ULAN BATOR, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Mongolian government aims to attract tourists by rebranding its current tourism based on its rich nomadic culture and heritage, a top Mongolian official said on Thursday.
"According to a plan on sustainable development up to 2030, we envision that Mongolia will become a center of nomadic tourism," Miyegombo Enkhbold, speaker of the Mongolian parliament said at the opening of the International Silk Road Conference on Nomadic Tourism and Sustainable Cities held at Ulan Bator.
Enkhbold noted that Mongolia has good potential to attract foreign tourists by virtue of its nomadic heritage and tourism can be a key pillar of Mongolia's sustainable development.
Sluggish commodity prices and internal political struggles have plummeted the land-locked country into deep economic crisis, and economic diversification is seen by many here as the country's future development. Tourism has caught much attention in this regard.
Lack of tourism infrastructure and high cost of visits to Mongolia are also believed to have prevented development of the tourism sector in the landlocked Asian country.
According to official statistics, about 400,000 tourists visit Mongolia each year and income from the tourism sector accounts for around 3 percent of the country's GDP.
Tourism experts estimate that this number can be increased if Mongolia improves the current situation of the tourism sector.
Representatives of the Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Tourism have emphasized that Mongolia plans to improve competitiveness of its tourism sector and adopt about 30 standards to ensure comfortable stay for tourists and attract them to Mongolia.
One of the standards is about building comfortable toilets in rural areas. One of the common problems raised by tourists that travel to Mongolia is lack of toilets in rural areas.
Mongolian government aims to increase the number of tourists that arrive in Mongolia to 1 million by 2020.
