Despite its past reputation as a hold-out against the 20th century's advances, Bhutan has become something of a champion of the Internet and mobile technology era.
It has a largely rural population of just 750,000, but Bhutan's two cellular networks have 550,000 subscribers. And the last official figures in 2012 showed more than 120,000 Bhutanese had some kind of mobile Internet connectivity.
Delicate balance
Tourists however say the remoteness of a country which is wedged between China and India remains its main attraction.
Its approach to tourism reflects "an incredibly delicate balance" between seclusion and openness, said Melissa Biggs Bradley, CEO and founder of the luxury travel website Indagare.com.
"One of the great appeals to the tourist is how closed it is, how rare it is to see another tourist and therefore how easy it is to have meaningful exchanges with locals," Bradley, who visited Bhutan for the first time last month, told AFP.
Her views were echoed by Mary Jane South, a 52-year-old Canadian on her maiden visit to the country.
South told AFP Bhutan offered "more of a road less traveled experience" compared to neighbours like Nepal, which saw 800,000 visitors last year, nearly eight times the number recorded by Thimphu.
Damcho Rinzin, spokesman for the national Tourism Council of Bhutan, said that while visitors were welcome, the country did not want to become just another travellers' destination.
The push to preserve traditional culture is reflected in the traditional clothing worn by men and women—mandatory at public functions and offices.
"Google Street View is a way of preserving our culture at a time of great change. It reminds us of what we have in Bhutan," Rinzin said.
Source: http://phys.org/news/2014-10-google-peek-bhutan-street-view.html
