the peaceful dragon; the land of our thunder kings, the seat of the peerless Buddha will release a moral force that will light up the world’ in which “It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the nation remains true to this philosophy, that true development can only be pursued through a judicious balance between spiritual and material advancement ”(Thinley 2004). Wherein, the country is following the path in which there is a balance between peljor –economic –material-physical well-being –and gakid-psychological –emotional –spiritual –personal well-being –which according to Powdyel 2003 is at the heart of the normative planning paradigm in Bhutan.

Even The Bhutan Vision of 2020 values highly the function of culture in unifying, integrating and building harmony and social cohesiveness while providing society with the capability of internalizing change within tradition. The Tenth Five Year Plan further identifies the role that cultural industries including tourism can play further economic development through broadening the economic base, enhancing employment creation and addressing rural poverty (Bhutan 2020). The latest inclusion of GNH into the MDG in the UN summit and recently in September 2011, a review was conducted to include GNH as a concept in policy making and development programs, and road map for the upcoming 11th Five Year Plan (UNDP 2011) all these are just some ways to show the increasing fame and recognition of the GNH on a global and national level. The happiness ranking and where Bhutan stands will be discussed in the next chapter (2.4) in which details for making Bhutan to one of the happiest country in the world will be discussed and the world wide studies and surveys in supporting it so.

In addition to the GNH concept, the next sub-section of this chapter will bring forth to the reader how GNH has laid a foundation for the tourism industry and now a stepping stone, to bring forth the latest branding strategy- Bhutan “Happiness is a place”. But it would be a study to see if “Successful pursuit of happiness promises not merely to be self –serving but to contribute to a better, stronger, more caring society”(Bok 2010). It will also look into the role of GNH in the branding of happiness and it complements the strategy and for what it stands for which the country has made it mark in the global tourism as a high end destination and with its focus on ‘high value, low impact ’.

 GNH -Its role and significance in Branding of Happiness

Ms Meiko Mishizima,Vice President ,World Bank ,South Asia Region- ‘Its rare to find a nation ,today or in the history of our globe ,whose people share a clear and dynamic vision rooted in their cultural heritage and common values .It is even rarer to encounter a nation, which by the strength of her conviction ,initiates a new paradigm for the transformation of its society- sometimes called ‘development ’-that challenges the world to reconsider established methods of measuring change. This unique nation is the kingdom of Bhutan, and the ultimate source of its uniqueness rests singularly in the leadership of His Majesty’ and to which the brand label to be attached was felt necessary as seen Bhutan already had abundant cultural, historical, political, social assets, which could make it stand out in the global market. The concept of Gross National Happiness was also a wonderful example of nation branding which was a very innovative behavior that clearly expressed the kind of country Bhutan is (Simon Anholt 2005)

Tourism has been included in the Bhutan 2020 -a vision for the country and its people and has also seen as a means to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country. As it adds to the earnings of the country in which generated $ US 35.98 million (BTM 2010) and provided

Tshewang Palden employment opportunities of 8000 people directly from tourism (TCB & McKinsey 2010) and paving way for many other industries to be established, handicrafts industries, hotels, restaurants and from the support of SNV a Netherlands Development Organization has managed to start the first pilot project in Nabji/Korphu in form of community tourism project as an initiative to enhance the socio economic benefits of the community . Other than theses, the major developments that have resultant of tourism activities are the classification of hotels into star categories, opening of two more air strips in the south and east of the country, new routes and festivals opened up for the tourist. Bhutan tourism is now easing out on the rigid rules that they had been following for decades now and doing away with the special passes and entries into Lhakhangs and monasteries and has the VISA online (TCB 2010). All these have been seen as a means to improve the existing services available but to make and accommodate the 100,000 tourists that has been a target set by the government.

The four pillars: Sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, Conservation of environment, Preservation and promotion of culture and Promotion of good governance which have been the key elements that strive for the overall well-being or happiness has been a guiding light in the latest branding strategy that was launched in Berlin by TCB in March 2011.The reasons being GNH philosophy –that prioritize GNH over importance over GDP-Bhutan with its GNH concept has set out to be an example to many of the developed worlds, where their chase for economic development and materialistic gains have left their happiness long behind as seen in the happiness studies that have done in the United States done by the Gallup survey of happiness:

• Psychologist studies (which includes noble prize winner Daniel Kahneman) states that people are bad judge to what makes them happy .The Americans case study reveals that, a decade of prosperity has not made the people happier, as they prioritize materialistic wealth and happiness over experiences,joy and content.

• Professor Alberto Alesina ,Rafel Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch ,have researched that there is growing inequality of incomes in the past 35 years in the US but yet has lead to the higher dissatisfaction among the Americans.

• Ruut Veenhoven calculations reveal that the rising inequality of incomes in several of the advanced economies of North America and Western Europe has been accompanied by slight but perceptible narrowing of national difference in happiness” and found no core relation between the percentage of Gross national income that government devoted to such purpose and happiness or health or longevity of the populations involved.

In continuation to the studies to show that GDP does not necessarily lead to happiness, the UK came out with a well-being to be included it in its policy (new economic foundation, 2008 check figure 14 which is seen on the following page )

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We should be thinking not just what is good for putting money in people's pockets but what is good for putting joy in people's hearts

Conservative leader David Cameron ,2006

Bhutan has been only the nation to formally adopt the people’s happiness as its principal goal (Bok 2010), but the idea has begun to capture the attention from the other governments as well as seen for the UK in figure 14 but more so when President Nicolas Sarkozy at of France in 2008,announced an initiative to measure well-being throughout the country as a result of evidence that French people are experiencing increasingly difficulty in their daily lives. In November 2010,David Cameron announced that he had instructed Britain’s ONS to develop measures of well-being, seeking to measure ‘our progress as a country not just by how our economy is growing, but by how our lives are improving, not just by our standard of living, but by our quality of life.’ According to the Prime Minister’s Office, ‘potential indicators include health, levels of education, inequalities in income and the environment’ (Hervie -University of Leicester).

The tourism council of Bhutan (TCB) has taken into consideration of the four pillars into account while devising the branding strategy of Bhutan in which a blue poppy –the national flower of Bhutan that signifies nature and beauty has been used and with a tag line –Bhutan the ‘land of happiness’. Bhutan has already quite well established in the tourism industry as an high end and exclusive destination that is known as a mystical place but with this latest branding strategy we can reach out further and also showcase happy country (Nadik 2010).

But however it must be noted that GNH does not completely ignore the GDP of the country. Happiness in Bhutan is seen as a contentment as studied in the work so of Bentham and also as an opportunity to lead a fulfilling life as in Aristotle’s ‘eudemonia’. With the recent global

Tshewang Palden acceptance of happiness in by the UN General Assembly as the UN Millennium Development Goals in which pursuit of happiness” a “fundamental human goal” with a resolution called on a “balanced approach” to economic growth that can lead to sustainable development, poverty eradication, happiness and well-being of the planet. GNH has added creditability to this branding of happiness and has also is an eye opener to countries like Australia, and China where happiness is being considered in happiness indexes in addition to conventional economic measures of prosperity and growth. The Bhutan Development Index and the happiness ranking will be furthered explain in section 2.4 which will add more weight age to the above reasoning.

The need to brand- BHUTAN -A survey that was conducted in order to find out the perception of Bhutan (TCB & Ogilvy 2010) found out that 70% of the respondents had no clear idea about what they could expect from Bhutan in terms of a tourism experience. The country has also been known to the outside world by various names like -Last Shangri-La, The Land of the Thunder Dragon, The Kingdom above the clouds, all to which a uniformity was felt necessary that would provide a sound knowledge on what to expect from a country as in “When a country has a powerful, respected and attractive brand then almost anything it does becomes easier, faster and cheaper,” (Simon Anholt 2005)

Figure 15:Ogilvy Butterfly (The first step) ; Source :(Ogilvy & TCB 2011)

Through the studies and surveys done by the Ogilvy and TCB in regard to what would be best in order to Brand Bhutan with and what would be the most significant element that visitors would be able to identify the country it resulted in analyzing Brand Bhutan from three perspective: the business context, consumer context and cultural context as shown in Figure 16 and the top markets to tap were the USA, Europe and Japan, whose main focus in choosing Bhutan as a destination were for culture and looking for “off –track ”experience (RGOB 2001,TCB 2004 ,Ogilvy 2011).The motivation of to travel depends on the brand image, identification and personality that has been discussed earlier in 2.1 and from a survey of 100 respondents to find out the motivation in choosing a destination ,the team of Ogilvy found out that culture and spirituality ‘exotic experience’ was given as the highest priority followed by nature and lastly shopping and party experience. This has been good for Bhutan as it offers the former two in abundance .A perception that was conducted revealed the positive factors were the Beautiful Himalayas, Paradise, beyond the hassles of the world, pristine country and Buddhist culture, exotic whereas the down sides were lack of knowledge, inconvenient tourist regulation, expensive, can not travel/explore.

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According to Simon Anholt a branding expert on “ Branding Bhutan”- ‘The situation right now, was that the global market was a busy supermarket and Bhutan was a product that was in a bottom dusty shelf that nobody had heard about’ and “If Bhutan decides not to play the branding game it will lose. Bhutan will be forever dependant on foreign aid because its economy is too small to sustain itself in the global market,”(Kuensel 2005). Furthermore, According to the EDP (Economic development policy 2010) tourism of Bhutan will be guided by principle of ‘high value low impact ’,to which UNWTO Secretary-General,Taleb Rifai mentioned in a meeting “mainstreaming tourism” that Bhutan is facing “significant challenges and strong pressure for change” but has been able to follow the policy of high –value, low impact tourism development ,guiding tourism growth in Bhutan ,is highly commendable and has undoubtedly contributed to the unique tourism brand of this country”.

According to (TCB 2011) the brand logo has been created with a purpose of finding happiness in the simplest of things such as the national flower –the blue poppy. Bhutan, which has been following the Buddhist philosophy that real happiness can be found in the simplest things and this flower helps to evokes feelings of love, is associated with happiness in general, suggests a non- materialistic pursuit of happiness, and signifies harmony and endless peace. Thus, it signifies finding happiness in the simplest of things. In order to brand a memorable destination experience which can be found in Bhutan.

Α Β

Figure 16:(A)-Maslow Pyramid VS Tourism Triggers (B) Positioning Landscape – Asia-based on Tourism Triggers Source: Ogilvy 2011

2.4 Bhutan Happiness Ranking

The tourism policy is to maintain a sharp focus on the niche market of high yield tourist that is willing to spend beyond average daily amounts not only for quality but the uniqueness and exclusivity of the experience. The specific objectives for the tourism sector in the Tenth Plan will be to: Promote Bhutan as a unique, exotic, cultural and unspoilt destination (Fifth Five-Year Plan 2008-2013).

The Happy Planet Index, was brought out by the New Economic Foundation, in which Bhutan scored quite favorably, 13th in the world and the country is bound to live up to maintaining and striving toward the GNH, that is seen as a multidimensional approach to development and was articulated in five central tenets in the Bhutan 2020 Vision Statement (Royal Government of Bhutan 1999) in which human development, the conservation and promotion of culture and heritage, balanced and equitable socio-economic development, good governance and environmentally sustainable lies as core elements.

