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Үндэсний их баяр наадамд зодоглох бөхчүүдийн бүртгэл эхэллээ Ардын жүжигчин Аюурзанын Долгорт Хөдөлмөрийн баатар цол хүртээлээ Япон Улсын Цог Жавхлант Эзэн Хаан Нарүхито “Чингис хаан” үндэсний музейд зочиллоо Япон Улсын Цог Жавхлант Эзэн Хаан Нарүхито Ус сувгийн удирдах газарт зочиллоо “Монгол Улсын Засгийн газраас 100 хоногт багтаан хэрэгжүүлэх зарим арга хэмжээний тухай” албан даалгаварт ард иргэдийн саналыг авна "Дээлтэй Монгол-2025” наадмын үеэр Соёлын төв өргөөний зүүн талаас “Цэнтрал тауэр” хүртэлх туслах замын хөдөлгөөнийг түр хязгаарлана ДЦС-5 төслийн хувийн хэвшлийн түншлэгчийг сонгох урьдчилсан шалгаруулалтад 3 оролцогч шаардлага хангаж, хураангуй жагсаалтад багтлаа Голомт банкны кредит картаар Subscription үйлчилгээний эрхээ сунгаад буцаан олголт аваарай Тогтмол хэрэглээ бүрийг урамшуулах Big Loyalty хөтөлбөр үргэлжилж байна УБЦТС: Өнөөдөр хийгдэх засварын хуваарь
Үндэсний их баяр наадамд зодоглох бөхчүүдийн бүртгэл эхэллээ Ардын жүжигчин Аюурзанын Долгорт Хөдөлмөрийн баатар цол хүртээлээ Япон Улсын Цог Жавхлант Эзэн Хаан Нарүхито “Чингис хаан” үндэсний музейд зочиллоо Япон Улсын Цог Жавхлант Эзэн Хаан Нарүхито Ус сувгийн удирдах газарт зочиллоо “Монгол Улсын Засгийн газраас 100 хоногт багтаан хэрэгжүүлэх зарим арга хэмжээний тухай” албан даалгаварт ард иргэдийн саналыг авна "Дээлтэй Монгол-2025” наадмын үеэр Соёлын төв өргөөний зүүн талаас “Цэнтрал тауэр” хүртэлх туслах замын хөдөлгөөнийг түр хязгаарлана ДЦС-5 төслийн хувийн хэвшлийн түншлэгчийг сонгох урьдчилсан шалгаруулалтад 3 оролцогч шаардлага хангаж, хураангуй жагсаалтад багтлаа Голомт банкны кредит картаар Subscription үйлчилгээний эрхээ сунгаад буцаан олголт аваарай Тогтмол хэрэглээ бүрийг урамшуулах Big Loyalty хөтөлбөр үргэлжилж байна УБЦТС: Өнөөдөр хийгдэх засварын хуваарь
B.Margad: The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will promote Mongolia in all aspects


We visited the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) which is the most active body of the Government. We were interested in tourism related activities as it is deemed as the eco-friendly sector with significant economic benefits. We interviewed B.Margad, Director of the Tourism Policy Implementation Coordination Department.

-Tourism season is almost over. Will you introduce the plans of the Reform Government for this sector and how those actions are progressing?
-We prepared our action plan based on international tourism development principles such as to be sustainable, publicly beneficial and responsible. First of all, as the legal framework has been quite outdated it will be revised. The Law on Tourism adopted in 2000 has been revised 7 times but these amendments were not very courageous or significant. Since MCST was established by the Reform Government, it has paid significant attention to this matter and last January it was extensively discussed at the National Tourism Forum. Currently the revised Law on Tourism is 90% completed and is close to be made ready. Within the scope of amendments to the legal framework not only the law is being revised but also the time has come to start discussions on environmental planning, i.e. tourism region planning. Although we could develop nation-wide guidelines, this matter should definitely have involvement of the Ministry of Nature, Environment and Green Development, Ministry of Road and Transportation and Ministry of Construction and Urban Planning.

