Only seven years ago satellite television was banned in Bhutan. Since then, the landlocked kingdom squeezed between India and Tibet has opened itself to waves of outside influence. “Today, globalization is officially sanctioned,” Somini Sengupta writes in the New York Times, “and it is rushing in fast.” The Today Show’s Matt Lauer dropped in last week with cameras rolling during his “Where in the World is Matt Lauer?” jaunt, and Hollywood types such as Uma Thurman and Cameron Diaz are reportedly frequent visitors. Non A-listers are making their way to Bhutan, too, and Thuji Dorji Nadik, joint director in the Department of Tourism, told Reuters reporter Simon Denyer that the arrival of the masses has put the country in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. 

"We should put the brakes on a little,” Nadik told Reuters. “Every destination has its USP (unique selling point) and for us exclusivity plays a large role.”

But even if Bhutan starts scaling back on hosting travelers, it still must deal with the changes brought by the growing influence of the outside world. A generation of kids in Bhutan has grown up with “unrestricted Internet, nearly unrestricted satellite television, basketball, brand-name sneakers and, as it turns out, tattoos,” writes Sengupta. Tattoos are traditionally taboo in Bhutan.

So far, Sengupta writes, the traditional and new cultures are managing to co-exist. And the outside culture hasn’t spread too far— the country has a population of 700,000, and only 33,000 televisions and 25,000 Internet users.

Still, Bhutan has reason to worry that it might begin to lose the some of the exclusivity and uniqueness that makes it so appealing to travelers.

“In the long run,” Nyema Zam, who runs the satellite television unit for state-owned Bhutan Broadcasting Service, told Sengupta about the penetration of broadcast media, “it may not be good for the culture that we have worked so hard to protect.”

Photo by babasteve, via Flickr (Creative Commons).

Related on World Hum:
* Road Tripping Across Bhutan
* Is Television Destroying Bhutan?