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In keeping up with the happiness studies around the world and also as a means to see what is the condition of the society -The Center for Bhutan Studies (CBS) has been responsible for carrying out the GNH surveys. The first GNH survey was conducted in 2007 and showed that despite income levels increasing, life satisfaction did not necessarily increase alongside, especially in urban areas and a second GNH survey which is a nation wide and a sample survey of 8000 which is conformed to international standards, was designed to measure whether Bhutanese society is progressing according to GNH standards which is based on answering 249 questions, will determine whether conditions leading to the end product (happiness) have improved or not (Zangmo 2010)

According to the studies, research and surveys done in Bhutan, the following factors will help to help to clarify why Bhutan has now made it to the happiness ranking that have been conducted by Happy Planet Index, New Economics Foundation) have been ranked as a happy country:

Location and Livability-“GNH is simple-It is all about promoting and living with basic human values in a harmonious and sustainable manner no matter where or how ”(Thinley 2008). The Bhutanese can live in a rural setting and yet to happy as according to the Bhutan Living Standard Survey Report 2007 (Royal Government of Bhutan 2007) estimates the nation’s population at about 630,000 – projected to reach 695,822 in 2010, based on the Population and Housing Census of Bhutan 2005. Of the total estimated population, 73.6 per cent still reside in the rural areas and 26.4 per cent, in the urban areas

Human Development Index-With a human development index (HDI) value of 0.583, Bhutan ranks 129th among 177 countries and is one of the few so-called least developed countries (LDCs) that fall in the category of medium human development countries (Royal Government of Bhutan 2005). In terms of the human poverty index (HPI-1) was assessed at 33.34, placing the country at 61 from among 103 developing countries (Royal Government of Bhutan 2005) and regarding the distribution of income in Bhutan is relatively unequal, with a Gini index of 46.8

Learning from Bhutan Experience on MDGI-Bhutan is amongst the first country to commit and successfully undertake the MDG Initiative in the Asia-pacific region. Dasho Karma Ura, president of the Centre for Bhutan Studies remarked ‘any government concerned with happiness must create conducive conditions in which individual strivings can succeed’, thus the Bhutan MDG identify sectoral interventions and the total costs (human, institutional, financial) required to achieve the MDGs in Bhutan by 2015 under 4 broad thematic clusters: Poverty Reduction and Rural Development; Health; Education and Crosscutting (governance, gender, environment and capacity development) sectors (Kuensel 2011).

GNH Pilot Survey, 2006-2007 for developing GNH Indicators - The Good Governance Exercise carried out by the Royal Government in 2005 mandated the Centre for Bhutan Studies to develop indicators for Gross National Happiness (GNH). CBS has launched a survey on GNH indicators based on the primary data generated from the survey carried out from December 2007 to March 2008. For which a detailed questionnaire covering each of nine domain areas of Psychological Wellbeing, Health, Time Use, Education, Cultural Diversity and Resilience, Good Governance, Community Vitality, Ecological Diversity and Resilience, and Living Standards (Educating for GNH, 2008)

GNH Indicators and Screening tools: GNH indicators as evaluative tools, they can not only be used to check whether programs are consistent with GNH indicators but to create conditions for a coherent, organic relationship between professed values on the one hand and actual policies, programs and projects on the other (Ura and Zangmo 2008). The policy-screening tool was

Tshewang Palden implemented to ensure proposed policies fall in line with GNH values and each of these happiness dimensions is measured with precision through a set of 72 variables or indices. “All government policies and programs are now subject GNH screening and those that are GNH negative are rejected altogether or can be reconsidered only when the negative factors are removed or mitigating measures incorporated ” (Prime Minister of Bhutan ,Lyonchhen Jigmi Y Thinley 2011) .

Happiness used as a Approach -United Nations, this year, adopted with unanimity and without a vote the resolution, “Happiness: a holistic and sustainable approach to development”(Thinlay, 2011) and the MDGs that aim at establishing the minimum conditions for human survival by the year 2015.Futher more,in 2012 Bhutan will be attending the Rio+20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where Bhutan will present to the member states a set of policy recommendations to create the nine conditions for happiness through development processes to be undertaken in harmonious collaboration with each other as bound by the shared sense of purpose (Kuensel 2011).

Condition of Bhutan and why makes people happy -According to the third MDG Progress Report –Bhutan ‘s Progress: Midway to the Millennium Development Goals 2008,Bhutan has achieved significant and sustained progress and is well on track on achieving all the targets by 2015. Bhutan has made notably progress in enhancing the access halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to sanitation and safe drinking water (target 10) and halving the under-weight under-five children (target 2). The report also reveals that diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis have been successfully controlled (UNDP 2008) The Millennium Declaration is guided by the universal values of freedom, equality, tolerance, and respect for nature and shared responsibilities, ideals that also inspire and are deeply integral to the GNH value system even as the latter elevates happiness as the paramount and desirable outcome of these universal values. As such, the development vision and concept of GNH and the Millennium Development Goals fundamentally share common motivation and ideals.(MDG and UN)

Figure 17: HDI Values for Bhutan 1984-2007; Source Bhutan National Human Development Report 2005 , UNDP Human Development Indices, 2008)

Bhutan is one of the very few countries in the world with net greenhouse gas sequestration capacity largely due to its vast forest cover and use of clean renewable energy (UNDP 2008). And with GNH, and its support to the MDGs goals, which is a long –term goal to the pursuit to happiness. 2.5 Conclusion

The literature review which was structured with focus on three core areas -Destination Branding, Branding of Happiness and Happiness studies/ranking will now lead to the research and methodology, which will be discussed in upcoming chapters.

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3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLGY

This chapter will provide an overview of what were the different methods and measures that were used in order to obtain the data that was necessary for the research, and also in order to fulfill the research goals and questions. 3.1 Data collection

The collection of data, for this research, took place in form of primary and secondary research. It was a source that provided an in-depth significance to the report, which has been further explained below:

3.2 Secondary Research

Lays the foundation for the groundwork for retrieving information that was crucial for the research. This mainly was accessed through the information that was mainly retrieved from the NHTV data online base (Journals/Mintel) and other data collected from visiting tourism website, newspapers and in addition to this by reading books, government policies and other published materials related to the research topic.

But considering that the secondary research information was not enough and also considering the fact not many studies have been done in relation to the Branding of Happiness, hence it important to in-cooperate the primary research, which would further equip the research with information that was necessary, in order to complete the research.

3.3 Primary Research

Took in place of interviews and questionnaires, which was necessary to fulfill the demands of the research. The “Multiple Mixed Methods ”approach to generate both quantitative and qualitative data (Saunders et al, 2007) was seen as an important component of the primary research and that shaped in form of the interviews, questionnaires and to some extent in form of observations and interaction with the locals in the field.

3.4 Interviews

To understand the topic better, a one to one interview was conducted, in form of semi structured interviews as by nature it allowed, enough room for the interviewer to speak out their thoughts and views, which is good method to get the insights into the attitude of the interviewee (Walliman, 2011). This was taken into consideration as it was found to be a useful way in exploring the topic in a board manner and to which it was a dialogue with the interviewee, rather than a simply ask questions (Baileys 2007).

Interviews were conducted in both the areas of research- Bhutan and Netherlands. Firstly in Bhutan, the interviews were mainly conducted in form of open-ended questions that were targeted to officials that were working for the Tourism Council of Bhutan, Gross National Happiness Commission and few tops ranking local tour operator’s. This took place in the month of June–July 2010 .The questions based in order to find out (i) their views on the happiness campaign (ii) Bhutan as a land of Gross National Happiness .The list of interviewees consisted of

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(15 in total, a sample of question is attached in the appendix A as Bhutanese Business Perspective) 04 people were officials from TCB, 02 officials from the GNH commission, 01 from Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators and 08 were from the local tour operators.

Each interview took about 45-60 minutes and was conducted in the work place or offices of the concerned. Other than the ones in the list, causal interactions were also made with the tourist that was visiting Bhutan in the hotels in which they were staying or touristic sites. (A recommendation letter has been attached in Appendix E & F from ABTO and HAB –that allowed me to interview tourists in the hotels and other settings)

Table 3: List of interviewees in Bhutan

Sn.no Name of the Interviewee Designation and Organization 1. Thuji Dorji Nadik. Director for Plans and Program Division, TCB, Thimphu 2. Tshering Pem Senior Officer, Marketing and Planning Division, TCB,Thimphu 3. Kinley Dhendup Communication Officer,Marketing and Promotion Division ,TCB,Thimphu 4. Jamyang Choden Spokes person for TCB ,Thimphu ,Bhutan 5. Sonam Tongay Planning Officer, Research and Evaluation Division. GNHC,Thimphu 6. Lekema Dorji Administrative officer Development cooperation division. GNHC,Thimphu 7. Sonam Dorji General Secretary, Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators ,Thimphu 8. Sangay Wangchuk Tours Operation, General Manager ,Etho Metho Tours and Treks 9. Chencho Wangdi CEO, Exotic Destination, Thimphu 10. Anan Loza Marketing Officer & Partner ,Keys to Bhutan, Thimphu 11. Kinley Tshering CEO ,Himalayan Adventure ,Thimphu 12. Sithar Tamang CEO ,Yak Adventure Travel ,Thimphu 13. Karma Namgay General Manager ,Rainbow tours and treks ,Thimphu 14. Karma G CEO ,Adon Bhutan Travels ,Thimphu 15 Yeshey Norbu CEO, Norbu Bhutan Travel,Thimphu

The Second Interview(s) took place here in the Netherlands in the month of September-October 2011,with the questions also being open ended and semi structured in nature .The main reason why the interviews were conducted here was to be able to understand the possible factors that make Dutch people happy. This was important as it made a connection and a clear understanding, in framing the questionnaires, that was to be sent to the Dutch tourist that have been Bhutan. A total of 20 people were interviewed (sample can be found in the appendix C as Understanding of Happiness-Dutch Local Perspective) out of which 16 were one to one interview and 04 in form of emails. The interviews lasted about 35-45 minutes.

3.5 Questionnaires

The questionnaires comprised of a mixture of open format and close format ended questions that were sent out in both the areas of research -Bhutan and Netherlands. The main aim was to get a wholesome idea on the topic researched. For the Bhutanese locals the questionnaire was focused at finding about what happiness meant to them and how the understanding on the branding of

Tshewang Palden happiness (In total 20 people that responded, a sample is attached in Appendix B –as Understanding of Happiness –A Bhutanese Local Perspective)

Instrument: The questionnaire included sets of questions that were related to,(i) the assessment of the Bhutanese respondents and Dutch visitors to Bhutan’s knowledge on the Happiness branding campaign ,perceptions and thoughts about the campaign,(ii) the factors that contribute to a happy and content life ,(iii) socio demographic attributes (gender and age range).

On the other hand, a separate set of questionnaires was sent out to the Dutch that have been to Bhutan as it was felt that, it would be this sector that would be better able to justify their experiences in Bhutan as a place of happiness. The questionnaire was also framed in a way so it focused on trying to understand the state of happiness of the visitors and the features that made them happy while they were in Bhutan. On a specific note it aimed, at finding out the possible indicators that would add value to a Dutch tourist traveling to Bhutan. The questions remained quantitative and with a target group being 20 Dutch visitors that have visited Bhutan. In total, 15 questions were sent out (sample is attached in appendix D as Questionnaire for Dutch Visitors to Bhutan) and out of which the participants were first asked to whether they were aware of the brand and how they would also what they thought of it.