-When the revised law is adopted and legal framework is improved, how much time would be required to actually see advances and results in the tourism industry?
-Of course the reform will not be completed with only the law amendments. Tourism products and services must be marketed. But without changes in the legal environment, it is impossible to plan and implement economic activities. The revised law that we have prepared will probably be adopted at the Fall Session of the Parliament. Prior to commencement of the tourism season next year we will issue a policy document called “National Tourism Program” which will reflect specifics about how tourist organizations would be supported. Our next action would be revision of the regulations, procedures, guidelines and standards after the revised law is adopted. For example, standards that apply to tour operators, tourist camps and hotels have been outdated. On the other hand, these organizations are required to be well-organized in order to develop sustainable, publicly beneficial and reliable tourism. It means we will develop internationally practiced hospitality services which include places to stay overnight, rest and travel to, tourists’ safety and food.

-Tourism industry has restored quite well and is now in the center of attention of the public. How well do you think people are accepting and understanding the terms emerged in connection with such development?
-There were times when people had no idea about the issue of tourism environment. However, now people are raising, talking, listening and using this term themselves. Moreover, first people did not understand special purpose tourism. It is more appropriate to develop special tourism rather than mass tourism in Mongolia which has a vast territory and small population. If we receive more tourists than the population, who would serve them? Therefore, it would be more profitable to attract responsible tourists who would definitely know in advance where to go and what to see. This is called special interest tourism. We have a tourism product that has no rivals in the world which is nomadic culture. We are almost the only people who are herding domestic animals and maintaining the nomadic lifestyle. This culture that cannot be found anywhere in the world should be made an attraction of tourists the way it is. Then the first issue that arises would be maintaining and preserving this culture with its environment. Then we should resolve the issue of roads and services to reach the spot. It is important to display these things at highest possible quality. Because it is nomadic lifestyle it does not have to be full of dirt and filth. We should clearly show how we live in harmony with the nature without harming it. Also, we could show the Khan Khentii mountain, the place of birth and growth of Chinggis Khan where he established the great state. For people who read history and know some about the Secret History of the Mongols, it is enough to mention that great Khans were born here.

-According to specialists, special purpose tourism has developed internationally while Mongolians have limited understanding about it.
-It is true. Not many people know that there are many tourists who come to Mongolia only to look at, photograph and enjoy butterflies. There are many observers and researchers of birds in the world. Recently, countries such as Turkey and Guatemala started paying significant attention to their policies related to bird observation. Now almost 15% of their GDP is made from the bird observation tours. It means, watching and observing flying and singing birds with special binoculars and lenses can bring significant contribution to the state budget. Basically, people in countries such as Britain and the USA have become more interested to observe how wildlife lives in harmony with the nature, reproduce and build their nests rather than hunting them. The reason is that the entire world has become extremely urbanized and people are getting farther and farther from the wild nature. Last year tourism industry accumulated US $280 million as the state budget revenue. This equals to 3% of GDP.

-International promotion is deemed important in developing tourism. How much promotion do we do abroad?
-Promotion is very important for the entire Mongolia not in terms of tourism only. Our Ministry has all forms of possibilities to promote the country internationally. Sportsmen participating in international competitions are called with Mongolian names. Art and cultural performances abroad are commercials of Mongolia entirely. Tourism industry also promotes the home country with its own channels and “calls” and attracts tourists. These three sectors promote and support each other. Thus, MCSP will promote Mongolia in all its aspects. Basically, most South East Asian countries have the same ministry as us. We should also pay significant attention to free promotion channels such as mass media. Also satisfaction of tourists and their emotions are effective forms of promotion. In order to do good international promotion we should improve the quality of tourism products in addition to good promotion. All these objectives are aimed at establishing properly structured, mutually harmonized, responsible and well-organized tourism in Mongolia. Every sub-sector of tourism that was on the shoulders of the private businesses for the past 20 years has developed evenly. If one of them was developed more than others, we could have focused on such sub-sector and develop others gradually, but as all aspects of tourism have been developed equally, we need to be involved and concerned about all of them now.

-The sectoral policies reflect creation of tourism products and brands that suit special features of the given local community and province. What would be an example for Dundgovi province brand and service?
-Dundgovi province is rich in archaeological findings. We could establish a Paleo-adventure park for families. Significant investment is required for dinosaur museum which was deemed important to establish and develop. After we resolve the source of funding, the museum will probably be sustainable and independent in 3-4 years. Provinces with the highest potential, resources and capacity to attract tourists include Khuvsgul, Khentii, Uvurkhangai, Arkhangai, Umnugovi and Dornogovi. Until now there was no budget for tourism development. There is no approved budget to build a park for tourists. The Chinggis Monument proves that tourism needs a lot of funding. Now tourists visit this monument regardless of bad roads and weather. We are continuing establishing similar size and capacity complexes. We plan to build a dinosaur facility called Giants’ Palace near the Maitreya town to be established in Central Province.

