Tourism in Mongolia

Tourism in Mongolia was extremely limited by the Socialist Government, but has been expanding following the 1990 Democratic Revolution in Mongolia in the wake of the collapse of the USSR and the Revolutions of 1989. Mongolia is a unique and relatively unexplored travel destination that offers a great combination of scenic natural features, a wide variety of untouched landscapes, nomadic life style and culture. Travel organizations in Mongolia date back to half a century ago, but the private sector-based tourism is barely twenty years old. Now Mongolia boasts 403 travel companies, 320 hotels, 647 resorts and tourist camps, all employing the graduates from over 56 educational establishments. Mongolia takes an active part in United Nations World Tourism Organization, of which it is a member party.

Foreign tourist number

To boost foreign investment in tourism, the Government of Mongolia offers special tax exemption equaling up to 10 percent of the total investment if offered for construction of high-rated hotels and tourist complexes. Licenses for tourism business were abolished and service provided by tour operators for expatriate visitors is now exempt from VAT. Standards and regulations are largely non-restrictive, with no complicated layers of bureaucracy issuing permission and exercising control.

A vivid example of the successful reform of the legal framework is the progressive increase of the number of visitors – the number reaching 450,000 in 2010 - tripling the 2000 estimate. With one of the world's lowest population densities, the vastness of the Mongolian-Manchurian grassland, desert, as well as the numerous mountains, rivers and lakes offer plenty of adventure. Although backpacking is becoming more common, travel outside Ulanbataar is mostly arranged by tour operator companies.

Famous Naadam Festival

In January 2013, the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Mongolia approved official slogan for Mongolia's tourism called “Go Nomadic, Experience Mongolia” which, it believes, will properly position help boost tourism industry in Mongolia. However, after a year the Ministry replaced the official slogan to new "Mongolia - Nomadic by Nature.

On March 5, 2014, during ITB Berlin 2014 exhibition in Germany, officials from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Mongolia signed an agreement to become official partner country for ITB Berlin 2015.

The Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Mongolia has been restructured into the Ministry of Environment, Green Development and Tourism in December, 2014 as a result of country's government cabinet change.

Activity travels available include trekking, climbing, bird watching, horse riding, rafting, camel riding, yak caravan and overland motorcycle tours. Many of these tours focus strongly on ecology and wildlife, and almost all of them include the Gobi Desert as one of their destinations; apart from its numerous native animal species, the desert is famous for its fossilised dinosaur bones and eggs. Mongolia's lakes represent another good hiking destination, as do the Four Holy Peaks surrounding Ulaanbaatar or the Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, in the Umnugobi. The economy of Mongolia is expecting "unstoppable" growth as its natural resources are tapped, which will enable further investment in infrastructure.

Statistics

Most visitors arriving to Mongolia on short term basis for tourism were from the following countries of nationality:

Rank	Country	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
1	China	144,070	131,312	145,029	157,561	178,326
2	Russia	106,935	84,065	70,668	73,055	74,468
3	South Korea	74,985	57,587	47,213	45,476	45,178
4	Japan	22,582	19,985	19,277	18,282	18,178
5	United States	16,684	15,859	14,420	13,987	14,701
6	Kazakhstan	14,234	13,370	14,434	13,562	11,422
7	Germany	10,586	9,709	8,992	9,551	9,499
8	France	10,044	9,035	7,989	7,733	7,407
9	Australia	6,689	5,631	4,804	5,118	6,765
10	United Kingdom	6,012	6,161	6,148	5,758	6,391
Other		58,273	51,442	47,230	42,761	45,480
Total		471,094	404,156	386,204	392,844	417,815
Source: Ulaanbaatar Tourism Department

Events

The main festival is world-famous Naadam, which has been organized for centuries and is held on July 11 to July 13 in honor of the Democratic Revolution. Naadam consists of three Mongolian traditional sports: archery, long-distance horse-racing, and Mongolian wrestling. In 2013, The Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism of Mongolia published Mongolia Tourism Calendar of Events 2013, in which the Ministry collected all public events related to Mongolian tourism and culture. Many events included in the calendar, which is also available for download online, are repeat events.

Other events include:

• Miss Mongolia - beauty pageant to select the country's Miss World, candidate
• Eagle festival - in Bayan-Ölgii, hunters use trained eagles to catch small prey, plus Kazakh horse games
• Nowruz - in Ölgii, Kazakh New Years parade, concert, and feast
• Tsagaan Sar - Lunar New Year festival held throughout Mongolia
• Camel Festival - Mongolian winter tourism festival held in Umnugobi province. The Thousand Camel Festival in the Gobi desert introduces the tradition of camel breeding and herding. It is in Bulgan county, Umnugovi province. A local non-governmental organization aims to protect and preserve the Bactrian camel population. And they organize “The Thousand Camel Festival” in Bulgan county, South Gobi province, Mongolia. Also, the festival aims to celebrate and promote the cultural heritage of Bactrian camels and winter tourism growth in Mongolia.

The festival includes two types of camel races, Camel-Polo, and some other competitions related to camel breeders’ cultural heritage, such as training of untamed camels, making ropes from camel wool, and loading. And there is a folk concert by school children from the county.

The festival is held annually March 6–7 for two days at Bulgan county, South Gobi province, Mongolia. The festival is one of the heart touching events because of the camel training and other activities related to the camel breeding tradition.

• Ice festival - Winter tourism event held at scenic Khuvsgul lake
• Goyol Fashion Festival

Transportation

Main articles: Transportation in Mongolia and Rail transport in Mongolia

Chinggis Khaan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar is the major international airport in the country, offering scheduled flights to and from Russia, China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Germany and Turkey.

• MIAT Mongolian Airlines is the national flag air carrier and serves only international destinations such as Moscow, Frankfurt, Berlin, Paris, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Busan, Singapore, Tokyo, Osaka (operated during summer time) and chartered flights.
• Hunnu Air (former Mongolian Airlines Group), founded in 2011, flies both domestically and internationally (Shanghai - (temporary discontinued as of October 2013) and Manzhouli).
• Domestic destinations within Mongolia are also served by Aero Mongolia and EZNis Airways (halted its operation ), which offers two short-haul international flights: to cities of Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude of Russia and to Hohhot, Erenhot and Hailaar of China.

The Trans-Mongolian Line of the classic and well known Trans-Siberian Railway connects Mongolia's capital Ulaanbaatar with Moscow and Vladivostok in Russia as well as Beijing, China.

• The Trans-Mongolian Railway runs from China to Russia and connects Ulan-Ude, which is on the Trans–Baikal (Trans–Siberian) railway in Russia, with Jining in China. Some other notable stops are Sükhbaatar, Darkhan, Choir, and Zamyn-Üüd / Erenhot. Additionally, there are important branches leading to both Erdenet and Baganuur.

See also

• National Museum of Mongolian History
• Visa policy of Mongolia
• Mongolian cuisine
• Geography of Mongolia
• Climate of Mongolia
• Trans-Siberian Railway
• List of museums in Mongolia

External links

• Official Tourism Website of Mongolia
• Official Tourism Website of Bayan-Ölgii, Mongolia