In regard to the happiness of the people of Bhutan, the questions were designed in a rank scale in which 1 was the least appropriate and 5 the most appropriate and they had to rank from an option of 05 indicators. Towards the end of the questionnaires the participants were asked to list 06 most important things that leads to happy and content life .In addition to this, a few open ended questions were asked in which in they participants expressed whether material wealth and its significance to their happiness and what they thought about it. And lastly, the role of Bhutanese people and their contribution to the Gross National Happiness in Bhutan was asked to the respondent.

Other than the interviews and questionnaires, Observations were made in the field (Bhutan) to identify and look out for the aspects and indicators that added to the overall fieldwork. Notes were kept which will were combined at a later stage and used in the analysis.

In all the above research, there was a multiple mixed methods (Saunders,2007 & Tashakkori 2003) were used as it was seen as the best method in order to derive the data .

3.6 Sampling

The section on research and analysis will start off by explaining what is sampling and the reason to include cluster sampling as the main basis for the analysis of the data collected during the fieldwork.

It will then move on to explain the about the themes that have been used for the analysis and finally these themes will be used to as a guide to answering questions that will lead to the answers of the research questions .A comparison and similarities of the three clusters will be represented in the next chapter which will then seek to answer the research goal.

Sampling is used when it is not possible or practical to include the entire research population in your study .It is a process of selecting a few from many in order to carry out empirical research (Pickard, 2007). In-order to understand the concept of sampling, the following figure as proposed by (Kumar, 2005) which explains the concept of using a sample:

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Figure 18 : The concept of sampling ( Kumar ,2005)

Sampling can be divided into two sampling methods: i) Probability Sampling ii) Purposive Sampling

Probability Sampling- Is used mainly when there is a wider population of study is involved (Pickard, 2007). It can be divided into a) Simple random sampling b) Stratified random sampling c) cluster sampling d) Quota sampling.

Purposive sampling according to (Patton, 2002) –the logic of purposive sampling lies in selecting information –rich cases of study in depth. Information –rich cases are those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research.

Cluster sampling –is based on the on the ability of the researchers to divide the sampling population into groups called clusters (Kumar, 2005). Clusters are chosen, when the research population is very large and often spread over a wide geographical location or groups demonstrate common characteristics.

For this research cluster sampling has been taken into consideration because firstly the population of the research areas Bhutan and Netherlands was very large and the time allotted to collect data for the research was not sufficient. And in addition each of the clusters had a common characteristics for example Cluster 3 – Dutch visitors to Bhutan-the common characteristics in this cluster being the Dutch cluster of visitors that have been to Bhutan before.

The figure on the following page, will show into how many clusters the research group has been divided into in order to carry out the analysis for this research paper.

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Figure 19 : The three types of clusters used for the analysis.

The research area Bhutan and Netherlands was divided into Three Clusters: What follows is a brief description of each of the clusters. The main purpose for this division was in order to better understand the meaning of happiness (from the Bhutanese and Dutch perspective) and to gather information on what is the relationship between the happiness of the Bhutanese people and the value it adds to the Dutch people.

Cluster 1- Bhutanese Business Perspective (in which 15 people who are involved in the travel and tourism in Bhutan were interviewed)

Cluster 2-Bhutanese Local Perspective (20 locals from Thimphu (Capital of Bhutan) were asked to fill in a questionnaire as a part of the survey).

Cluster 3-Dutch Local Perspective and Dutch Visitors to Bhutan (20 Dutch locals were interviewed .The other group of 20 Dutch people that have been to Bhutan were asked to fill in a questionnaire)

Each of these clusters will be described in detail in the analysis. What follows is a brief introduction to the themes that have been used in order to analyze each cluster. The same theme will be applied for all the clusters so that there is uniformity in all the three cluster samples that have been used.

As mentioned earlier a comparison and similarities between the three clusters will be found in chapter 4, which will result in the conclusion of this research. 3.7 Themes used for the analysis

A theme is a common, appropriate and important method for analyzing data (Bailey, 2007). The themes, that have been used here, are based on the data that was collected during the fieldwork that was carried out in Bhutan and Netherlands in order to find out the relationship between the happiness of the Bhutanese people and the values that would add to a Dutch visitor.

The themes have been derived from the text or narrative data, that comes from the sources and data that have been collected in form of responses from the open ended questions that have been asked to the respondents in the different clusters as in the survey that was carried out in

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Bhutan in June- July 2011 and Netherlands in September-October 2011.It also comes in form of transcript of the interviews of the people and also from the field notes and published reports.

Figure 20 : Themes used for to analyze the data.

The above themes have emerged from the data collected. Themes are put together depending on the recurring patterns, topics, viewpoints, emotions, concepts events and so on (Baileys, 2007). In this research, the themes have been put into four themes: Theme 1 –Description of Bhutan Theme 2- The Meaning of Happiness Theme 3- Satisfaction with Life Theme 4- People of Bhutan and finally which all add up to seek an answer why Bhutan “ Happiness is a place”.

The next chapter consists of the representation of the results that will be interpreted based on the findings that have been conducted for each of the clusters

4. RESULT ANALYSIS

This chapter will present the themes and its application to each of the three clusters. It will also explore the respondents answers from the research study conducted, that will determine the findings which will be used in the last section of this chapter in which the similarities and comparison will be derived, which will lead to the conclusion of this research. 4.1. Cluster One Findings- Bhutanese Business Perspective

Cluster one findings will be based on the findings based on the interviews that were collected in the month of June - July among 15 personals from different sectors but all working for the travel and tourism industry and the Gross National Happiness Commission in Bhutan. The details of the

Tshewang Palden interviews and the list of personals that were interviewed has been already shown in the chapter 3 (Research design and methodology in sub-section 3.4)

Figure 21: Cluster 1-Bhutanese Business Perspective

As a part of collecting information for the research, Interviews were sought as one of the forms to get the data required. Interviewing is a commonly used method of collecting information from people. It is useful for collecting in-depth information about the research in focus (Kumar 2005).

Figure 22 : Themes used for the analysis.

Theme 1 –Description of Bhutan

Bhutan Land Act of 2005,laying its emphasis on having 60% of the land cover under forest has a great influence on the way the respondents described Bhutan. One of the interviewees from the Tourism Council of Bhutan stated that Bhutan is a reservoir of abundance of natural resources. There is no need for artificial setting as we have it in its pure and natural form. Be it in form of natural and fresh flowing rivers to a large diversity of forest products. Another interviewee from the local tour operator remarked our country is like paradise as its it is place that has clean air, and nature’s beauty surrounds us, a great sense of appreciation is felt to be born in a country like ours.

The description of the country was also expressed in reference to good governance. One of the interviewees from the Gross National Happiness Commission, a very strong and trustful relationship exist between the king, country and its people –(TSA WA SUM) and it is fortunate to have a government that looks after its people with the best interest, that provides its people with free access to health and education, even though our country’s developing and could use the resources for developing the country other wise. In addition to this one of the interviewees from

Tshewang Palden the local tour operator revealed that it is with the good governance that Bhutan has been able to make it this far and also been identified as one of the happiest country in the world despite it still being in its infancy stages of development.

Consequently, the country was described based on the political situation. The interviewee from the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators pointed out that, “the country has been so peaceful and safe; this has been possible because of the farsighted and benevolent rulers, and as a result we have our independence and freedom till date”.

Culture, tradition and religious beliefs were yet another way in which the country was described. An interviewee from the local tour operators revealed that, Bhutan is one of the few countries that is proud to be still following it ancient culture practices, its old age traditional beliefs, and in which religion has a major role to play. It was implied by one of the interviewee from the Tourism Council of Bhutan as, it is the rich culture and tradition that makes us stand apart from the scores of the other Asian countries and thus marking as an identification and identity.

The following figure shows some of the key words that were used to Describe Bhutan based on the respondent’s answers:

Theme 2- The Meaning of Happiness

Happiness, although a very interesting topic for research can be difficult to define or even described, as felt when asked to the group of Business Bhutanese people. One of the interviewee from the Gross National Happiness Commission responded “Happiness is subjective and can differ from individual to settings, to me it means having a sense of satisfaction with knowing, the well- being of my family and loved ones. Whereas for interviewee from the local tour operator related to meaning to happiness in which it was described as a state of mind in which pleasure is felt and this could be the resultant of just being successful in life, having a satisfaction with your work or even the a smile of a child.

To be able to appreciate and be grateful for what you have, has a lot to do with the Buddhist philosophy remarked one of the interviewee from the Tourism Council of Bhutan. “Just living in the country that has been often referred to as the Last -Shangri-La or the kingdom above the clouds is true to what the country has to offer be it in terms of the livability or the conditions provided by nature is the way I would like to describe the meaning of happiness ”said interviewee from the Gross National Happiness Commission. In addition, “it is the Bhutanese freedom,

Tshewang Palden independence and its prosperity has a lot to do with the happiness ”; as stated by the interviewee from the local tour operator.

It was also noticed from the interviews that values and sense of affection was another way in which the meaning of happiness was expressed. For instance the interviewee from the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators pointed out that,” The strength and the determination to keep the norms and tradition alive and pass it on to our younger generation is what is brings happiness” and for another interviewee from the local tour operator revealed that happiness is a sense of affection that is experienced when knowing that you have been surrounded by your family and loved ones.

Well being and contentment, as expressed by the interviewee from the local tour operator was a core element in determining happiness of an individual or group. As it is happiness that facilitates the well being, thus encompassing the aspects of a happy and content life .To which another interviewee from the Tourism Council of Bhutan pointed out that if a person is content and then only will he /she will be happy.

Figure 23: The meaning of happiness from a Business Bhutanese Perspective.

Theme 3- Satisfaction with Life

The main components that were found to lead to the satisfaction of life from this group of respondents were found, to be based on the well-being of family and loved ones, good health, spirituality, compassion /empathy and financial security.

Regarding the well being of the family one of the interviewee from the local tour operator responded that “We live in a close-knit community and our family and their well-being, brings the greatest satisfaction in my life. Only when you are satisfied with your own life will you be able to head towards creating a content and happy life”. Strong family bonds and quality time spent with families is a source of happiness and thus makes me feel satisfied with life was another interviewee from the Gross National Happiness Commission.

With connection to spirituality and life satisfaction, the interviewee from the Association of Bhutanese Operators remarked “Spiritual practices take me to another level and thus giving a

Tshewang Palden greater sense of satisfaction”. And in addition to this context, a interviewee from the local tour operator mentioned “in spirituality we are able to find a deeper meaning to life and what it has to offer, which brings a sense of satisfaction to life”.

One of the interviewee from the local tour operator revealed that it was compassion /empathy – that defines the goodness of the person and being able to do good deeds and with the good deeds comes a sense of satisfaction, which is a good feeling. In a another view from a interviewee from the Tourism Council of Bhutan saw compassion and empathy as being able to help the needy and to provide for the less in which a Buddhist would most satisfaction as that is what our religion preaches ”.