-What policies and programs are being newly implemented in the tourism industry now? How much do we have to show to tourists?
-MCST is implementing a policy to organize local cultural events at the national level. Tourists will be able to see the Naadam festival not only in Ulaanbaatar city but also in rural areas. The 2013 Calendar that we prepared includes detailed information about dates, location and description of events. When one is visiting some traditional event, he/she can see and visit other events held nearby. On the way back to Ulaanbaatar there might be another interesting event in only 20-30 km from the route. This is the way of promoting and advertising our cultural events. On the other hand, the revenue will be left in the local community. We are of the view that more new events should be organized in the future. Our short tourism season should be filled with various events.
-When a tourist arrives and goes into a place with a sign “hotel”, he/she is greeted with a totally different place than he/she expected. When all the hotels be put in order?
-It will be competed soon. We will set standards and ranks for hotels prior to the tourism season of the next year. Currently hotels do not have ranks or stars. Some of those that have stars do not provide the services that fit their number of stars, e.g. a hotel with 5 stars has services of a 3 star one. This is a very unethical thing. The prices and rates are determined based on their ranks, thus it means such hotels are cheating their customers. In addition, the licensing authority is still unclear. After the law is adopted we plan to define the methodologies, and organize a forum of teachers, researchers, professional unions and staff which will produce detailed regulations and policies.

-Tourists see, hear and learn a lot while travelling in Mongolia. All this information is delivered to them through the guides. So, are the guides people who explain and educate or just interpreters?
-This is a highly disputed issue in our sector. Just the term itself has several options whether it is a guide-interpreter, just guide orjust interpreter. Translation of the international term “guide” is “guide” only. For extreme tours, the guide must be skilled to rescue, provide first aid and climb mountains. However, it is beyond the requirements for guides. Thus, guides must be healthy, educated, know foreign language and have communication ethics. More importantly, they must have good knowledge about Mongolia. A simple translator/interpreter will not be able to provide specific explanation about Mongolian culture if he/she does not know its meaning. We prepared many young people through tourism training courses and upgrading their knowledge and language skills. However, they chose to work in the mining industry. Now we have students who graduated from private schools and sincerely interested people working in our sector. The state university students enter the school to major in tourism but they graduate as economists, managers and geographers because tourism classes are taught in the first two years and other applicable lessons in the last two years. This gap needs to be properly regulated. However, now we have to follow the market rules and there is no opportunity for the Government to set limitations, liabilities or other regulations. As result of our planned actions, I hope that guides’ reputation will increase gradually.

-As a Director of Department for Tourism Policy Implementation Coordination, how valuable is one tourist?
-It is a very relative concept. According to statistics, this person adds on the number of tourists coming to Mongolia. Secondly, this person is “money” in terms of his/her contribution made to live, eat, drink, travel and watch performances in Mongolia. These two indicators prove that a tourist is valuable. On the other hand, it would seem that a person who spent US $1000 is more valuable than the one who spent US $100 in Mongolia. However, if the tourist who spent US $100 returns home with high satisfaction and offers his/her friends to travel to Mongolia the next year, it would be a good promotion if compared to the tourist who spent US $1000 but was not very pleased with the visit. Then the person who spent only US $100 but added the number of tourists to Mongolia might be more valuable. This is only an example. It is impossible to make detailed estimate of revenue made by tourists in Mongolia. Generally, every person who comes to Mongolia to tour and travel is valuable to us. Therefore, we are working to ensure that every tourist receives full satisfaction.

-The MCST has been undertaking reform actions intensely. When do you think the number of tourists that has not increased much for the past 20 years would rise rapidly?
-It would increase drastically by 2016. We will participate in a large international tourism fair in 2015. We will introduce many new products and services. Let us attract South East Asian countries which never have winter. Direct flights from these countries to Mongolia have been also increasing. We will undertake promotion actions in these countries via voluntary representatives. I hope number of tourists will increase rapidly soon after we start implementing sustainable regulatory actions.

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