Financial security in reference to a steady job, a regular source of livelihood and a roof over my head was seen as what would add a sense of satisfaction to life an interviewee from the local tour operator. It becomes apparent that I am satisfied with my life when I don’t have bad debts and loans to pay off and make do with what as having revealed by one of the interviewee from the Tourism Council of Bhutan.

And to the rest of the interviewee’s related their life satisfaction to resources available, peace and prosperity of the nation and also job satisfaction.

Figure 24: Key words to describe the Satisfaction with life

Theme 4- People of Bhutan

Faithful, Compassionate, Friendly, Happy, Content, Easy–Going are some of the key words that have been used to describe the people of Bhutan from the Business Bhutanese Perspective.

In respect to the way the Bhutanese people were described –Faithfulness was one of the description used, to which one of the interviewee from the local tour operator revealed to be faithful is something you will notice whether it is in a school, village, monastery or an urban setting .Another interviewee from the Tourism Council of Bhutan stated that it is the faithfulness that of the Bhutanese that is one of the most remarking features in the Bhutanese personality and it is seen while the outsiders come to our country.

We being Buddhist, religion has a great influence on this side of us being compassionate remarked one of the interviewees from the Gross National Happiness Compassion. One more person of the Gross National Happiness Commission had a similar opinion and stated “Good

Tshewang Palden deeds leads to a good life” thus understanding the “karma” or the cycle of life, most Bhutanese tends to be more compassionate.

According to the Bhutan Tourism Monitor (2009), based on the survey carried out, it was found that 74.3% of the respondents revealed that Bhutan as being “Friendly” country. And as per one of the interviewees from the local tour operators,“ Being friendly comes naturally to the Bhutanese people, It is our tradition to be friendly and welcoming and making a step forward to greet with a smile comes naturally to a Bhutanese”.

Considering that we have a good and protective government that safeguards us from all turmoil’s and looks out for best interest, Bhutanese people are happy asserted one of the interviewee from the Tourism Council of Bhutan. Consequently, one of the interviewee from the Gross National Happiness Commission If we just make a comparison to countries in our stage, the Bhutanese are happy with what we have, be the government or natural resources as in overall. In addition to the happiness which is often the resultant from contentment, the interviewee from Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators pointed out that “ materialistic things like money is important but yet it is temporary so Bhutanese people are happy with what they have and don’t strive too hard to gain monetary benefits ”.

The interviewees from the Bhutanese Business Perspective also noted that Bhutanese people could be also regarded as easy going. It can be related to the nature of the Bhutanese people, pointed out one of the interviewee from the local tour operators. Their easy going nature is a plus point considering that the people are easily adaptable to any situation and don’t have much problem to making newer adjustment whether it is at home, work or school as noted by one of the interviewee’s of the Gross National Happiness Commission.

Figure 25: Key words to describe the Bhutanese people.

4.2 Cluster Two Findings -Bhutanese Local Perspective

In this chapter we will look into the research findings that were based on the Bhutanese Local Perspective, which was carried out in Thimphu (Capital of Bhutan). A questionnaire was used as a part of this survey .The questions were a mixture of choice and open ended questions at the end .The main aim was to gain information from the Bhutanese locals about what happiness meant to them and their understanding on the branding of happiness (In total 20 people that responded, a sample is attached in Appendix B –as Understanding of Happiness –A Bhutanese perspective)

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Figure 26: Cluster 2 Bhutanese Local Perspective.

Theme 1 –Description of Bhutan The participants for this survey questionnaire were given a set of questionnaires to fill. The first question in which they had to describe Bhutan based on the five options that were given, in which they had to rank the least appropriate to the most appropriate to which they think that would best describe Bhutan. It was revealed that the locals from Bhutan considered their country to being friendly, to Happy ,Cultural, Spiritual and finally Beautiful.

Theme 2-Meaning of Happiness

Being content, the well-being of the family, Good health, Religion are few of the ways in which Bhutanese people find their happiness as shown in the figure below. The Bhutanese locals that were participants for this survey was given a question in which they had to rank an option of five, to find out what the meaning of happiness. As seen in the figure below that the 36% asserted that being content would add most meaning to their lives, and followed by 22% confiding in religion and spirituality as their means of happiness. Able to enjoy physical pleasures, Vacationing and being content were ranked at a similar opinion at 14%.

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Figure 27 : The Meaning of Happiness from Bhutanese Local Perspective.

Theme 3- Satisfaction with Life

Figure 28 : Satisfaction of Life from Bhutanese Local Perspective.

Theme 4- People of Bhutan

For this theme in which the Bhutanese Locals were even asked to list down three words that would describe the people of Bhutan. Most of them asserted that the people of Bhutan could be described in a variety of ways such as being welcoming, friendly to be hospitable and concerned. This would relate to the nature of the Bhutanese people. As for being kind, helpful, compassionate, and affectionate, which would relate to the qualities the Bhutanese posses.

This section Cluster One (4.1) and Cluster Two (4.2) ends the analysis of the findings that were exhibited from the Bhutanese Business Perspective and Bhutanese Local Perspective respectively. The next section of this chapter (4.3) will be represented as Cluster Three.

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4.3 Cluster Three Findings-Dutch Local Perspective and Dutch Visitors to Bhutan

In this chapter, the findings from the Dutch Local Perspective on happiness will be described in section one and which will be followed by the findings based on the questionnaire that was filled in by the Dutch people that have been to Bhutan, as section two. This understanding from the two perspective was felt necessary for the report as it will not only bring in validity to the findings but also help to clearer picture as to how /what the Dutch market feel /know about Bhutan and it being a place for happiness.

Figure 29: Cluster 3- Dutch Local Perspective and Dutch Visitors to Bhutan

SECTION ONE - Dutch Local Perspective

Theme 1-Description of Bhutan

Since the most of interviewees had very less idea about Bhutan, so instead they were asked a question in which they had to list down three expectations from Bhutan as a place that promotes happiness. From 20 respondents, 18 answered and 02 did not know what to expect and hence left skipped the question.

Figure 30- Expectations from Bhutan

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The way the local Dutch people see Bhutan is as a place with happy and friendly people bounded with rich culture and tradition. This category will be further strengthened with the Dutch visitors that have been to Bhutan as the section two of this chapter.

Theme 2-The Meaning of Happiness

The interviewee’s view on the meaning of happiness varies from being at peace, enjoyment with family to having money and financially stable. Here are few of the answers that were revealed when asked what does happiness mean to them. This interview has been aimed at trying to find out what happiness means to a Dutch as this would be valuable, when trying to find out how the Bhutanese people happiness would bring value to a Dutch visitor to Bhutan:

“Happiness is hard to define, but I am happy when I am with my friends or family, having fun and when I don’t have to worry about anything and just be careless ” asserted one of the local Dutch respondents. But on the other hand one of the interviewee described happiness as “just being aware of the society and being happy as stated Standard of Living, happy with oneself and aware of the society ”.

Appreciation and values as stated by one of the interviewee was seen as happiness, as pointed out “ appreciate the value of what you have, be at peace, not be full of conflict, not be too unsure or anxious about the future, and be motivated about the things you are doing” –this is what happiness means to me. And for another interviewee happiness found its meaning in good health, friendship, family, love, respect, and peace .One of the interviewee also referred to having money and financial security as having a major role to play in happiness whereas for another Dutch Local interviewee “happiness “meant to enjoy time with a smile .

To yet another local Dutch interviewee happiness was found in the well being, and being able to do what you want to do and being with the people that you love. The meaning of happiness was seen as different from one individual as to one of the interviewee it just meant Feeling good, satisfied, and with no tension. In addition to this another interviewee pointed out that a stress free life and things going well for me means happiness and for another it was the time that was spent with their family and loved ones .It can be seen that most of the interviewee have related their happiness to being with their family and loved ones.

Figure 31: The Meaning of Happiness from a Dutch Local Perspective .

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Theme 3- Satisfaction of Life

From the 20 people interviewed, the interviewee’s were asked, the question considering all things in life ”how satisfied are you with your life and the list of option (s)-Very Happy, Not Too Happy, Fairly Happy, Happy and Very Happy were given from which they had to make ONE choice.

Figure 32: Satisfaction of Life -Dutch Local Perspective

The maximum answers 12 in which the respondents, were Fairly Satisfied/Happy with their life, in which they expressed that living in country that has a lot of incentives for the people, easy life in the sense, convenience, or just being satisfied with work and well-being of their family. They were others that were Very happy 02 people, Happy 04, Not too happy 02 and Very Unhappy none.

Based on the interview that was conducted with 20 Dutch locals in Netherlands in order to understand the meaning of happiness from a Dutch perspective, that would be necessary before the questionnaires were sent out to the Dutch that have actually visited Bhutan. This increases the validity and so the interviewer will not stray away from the concept of happiness from a Dutch perspective .The interview took place here in Netherlands in the month of September to October 2011.

First and fore most, it was felt necessary to understand the importance of what a vacation means and how many times would the Dutch take in a year and what do they consider important while choosing a destination for travel. This was thought to be crucial, as the answers would lead to understand the reasoning for a vacation option and the factors that would affect the destination. For example Bhutan –would it be a destination that a Dutch would choose considering that it being a destination with less accessibility as there are not many ways to connect to country and with only national carrier and limited flying frequencies, the distance factor and the value for money.

The findings in relation to the vacation, its frequencies and factors, as from the interviewees were:

Factors considersing while choosing a destiination

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As seen from the above figure: the main reasons for the Dutch locals for taking a mainly for Relaxation. Talking to one of the interviewee who is working full time, it was pointed out that “the work we do is stressful and a vacation is a time in which we get complete relaxation” ,in line with relaxation was the family –the interviewees felt that a vacation is a time in which they get to spend time with their loved ones and family as they don’t have the privilege when there are home as there are buy with their own lives –children at school and parents at work. It was also pointed out by one of the interviewee that it was “ a time for bonding”.

The other reason that Dutch take a vacation is that it was for enjoyment. “At home or in our own country we hardly get anytime to enjoy as we are so caught up with our daily chores –so it is on a vacation, that we get to enjoy and indulge our self into completing spoiling ourselves with fine dining, parties, site seeing and many more activities” as said by one of the interviewee.

The other reasons were more or less, similar to the ones that have been mentioned above. Similar in the sense that it was to have a good time and get away from the daily life and work that awaits at home or in the country that they work/live. Spending time for oneself with no stress in a beautiful place with good weather with friends and family were seen to be reasons for vacationing.

With regard to the factors that were considered while choosing a destination, as seen in the figure: The most important being culture which was followed by price and weather. There were other factors also looked into before a destination is decided and they are: Activities to do while they at the destination, the distance factor, this was mainly seen from the interviewee that were married and with kids, then to add to the list were the Facilities ,Nature, Inspiration, Convenience ,Exploration and History. As a result from the factors that were listed, it can be seen that Dutch people vacationing are greatly influenced by they were they are –in the sense that it is the richness of the culture that they seek and sought out for that may be found not so vibrant here in Netherlands and the weather which is more or less not so favorable here especially in the winter.

Regarding, the frequencies of taking a vacation, it was found out the 10 people from the ones interviewed take a vacation once a year, 07 people twice a year, 02 people thrice a year and 01 person took a vacation as often as four or more times a year. So this leads to show that the local Dutch do take a vacation at least once a year and can be depend largely on the culture, weather and price involved. It is a time in which they relax, spend quality time with their family or to oneself and also in which they have a stress free and enjoyable time.

In regard to the Brand campaign that was officially launched by the Tourism Council of Bhutan in March 2011.It was found out that a majority 30% was not aware of the brand campaign. This

Tshewang Palden already shows that there needs plenty effort and marketing needs to be done to reach out for the potential visitors that do want to travel and even have the spending power.

The other responses reflected that the brand campaign does not conveys much information on the happiness (25%) but however the campaign is simple and nice (10%) and its different from the campaigns that they have seen (10%) but at the same time it was felt that it was not natural (10%). This was in reference to the flower that has been used in the Brand Logo, which is the Blue Poppy-the national flower of Bhutan. The respondents that said that it was not natural enough and stated that if Bhutan wants to covey to be a natural country then the flower does not do justice as it is not natural and rather opens in a very awkward manner.

Theme 4- The Dutch People and their description of Netherlands as a Happy Place:

Since this segment of the participants dealt with the Dutch local people that have not been to Bhutan before, therefore it was difficult to ask them about the people of Bhutan so instead the question was reversed and instead the participants were asked to describe the Dutch people and happiness in Holland .The answers that have been received here is another way of adding value to the analysis .For it was easy to understand the Dutch locals better and what their understanding was for happiness .In order to get more information about the Bhutanese people ,the next segment will reveal based on the findings of the Dutch visitors to Bhutan.

When the interviewees were asked to describe Netherlands as a Happy place, this is what they had to say. It differs from Freedom being the top rated to money, openness, comfort, organized, opportunities and Security.

According to one of the interviewees “Netherlands is a very easygoing country, almost everything is legal and aloud” and in relation to this another one of the interviewees noted that “Freedom as being a crucial part of the lives of the Dutch people. Freedom is by far the most important thing for happiness in Holland is a sense of freedom. Even if there would be some sort of huge problem in the country, and a simple solution would be to ban something- the idea of taking away a freedom would be rejected. Rather, they would try to work around it to restrict the negative effects, but not take away the freedoms of other people that are not causing the problems. I can’t

Tshewang Palden imagine a Dutch person willingly moving to a country where there are many restrictions, even if the country was a good place to live in other aspects.”

"Small affluent countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark are very democratic and very free. There is also a very good education system. People can use that freedom and education to make the right choices," - Veenhoven, 2010 The Dutch lifestyle is often seen as chaotic but well managed as one of the interviewee -a young mother to three kids stated that “Often both of the parents do work and then it can be a bit chaotic when you come home and have to take care of the children. But on the other hand; we live in a country with a good governmental system, good connectivity, and good conditions to live in so there is not much to complain about”.

With regard to the convenience and organization: Dutch people are happy as they are convenient for a comfortable life, with the system being well organized. The Government is very supportive like for example the people who loose their jobs can get the government support as asserted by one of the Dutch Local Interviewees.

Money was also expressed as a concern from one of the interviewee’s who felt that “Dutch people have a lot of money and their attachments are mostly to the materialistic life .It is difficult for us to not have the simple comforts in our life which for another country could be looked as a luxury for example a car or a house”. To which another interviewee who had the same line of thinking revealed that its sad that the “Dutch people are very individualistic and do not realize what a good life they are having in comparison to other countries, which I think is a pity”.

Nine out of ten Dutch people of twenty years and older were happy or satisfied with their lives last year. Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) 2010.

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SECTION TWO- Dutch Visitors to Bhutan

Theme 1-Description of Bhutan The country was described with the aspects that were related to the country’s physical features like its beauty, which was in form of nature and mountains. Some of the visitors based their description on the aspects which came as an outcome of their experiences like the friendliness and happiness of the people and for the rest the description was seen in what they felt while being in Bhutan-peaceful, paradise and unspoilt. The below two figures will depict how the Dutch visitors felt when in were in Bhutan and the what made them happy on their visit to Bhutan.

What made you happy while you were in Bhutan (Figure 33)

Which among the following made you happy while you were in Bhutan (Figure 34)

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Theme 2-The Meaning of Happiness

The questionnaire composed of finding out the meaning of happiness from the Dutch visitors to Bhutan. As seen from the above figure, the participants had a wide range of looking at meaning of happiness.

Leading a healthy life was seen as the most significant way in which the Dutch visitors to Bhutan determined the meaning of happiness. For one of the participants responded that “If health is good then everything follows” to which another participant mentioned knowing that “me and my family are in good health then that would be happiness for me, as then our mind becomes clear and then we are free to do what we desire”.

Having a clean environment to live in was also revealed as important and that added meaning to the happiness of the Dutch Visitor to Bhutan and also as per the Dutch Researchers, who found that among more than 300,000 Dutch adults and children, those living near more "green spaces" tended to have lower rates of 15 different health conditions, (Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health via Dutch Daily News) and thus affecting their level of happiness.

Dutch people are careful with money and save money for hard times (Dutch Daily News ).The survey that was conducted my the Friesland Bank showed that almost Two thirds of the 1000 respondents with at least Euro 5000 indicated to save money for a possible disappointing retirement ,the risk of unemployment ,increasing housing cost and also to go for a holiday .

In terms of Livability the Dutch people have been seen to live in one of the best place in the world to live. According to the study that in which the list was complied by the magazine of International Living, which made a research of the living conditions in 194 countries, the Netherlands is a great country to live in. The Netherlands ranks best in security and freedom, infrastructure and health. The evaluation is based on the cost of living, cultural and entertainment offerings, the environment and climate, safety, health, infrastructure and economic situation.(Dutch Daily News)

Money , education and job satisfaction is also another means of happiness to the Dutch. The income of highly educated people in 2009 was on average almost twice as high as that of low skilled. According to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The CBS earned nearly 50,000 Euros educated and less educated than 26,000 Euros per year. The average gross income of workers was just over 36,000 Euros. One third of the workforce in the Netherlands has a college degree or a university degree and is highly skilled. 40 percent of workers have a secondary education (MBO degree or at least 4 years HAVO or VWO) and the rest are low skilled (Dutch Daily News and CBS 2010). As mentioned by the respondents and also seen from the research carried

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The Dutch people fared well in Theme 3- Satisfaction of Life making to the Best Countries top 100 ranking in the American

magazine Newsweek. The rankings were based on five categories education, health, quality of life, economic competitiveness, and political environment .The Dutch Liberal education system and freedom was also a pointer in this survey (via Daily Dutch News)

Figure 35:Satisfaction of Life Dutch visitor to Bhutan

Based on a market survey carried out by the Ipsos Social Research Institute in which 23,000 people were asked about their life satisfaction, based on Index that measured of quality of life including housing, income, jobs, community, education, the environment, health, work-life balance, and life satisfaction. “Life satisfaction” was used as the cornerstone of our index because it is as good a proxy for “happiness” as the survey provides. We then compared “life satisfaction” scores to the other measurements to find those economic and socio-political realities that had the highest and lowest correlation to happiness (Ipsos 2010). The findings revealed 85 percent of people living in the Netherlands happy with their neighborhood (Ipsos via Dutch Daily News). Ninety one percent of Dutch residents report being satisfied with their lives, more than any other country in the OECD. This is likely due in part to high scores for personal life and a good balance between work and leisure (Dutch Daily News).

Theme 4- People of Bhutan From the figure 36, that is has been drawn out to describe the Bhutanese people it can be concluded that, the Bhutanese are most friendly and also Hospitable and Happy, as well as being Innocent and Humble as seen from the Dutch Visitor to Bhutan .The next figure 37,depicts how far according to the Figure 36: Key words to describe the Bhutanese Dutch visitors the Bhutanese people People are happy, as based on their experience and from what they have seen on their visit to Bhutan.

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Figure 37: Dutch Visitor Agreement on Bhutan people being happy

This survey was carried out as an exercise to find out what more on the experiences of the Dutch the have been to Bhutan .The earlier interview with the local Dutch did not reveal much information regarding about the Bhutanese people’s happiness and thus this survey was more focused in finding out what kind of experiences the Dutch visitors had while in Bhutan, How and in what form did they get to see the happiness of the Bhutanese people and what their impression on the branding strategy.

Out of 20 people that participated in the sutrvey,16 of them have not heard of the branding strategy and while it was 04 people that have heard about it. This shows that the branding campaign has not reached out to the potential Dutch clients.

The next question was in which, the participants were asked to list down three words to describe Bhutan from their viewpoint. This was included in the questionnaire as it was seen as crucial to know what the Dutch visitors to Bhutan thought and felt about the country and this could later be seen if there was any relevance to the expectation to the local Dutch and their expectation to match their expectation from a country that promotes “Happiness is a place” and which will also help to add value to the others that would visit Bhutan.

There were range of answers and the most common feature that was noticed in the answers were that Bhutan as seen in the eyes and experience of their visit, was that it was a beautiful country that had plentiful of nature and which was a perfect peaceful getaway. The circumstances that made Bhutan so was the friendliness of the Bhutanese people, their happiness and their culture .A positive for the research as Culture is one of described as one of the top reasons for the local Dutch traveling to a destination with price and weather also taken into consideration.

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There were some other physical elements that were mentioned to describe the country, like the Himalayas (one of the most prominent mountains lying in the Bhutanese range). The other description included the King of Bhutan (as he is one the significant figures of Bhutan), the religion –Buddhism –as being a Buddhist country- many monasteries and other religious talisman that are found all over the country and also the spirituality of the people with their worships and rituals – this could be included in the response as it is unlike that is seen in Netherlands. Due to being a multi-cultural country it has a diversity of religion and worship and no one religion is prominent .So when the Dutch visitors observed one main religion in Bhutan is was associated with the description of the country.

The nature, the landscape, the country was also described as unspoilt, magical and paradise. This could be the resultant of the country, being beautiful with greenery everywhere, clean and pure and not much development, which are so unlike to what is found in the Netherlands.

The tradition and culture is apart of what the Bhutanese people are. Right from what they wear, eat or belief in and this is an outstanding feature for the Dutch visitor as it’s a complete situation that is found in Netherlands.

The above descriptions that were stated by the Dutch are mostly in reference to the landscape, livability and the religion, which can be referred to what has been written in the literature review that described Bhutan as “Happiness is a place”.

Figure 38: Aspects that gave Upmost satisfaction to a Dutch visitor in Bhutan

To further enhance the understanding of their visit to Bhutan .The Dutch visitors were asked what was it that gave them upmost satisfaction on their visit to Bhutan. The answers to this question revealed a lot of information that would be vital to exploring the relationship between what the Dutch visitors would consider as valuable and non -prevalent in their country, and which they could find it in Bhutan –which remains the main goal of this paper.

The participants were given four options for this question that is based on the four pillars of the “Gross National Happiness Pillars” to which they had to mark from the least important to most important: The options consisted of the following: Sustainable and Equitable Socio-Economic Development Conservation of the Environment Preservation and promotion of the culture Good Governance

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50% of the of the participants, that filled up the questionnaire, felt that it was Bhutan, a country in which the people still have believed and lived towards the “ Preservation and Promotion of the culture”. This is what the government promotes and what the Bhutanese wants. It also adds to be a good sign as it is one of the main aims in which the government feels that Bhutan could develop without, compromising the happiness of the Bhutanese people.

The Dutch visitors (40%), ranked the Conservation of the environment as one of the reasons that gave them upmost satisfaction on their visit to Bhutan. As seen from the earlier description of Bhutan and through the literature review, one of the most notable features of Bhutan was that it had a huge and very conspicuous forest cover that cannot go unnoticed by visitors or locals in Bhutan. This lies to the effort that has been put by the government in maintaining, 60% of the land to be covered by forest and to which Bhutan proudly boost of having (72,5 %)of the forest cover.

As for the other two pillars the participants, response reveals that it did give the satisfaction to their visit in-comparison to the former two. This could be due to the fact that the former too are more tangible and physical aspects which is noticeable while being in the country and as for the latter two its not so, and would come in form of policies and guidelines.

The next question was important for the research, as it would give an idea of repeat visitors. From the 20 people that participated in the questionnaire it was found that 18 of the people would go back to Bhutan as the reasons being that they loved the experience, they work there,the have family and friends and most importantly, it is a different world in which people are happy ,friendly and very hospitable .

Figure 39: Respondents go back to Bhutan

As for the 02 people that said that they will not go back to Bhutan is due to the fact that it is a very expensive and high-end destination.

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4.4 Similarities and Differences between the three clusters

This dissertation aims to explore the relationship between the happiness of the Bhutanese people and the value it adds to a Dutch visitors and also to relate it to the brand campaign endorsed by the Tourism Council of Bhutan in which it portrays Bhutan as a “happiness is a place”. In the previous sub section of this chapter (4.1,4.2,4.3) the three clusters have been described and interpreted. This sub-section (4.4) seeks to outline the similarities and the differences between the three clusters that will conclude the research.

• Similarities between the there clusters: The research findings and interpretation from the three clusters identified reveal that there are some similarities between the three clusters, which have been discussed briefly below:

 Description of Bhutan:

⇑ ⇑ ⇑ Bhutanese Business Perspective Bhutanese Local Perspective Dutch Visitor to Bhutan

As seen from the above three figures that have been derived from the cluster analysis, it has been noticed that there are three main features that are similar among the three clusters, which are the following;(i) Culture (ii) Beautiful and (iii) Happy. The description of Bhutan has been associated with the tangible aspects, that is visible and that surrounds the country (culture and beautiful) and intangible (happy or happiness which comes as an experience).

(i) Culture: Apparently from perspective of the three clusters, Bhutan has been described as, a cultural rich country as it has been noticed and also associated, with the description of the country. Culture is indeed one of the main identification of the country and consequently, one of the pillars of Gross National Happiness, which is the “Preservation and Promotion of Culture”. The emphasis comes from the government in form of preservation of tangible and intangible aspects of culture (conservation and restoration of monasteries, supports of traditional songs and dances etc). The values and folklore is now being promoted in schools and institutions all across the country and in terms of tourism –festivals, routes, and traditional norms of the Bhutanese lifestyles.

Thus as a result, culture is an identification of the Bhutanese people and could be one of reasons that would add value to the relationship between the Bhutanese people and the Dutch visitor.

(ii) Beautiful: Bhutan has been described as beautiful and thus having a similarity in the description of the country, between the three clusters. This is largely due to the fact that Bhutan has a forest cover of 72.5%( NSB 2010) and has a constitutional mandate to retain a minimum forest coverage of 60% at all times. The country has 51% under park and protected forest that makes Bhutan into one of the bio diversity hot spots in the world. This feature of the country being tangible and noticeable leads to the similarities in the clusters.

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(iii) Happy or Happiness: It can be interpreted from the clusters that happiness remains as a common feature that has been used to describe Bhutan. However, it must be clarified that since happiness is subjective it can vary from person to person and situation to situation, and country to country. Happiness has been described and noticed in Bhutan by relating it to religion, spirituality, and well-being where as happiness from the Dutch perspective is an experience from just being in a country that was surrounded by nature, rich culture and tradition or just being among happy people.

 What follows is the similarity that has been noticed in the cluster one and three in reference to the “Meaning of Happiness”

⇓ Dutch Perspective: Meaning of Happiness

Bhutanese Perspective: Meaning of Happiness ⇑

Love: In respect to what can be concluded from the findings that have been based on the meaning of happiness –Love comes as one of the similar expression of happiness. Although, the Dutch and the Bhutanese people had different way in which they expressed the meaning of love and how it defines happiness but it implies, Love can be one of the factors that brings happiness to a individual or society.

Peace: Another similarity that was noticed from the cluster analysis was that both Dutch and the Bhutanese people felt that the meaning if happiness is related to peace. Just as love although the approach and thinking was different but both the clusters felt that Peace was could be associated with happiness –whether it peace of a country or peace of mind, happiness comes with Peace.

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Satisfaction with Life

Bhutanese Local Perspective⇓ In respect to this question, the respondents answered to the question that stated.“ Considering all things in life – How satisfied are you with your life”. It was seen that for all the three clusters, what remained similar was that none of the respondents were “Unhappy” with their lives.

What follows is a brief description that was found on the basis of asking the three clusters on the satisfaction level

of their lives. Dutch local perspective ⇓

For the Bhutanese local perspective as it can be seen from the figure, the similarity that remains between the other cluster is the one with the Dutch visitor to Bhutan in which one of the respondents were “Not Too Happy” in regard to the satisfaction of their lives .The reasons remains unknown as the respondents were not comfortable in revealing their reasons for being Not Too Happy.

The next similarity in regard to the satisfaction of the Dutch visitor to Bhutan⇓ lives comes with the Dutch locals and the Dutch visitors to Bhutan, in which it was seen that there were four respondents in each category that were “Happy “ with their lives.

These figures do not relate to how Bhutan can be a place of happiness neither does it aid to explore the relationship of the Bhutanese people and the value that it could add to a Dutch visitor, but however these findings help to understand the overall picture of how satisfied the respondents are, because only when a

person is satisfied with life, will it lead to contentment Outer Qualities Inner Qualities ⇓ ⇓ and overall happiness . Source: Veenhoven, 2000 that was explained in (figure 11) in the literature review –the satisfaction of life being one of the aspects that compliments “happiness”.

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 People of Bhutan

⇑ ⇑ ⇑

Bhutanese Business Perspective Bhutanese Local Perspective Dutch Visitor to Bhutan

Cluster Friendly Happy Compassionate Traditional Hospitable Innocent Humble Bhutanese √ √ √ Business Bhutanese √ √ √ √ √ √ Local Dutch √ √ √ √ √ √ Visitor to Bhutan

It can be interpreted from the above table (which has been drawn out with the findings revealed from the analysis of the clusters), that Bhutanese people are “friendly”. The characteristics of being welcoming, helpful, kind, easy-going, respectful and affectionate have all resulted in showcasing that the Bhutanese people are “friendly “and this is apparent from the above findings.

The other similarities that have between the clusters are that the Bhutanese Business cluster and the Dutch visitor to Bhutan have described the Bhutanese as “Happy”. This feature is important for the research which aims to find what are the values of the Bhutanese people that could add value to a Dutch visitor .The other similarities that were noticed between the clusters were that the Bhutanese Business and Locals have described the Bhutanese people as “compassionate”. This could be a feature that could add value but the research found this not to be the case with the Dutch visitors to Bhutan.

As for the clusters of the Bhutanese local and the Dutch visitor to Bhutan, it can be concluded that there lies a common understanding that that the Bhutanese people are Traditional, Hospitable, Innocent and Humble. All these can be looked as the value that can be added to a Dutch visitor to Bhutan as these are some of the aspects that have long been forgotten in the developed world and here in particular reference to the Dutch people.

The next section will look into the differences between the three clusters .The differences revealed in the findings, will significantly contribute to the conclusion of this report, as it leads to understanding the evidences that support the ideas, the feelings, the meaning of happiness, well- being and Bhutan “happiness is a place” with differences of opinion that comes from a Bhutanese and a Dutch. Only when these differences have been spelt out it will highlight what can be the value to a Dutch visitor that seeks to embark a journey into a “ land of happiness”.

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• Differences between the three clusters  The meaning of Happiness ⇓ Local Dutch Perspective: Meaning of Happiness

Bhutanese Perspective: Meaning of Happiness ⇑

Dutch visitor to Bhutan: Meaning of Happiness ⇑

As self explanatory in the figures shown above, it can be concluded that happiness is a feeling that is felt to a Bhutanese with the conditions that have been resulted from the psychological well- being of a person as explained in the literature review as the eudaimonic view point .For a Bhutanese happiness is largely influenced by the religion and more on the emotional aspects like the love, affection and peace .The Gross National Happiness is also seen as a dominant factor in leading the Bhutanese to attainable happiness that has been guided by the four pillars and nine domains. The Bhutanese happiness is not ambitious and they are content easily.

Whereas, happiness is seen from a different perspective from the Dutch, as shown in the above figures in which family, relationships, friends, good health are important factor that can determine the happiness of a person, but at the same time they see that Freedom, Employment, Clean-Environment, Stress-Free, Money, Security Equality,and opportunities as a means in which happiness can be attained. The meaning of a Dutch can be referred to as the subjective well- being of a person, that is the hedonic approach in which happiness is connected to the social aspects which is different from the Bhutanese happiness that is related to the psychological well- being of a person.

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 Description of the country

Description of Netherlands by the Local Dutch Description of Bhutan by the Bhutanese

What follow is the differences, that has been drawn out to see what are the ways in which the Dutch and then Bhutanese have described their country. These difference is important as it highlights on the aspects that the Dutch can not find in Netherlands but available in Bhutan, which can be the value that can be added to a Dutch visitor that intends to travel to Bhutan.

From what has been used to describe Netherlands, it becomes apparent that the Dutch have used the situational aspects to describe their country. It can been seen as a land of opportunities, where the system is well organized systematic, convenient, reliable and comfortable. The country has been also described as Free, Open and Legal in which a sense of security exits.

On the other hand, the Bhutanese have described their country in terms of livability such as it’s a natural, pure, clean and an amazing place .It has been also supported with what is most prominent in the country and in which the people believe in and is a source of their identity be it in form of the religion, culture, tradition,its safety ,its independence and all above being a paradise in which happiness can be found .

What is missing from the Netherlands and is found in Bhutan can be categorized as the values to a Dutch visitor.

The following figure that has been derived from the analysis of the Dutch visitor to Bhutan, illustrates that the Bhutanese people are happy, which has been based on their visit and experience to Bhutan.

From the 20 Dutch that visited Bhutan, 07 people neither agree nor disagree on that the Bhutanese people are happy.09 people agree that Bhutanese people are happy and while 04 strongly agree that Bhutanese people are Happy. Thus it can be concluded that from the Dutch visitors to Bhutan, that the Bhutanese people are happy and remains a scope for the Bhutan to attract the Dutch visitor.

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The branding of happiness –Bhutan “ happiness is a place”

As mentioned earlier on, Bhutan latest brand campaign, was endorsed by the Tourism Council of Bhutan in March this year, which is represented by a blue poppy as official logo and also with a tagline as Bhutan “happiness is a place”.

The significance of making the comparison between the what the Tourism Council of Bhutan portrays through it brand campaign and the opinion of the Dutch locals, will lead to the conclusion of this paper .The differences will be outlined in this chapter and for the discussion and future research will be highlighted in the next chapter.

Based on the TCB’s justification of using the blue poppy, the national flower of Bhutan as a symbol that (i) evokes a feeling of love and is associated with happiness in general (ii) Suggest a non –materialistic pursuit of happiness (iii) finding Bliss in a beautiful flower signifies harmony and endless peace. Thus, it signifies finding happiness in simplest things.

But what follows is a difference in opinion of the Dutch Local people and how they saw the brand and what message it conveyed to them. The message the TCB is trying to convey and how it is viewed by the Dutch remains important to conclude this dissertation as it is only with this difference will it be known to the Tourism Council of Bhutan and others involved that what can be done to improvise it and make it as a brand that appeals to a Dutch visitors, as the brand campaign is one of the most common way that a country can reach out to potential visitors.

Consequently, what can be concluded from the Dutch Locals on the Branding Campaign Bhutan “ Happiness is a place”.

Brand Campaign-Bhutan Tourism Council of Bhutan Dutch Locals Perspective “happiness is a place The symbol –blue poppy Blue poppy –national flower to Blue Poppy used is not signify nature, harmony & bliss natural enough and is not attractive enough The tag line-Bhutan Based on the Gross National There is not much on the “happiness is a place” and the Happiness concept and also happiness of the Bhutanese video what Bhutan is best known for people in the video “happiness” The brand campaign Introduced in March 2011 30% of respondents still not aware of the new brand campaign.

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5.CONCLUSION The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the relationship between the happiness of the Bhutanese people and the value it adds to a Dutch visitor. A positive correlation will determine whether Bhutan is indeed a place of happiness, as promoted through its latest branding campaign: Bhutan “happiness is a place”.

Happiness is a broad concept, which is unclear, subjective and often difficult to define. It can vary according to the research that is being carried out, the situation in which it occurs or even the fact at what level it takes place –individual or the societal level. The term happiness has a tendency to often interchange into measurable terms like “well-being”, “quality of life” or “satisfaction with life”, which has now been the focus of many modern countries like the UK and France, that have taken a step back to include happiness or well-being into their policies for the well being of their citizens.

Collective happiness as a societal goal, can be witnessed in Bhutan. A small, independent and developing country that lies in the foot hills of the Himalayas and being the one and the only country that propagates the philosophical approach to Gross National Happiness (GNH), in which the collective happiness of its citizens lies as a priority over other development objectives. GNH is a public policy that is implemented by the Royal Government of Bhutan with the Gross National Happiness Commission steering the plans and programs with a framework that is based on the four pillars and nine domains which leads to the wholesome happiness of the society.

With the rankings put forward by the Happy Planet Index (2007), Bhutan has been ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world and furthermore with the new branding campaign of the TCB which states “Bhutan-happiness is a place”, the country now strides to impress and motivate the visitors to a visit a land that promises a memorable and unique experience in form of “happiness”. What stood, as a huge challenge was that; happiness has different interpretations and can be seen from different perspective. Moreover, considering the fact that Bhutanese and Dutch come from different cultural backgrounds and with a different approach to the meaning of happiness, satisfaction level and well –being, increases the complexity of happiness. It was through analysis of the three clusters (Bhutanese Business Perspective, Bhutanese Local Perspective and Dutch Locals and Dutch Visitor to Bhutan), which was based on the interviews and surveys conducted in Bhutan and Netherlands, that the relationship between the happiness of the Bhutanese people and the value that it adds to a Dutch visitor was established.

Subsequently, the analysis was based on themes that looked into the similarities and comparison between the three clusters with a intention to find out what is the “meaning of happiness” and also the factors the would be of value to a Dutch visitor. Two clusters - (local Bhutanese and the local Dutch) had 02 similar aspects that they described was the meaning of happiness- Peace and Love. This finding validates the fact despite the cultural differences and approach to life, some aspects to describe the meaning of happiness, remains same as it concerns the consciousness and a judgment towards living a happy life.

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In addition to the similarity, three clusters (Bhutanese Business Perspective, Bhutanese Local Perspective and the Dutch Visitor to Bhutan), had three similar ways to describe Bhutan-(i) culturally rich country, (ii) beautiful and (iii) a happy place. This description of Bhutan, interlocks the relationship between the host (Bhutanese) which is affirmed by the visitors (Dutch), and only then does it validates the description of the country and stand proof to what has been promoted by the TCB as in terms of natural, beautiful, cultural and all in all a happy place.

The friendliness of the Bhutanese people, along with being happy, compassionate, traditional, hospitable, innocent and humble, were some of the ways in which the Bhutanese people were described, which more or less can be concluded would be a value for the Dutch visitor with a consideration, that these features that are found in their developed and modern world.

It can also be concluded, that the Comparisons of the clusters led to identifying, what could be seen as the reasons or motivational drive to the Dutch to visit Bhutan. Owing to the differences between the two cultures, this gap leads the Dutch to find value in Bhutan.

There were also many ways in which, the differences were found in between the clusters but the most significant one was that of the happiness of the Bhutanese, that were seen as resultant of psychological well-being of a person which is influenced by the religion and the guidance of the GNH philosophy. The Bhutanese happiness is more directed towards the emotional side of happiness with a belief that has been greatly influenced by the conditions of livability, appreciation, compassion, good health, close knit family, spirituality and being able to make ends meet and just be happy or content with what is available. This has been a situation for the Bhutanese as they have fewer challenges and competition, being a small country with less population, which is completely different scenario in the Netherlands.

Regarding the Dutch people’s happiness, it was found that it was a resultant of subjective well- being of a person, in which the basic comforts in life, in which Freedom, Employment, Clean- Environment, Stress-Free, Money, Security Equality, and opportunities was seen as means in which happiness can be found. These factors, which are largely influenced by the Dutch people living in a developed and modern world where competition level is high, population is large, standard of living is high could be seen as “survival of the fittest”.

The psychological well-being of a person and the conditions or approach of the Bhutanese people can be also added as one of the contributing values that would prompt a Dutch traveler to Bhutan as it would be something that is different from what is perceived in Netherlands, thus bringing in the reason for the travel.

In addition to the differences in happiness the description of the country can be associated with what would end up to be seen as valuable for the Dutch visitor. The Dutch visitor to Bhutan and the Bhutanese description of the country, complements each other in which Bhutan has been described in terms of nature and the livability .The respondents description of Bhutan were natural, peaceful, pure, beautiful, cultural, traditional, religious and happy all which are very much different from what their country has to offer. Thus, what is not prevalent in Netherlands could be concluded as an experience the Dutch would seek out for in the land that is seen to be happy and the people content with the little they have. But at the same time, the findings also show that there are still many ways in which Bhutan is yet not known to the Dutch and what things can be improved and will furthered discussed in the discussion and recommendation chapter.

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In addition to what has been already mentioned, the reasons for the Dutch taking a vacation, what factors they consider while choosing a destination, their expectations from the place can all been seen of great significance to this research as it brings out how the concerned Bhutanese would be able to assess the criteria’s for the Dutch taking a vacation and then only with the understanding of these reasons, will the concerned tourism bodies and travel agents be able to draw out a relationship ,as to what Bhutan has to offer and how these expectations can able met in order to capture Dutch market that do have the spending power and who consider vacationing as one of the means to happiness.

In regard to what has been listed as the reasons for a Dutch taking a vacation- relaxation, enjoyment, stress-free and weather were some of the top rankings among the many that was listed. While, culture, price, activities, safety, weather, distance, convenience were seen as factors that would be considered while choosing a destination. Including, the expectation of the Dutch visitor when met, then only will it lead to the increase the number of Dutch arrivals to Bhutan, which can be one of the strategy in which the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) can strive towards attaining the target set -to bring in 100,000 tourist by the end of 2012. (How this expectation can be met will be seen as a recommendation in the next chapter)

To conclude this chapter it must be also mentioned that the Bhutan does have the selling points that could motivate the Dutch traveler to Bhutan as found out from all the findings that have been mentioned in this chapter, including the result analysis chapter, but it has been further strengthened with the positive answer received from the Dutch Visitor that have been to Bhutan at least on one visit.

From 20 people that was interviewed, 18 respondents confirmed that they would go back to Bhutan. This shows there Bhutan as a destination and with factors that contributing in making it a happy place does appeal to the Dutch visitor and thus the next chapter will look into what can be recommended to the tourism body, the concerned stakeholders, travel agents, Association of Bhutanese Tour Operator and others involved, as to what could be done and how ,to make this to make Bhutan more accessible, reachable ,with clarity of information and all in all as a unique destination with happiness promised as an experience .

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6.RECOMMENDATIONS

These recommendations have been derived from the research findings and analysis of the clusters.

Tourism Council in Bhutan and (Ogilvy & Mather Pvt,Ltd ,India )

• Bhutan has been described as a natural, beautiful, peaceful country that has rich culture and tradition and which has been supported by the Dutch visitors to Bhutan. But however, the brand campaign is still not known to many of the local Dutch. As per the findings 30% of the respondents have not heard of this official campaign and neither have they seen any advertisement regarding this new campaign. Therefore, a suggestion could be that, the brand campaign needs to be marketed to reach out for the Dutch locals, eg stalls to be set up in travel fairs and expos held in the Netherlands and also sufficient information about the country should be distributed in Dutch travel websites in order to capture the Dutch market that have the spending power and seek unique experiences.

• To the Dutch people, Bhutan “happiness is a place” as portrayed in the tourism video did not show much on happiness of the Bhutanese people and neither was the blue poppy flower natural enough. Improvements have been suggested in order to enable a connection between the traveler and the Bhutan as a happy country.

• The TCB with co-operation of the Association of Bhutan Tour Operators (ABTO), could also investigate the Dutch market, interview Dutch locals and find out what are the reasons for the arrival being less in comparison to the other European countries and distribute the information the local tour operators.

• In regard to the destination branding, the findings of this research have revealed in what ways the Dutch have been able to identity with brand Bhutan’s personality and image. It has been regarded as a favorable destination in which it offers peace, tranquility, nature, beauty, culture, tradition, and can be seen as a place for the Dutch travelers. But the question now lies –Is that all enough to make the Dutch people want to travel and spend their money? . How is Bhutan going to ensure the overall satisfaction of the visitor and what must be done to improve the repeat visitations, How can Bhutan improve the overall image of the destination and whether it is going to be able to live up to what the country so proudly promotes, are questions which can be not be answered with this research only so it can be looked into .

Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators and travel agents in Bhutan

Since, the number of Dutch visitors to Bhutan are comparatively less (847 as per BTM 2010) compared to the other European countries, ABTO should work with the local tour operators in finding out ways and means in which the Dutch market could be captured. Detailed and reliable information on the country, cost packages and how Bhutan is a land of happiness could be made more clear to the travelers in their websites.

• More local travels agent’s needs to incorporate the GNH concept in their websites and information sources. Special deals and packages that would motivate the traveler can be

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tailored made in which the guest can have authentic Bhutanese experiences, which would be a value addition to a Dutch visitor. • • Culture, safety and weather has been seen as one of the top priorities in respect to the expectation of the Dutch travelers. Travel agents can stress on these aspects in order to convince the Dutch travelers to Bhutan.

Although Bhutan, being a high end destination, charges a bit more for the trip, there should be more local travel agents in Bhutan and Netherlands, to establish and networks so that the Dutch visitor can have easy and reliable information about traveling to Bhutan. The notion of being an high end destination should not delimit the traveler from choosing as the next destination.

• To Bhutanese in general, we need to be aware of the differences in perception of happiness between the Bhutanese and the visitors and appreciate them. We need to genuinely happy and share the emotional and the cultural values that instill happiness in us and also explain how we could have the same experiences even in different cultural contexts.

• To a Dutch visitor, it is also equally important to realize the differences in the perception and acknowledge that sharing their expectations and experiences on happiness in Bhutan would encourage the Bhutanese to value what they have or do not have and reinforce this unique concept of Gross National Happiness.

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7.DISCUSSION

7.1 Limitations 1.Considering that the happiness term is vague and very board term, it is difficult to trace the true meaning as it differs from individual to individual and can be interpreted in various ways.

2. Owing to the broad nature and vagueness of the subject, the analysis had to be divided into three clusters, grouped between two destinations in which the research took place. This lead to time constrains as data was collected in two different areas.

3.The expert interviews, which have been classified, as the business cluster has been limited. It was extremely difficult to get adequate time with the professional working in the Happiness studies and research in Bhutan due to their busy schedule. This required additional effort in acquiring qualitative information.

3. It was difficult to find the Dutch people that had visited Bhutan, which comprised as one the cluster. Despite establishing contacts with travel agents in Bhutan and Netherlands, the number of Dutch people that visited Bhutan was low and thus limiting the researcher in retrieving information.

5.The length of the questionnaires also limited the number of participants, as it was time consuming. A huge effort was required to get adequate feedbacks.

6.The language also posed to be a problem, as some of the people that we willing to fill the survey (locals and Dutch visitors), was not comfortable in filling the questionnaire in English .

7. The conclusion that has been derived from the similarities and differences in the three clusters needs to be appreciated within the limitations that have been mentioned above . 7.2 Reflections and contribution of this study

As a Bhutanese studying in Holland, the thesis provided me with the best opportunity to reflect on my own values and perception of my country and a deeper understanding of the Duth view of the Bhutanese in general and Bhutan as a tourism destination in particular. This has also broadened my knowledge many subjects other than tourism including that of psychology and philosophy. This has also raised my level of confidence and the outlook to “happiness” has been transformed.

Regarding the contribution of this study in relevance to Tourism Council of Bhutan and others stakeholders involved it will be an eye opener to see what is it that the brand campaign is in the views of the Dutch and what can be adapted in order to convey the message of being a “happy place”. Academic researchers, international marketing and tourism executives can also use this research, to communicate to the audience, the image, identity, personality of the brand which, can be crafted and amended to adapt to their destinations and how it can stand out of the crowd to ensure that it is able to maintain its stand with its competitors with a value of being unique and promising a visitor satisfaction.

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7.3 Suggestions for further research

This research has opened avenues for further investigations, which can be as follows:

1.Other than what has been found in this research, further studies can be carried out in regard to tourism and happiness in Bhutan. For instance, at a grass root level and where happiness is boiled down to focus on a particular section of a society- eg community based tourism in which the investigation will be as to how tourism leads to the happiness in that area.

2. Since brand campaign is still very new (less than an year since it has been launched), a quantitative study could be done in Netherlands, to find out exactly how and what influence this brand has over the Dutch population.

3.The values that have been derived from this research can be further studied in detail to get to the root of the relationship between the Dutch visitor and the Happiness of Bhutanese people, so that the tourism board and other stakeholders can work together in capturing the Dutch market.

4.Lastly, research can be done in Netherlands based with the help of a partnership set up with Dutch travel agency, in which the study can be focused on Dutch visitors to Bhutan and its neighboring regions. Here the investigation will be focused on finding out why the neighboring regions like Thailand, India, Nepal are preferred over Bhutan and how we can take advantage over it.

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Tshewang Palden on 24th august 2011

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Tshewang Palden http://www.bhutantimes.bt/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2743&Itemid=1 on August 22 ,2011

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9. APPENDICES

APPENDIX A (BHUTAN BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE ) The questions were based in order to find out (i) Their views on the happiness campaign (ii) Bhutan as a land of Gross National Happiness

Name of the respondent: Designation and Organization: Date and Venue of Interview:

Part I 1) What in your opinion makes Bhutan as a place of Happiness? 2) Bhutan “ Happiness is a place ”. Please can you say your views on this campaign 3) What in your opinion does this campaign differentiate it self from the rest of the campaigns that Bhutan has been associated with earlier? 4) The most attractive features that you noticed in the campaign 5) The need to include the happiness factor in the campaign? 6) What in your opinion makes Bhutan as the land of the Gross National Happiness country? 7) What are some of the factors that contribute to the Happiness of the Bhutanese people? 8) How in your opinion does the happiness of a person leads to a content and happy life 9) What role does this campaign support the fact that the government intends to bring in a 100,000 tourist by the end of 2012? 10) Is GNH just a philosophy or can it been seen in the lives of the people in Bhutan? Please give your views? 11) Bhutan 2020 –a vision for the country and its people, has been a means to accelerate the socio economic development of the country. What is the role of this branding strategy in contributing to fulfilling this vision? 12) In your opinion why has the country not sought to brand of Gross or National but why only Happiness factor for the Kingdom of Bhutan? 13) What is the expectations from this recent branding strategy

Part II 1) Mention at least THREE words to describe Bhutan? 2) Which among the most important factor(s) for a happy life. Please mention THREE factors? 3) All things considered in life, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days ? (a) Very Unhappy (b) Not Too Happy (c) Fairly Happy (d) Happy (e) Very Happy 4) How would you describe the people of Bhutan? Please can you mention atleast THREE.

Tshewang Palden

APPENDIX B- UNDERSTANDING OF HAPPINESS –BHUTANESE LOCAL PERSPECTIVE

1.Among the list of words used to describe Bhutan. Please rank number 1 as least appropriate and number 5 for most appropriate? Beautiful Friendly Happy Spiritual/Religious Cultural

2.What does happiness mean to you? Please rate each of the items below from 1 to 5, where number 1 ,least agrees with your concept of happiness and 5 shows the most agreement. Being rich Being Able to Spiritual/Religious Vacationing content enjoy solace physical pleasure

3.Which of the following aspects are the source of well- being and happiness? Please rank number 1 for least appropriate and number 5 for most appropriate? Financial Good Employment Good family life Mental peace security health and job and well being of satisfaction family

4. Considering all things in life, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days? Choose Only ONE option.

Very unhappy Not too happy Fairly happy Happy Very happy

5. Have you heard of the new branding strategy Bhutan “Happiness is a place”.

 Yes If yes (please mention the source)………………………………………………………………......

 No Please move on to question number 7

6.What were the three most attractive feature(s)of the branding strategy? List at least THREE.

7.Bhutan "Happiness is a place " –List down at least THREE things that make it so.

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8.How would you rate the happiness of the Bhutanese people? Choose only ONE option.

Very unhappy Not too happy Fairly happy Happy Very happy

9. Gender  Male  Female

10.Age Range  15-25 years  26-35 years 36-45 years 46-55 years 55 years +

-THANK-YOU FOR YOUR TIME-

Tshewang Palden

APPENDIX(C) UNDERSTANDING OF HAPPINESS – DUTCH LOCAL PERSPECTIVE

1.What are the most important factors you consider while choosing a travel destination?

2.What does a vacation mean to you and how often do you take a vacation in a year?

3.All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days? Very happy Fairly Happy Not too happy (choose ONLY one)

4.What does "happiness" mean to you?

5.Which among the following is the most important factor for a happy life? Family Health Career Where you live Money Choose any ONE or mention any OTHER that is not in the list.

6.How would you describe happiness here in Holland (in reference to the people, government system, the place etc).

7.Bhutan "happiness is a place " what is your impression on this branding strategy and would you consider its attractive enough for a traveler to choose it as a next travel destination? Please comment.

8.What would be your expectations from a destination BHUTAN, that promotes and promises happiness as a product?

9. Gender  Male  Female

10. Age Range  15-25 years  26-35 years 36-45 years 46-55 years 55 years +

-THANK-YOU FOR YOUR TIME-

Tshewang Palden

APPENDIX( D) QUESTIONNAIRE FOR DUTCH VISITORS TO BHUTAN

Questionnaire for the Dutch Respondents Greetings to you, My name is Tshewang Palden and I am a master’s student from the University of Applied Sciences NHTV, Breda, Netherlands. I am currently undergoing the final semester of my masters degree in Tourism destination management and as apart of this program I am writing my thesis on the branding of Happiness in which BHUTAN- HAPPINESS IS A PLACE is my focus in which I am exploring -How the happiness of the Bhutanese people adds value to a Dutch visitor(s). Therefore, I would appreciate if you could kindly answer the following questionnaire .It would not take more than 10-15 minutes of your time but your response would add greatly value to my research. THANKYOU FOR YOUR KIND CO-OPERATION AND TASHI DELEK.

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1. Have you heard/seen the new branding strategy of Bhutan - As Bhutan “ Happiness is a place ”.

 Yes If yes (please mention the source)………………………………………………………………......

 No Please move on to question number 3

2.What were the most attractive feature(s) of the branding strategy, Please mention at least THREE ? a…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. b…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. c………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

3. List down three words to best describe Bhutan? a……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. b…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… c…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Tshewang Palden

4.Circle any ONE option During 1 2 3 4 5 your visit Sustainable Conservation Preservation Good Any other to Bhutan, and of the and Governance (please which Equitable environment promotion mention aspect of socio of the Bhutan economic culture meet up to development your upmost satisfaction

5.Please rank the following 1 as least appropriate and 5 as most appropriate Among the following what Rich The nature The To have made To be in Any other made you happy culture and its people it to one of a country please while you were and surroundings and the last that is mention in Bhutan tradition their Shangrila of known to way of the world. be Happy living

6.Please rank the following 1 as least appropriate and 5 as most appropriate Which among the following did you Close Free Where The love and Satisfied Any other notice made the Family access they trust in the with the please Bhutanese people Ties to live King and the little they mention happy Health government have and other services

7.Please rank 1 as least appropriate and 5 as most appropriate How would you Friendly Hospitable Happy Innocent Humble Others describe the Bhutanese people

8.Circle any ONE Option How far do you 1 2 3 4 5 agree or disagree disagree disagree neither agree Strongly agree that Bhutanese very agree nor people are strongly disagree “Happy”

Tshewang Palden

9.List down 6 things that you consider most important that leads to a happy and contented life? i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

10.What are the differences in happiness that you noticed between the Bhutanese and the Dutch People. (Please mention at least THREE). i. ii. iii.

11.“Material wealth does not necessarily leads to happiness” ; Please comment.

12.The role of the Bhutanese people in making BHUTAN the land of Gross National Happiness?

13.Would you go back to Bhutan  Yes  No

Please give your Reason:

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

14.Gender  Male  Female

15.Age Range  15-25 years  26-35 years 36-45 years 46-55 years 55 years +

-THANK-YOU FOR YOUR TIME-

Tshewang Palden

APPENDIX (E)-RECOMMENDATION LETTER FROM ABTO

Tshewang Palden

APPENDIX (F) –RECOMMENDATION LETTER FROM HAB

Tshewang Palden