Scaling up ecotourism in Mongolia requires a multi-sector approach that carefully balances conservation and development.
Mongolia’s stunning landscapes and nomadic culture form the basis for a small but rapidly growing tourism industry. Ecotourism—defined by the International Ecotourism Society as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of local people, and involves interpretation and education”—can provide income for remote communities and revenue for protected areas.
These potential benefits are especially significant for Mongolia. Over 17% (27 million hectares) of the country is designated as parks and reserves – a vast and wild expanse of deserts, steppe, and snow-capped mountains across which herding traditions remain largely unchanged for thousands of years.
Mongolia’s development policies identify tourism as a new and important source of economic diversification and emphasize the need to support ecotourism within and around protected areas. Furthermore, Mongolia is a member of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Program, which has also prioritized tourism as a key tool for economic benefits.
Yet without planning, tourism can result in environmental and cultural impacts and yield few benefits for local communities. To achieve sustainable tourism development in Mongolia will require a focus on at least four key areas.
First, institutional policies and planning for development and conservation need to be integrated. Similar to many countries, Mongolia’s parks support people as well as nature.
To be effective, park management plans and local development plans must have complementary objectives and targets developed through stakeholder consensus, projections of population and tourism growth, urban and rural planning, and conservation science.
In addition to biodiversity conservation, park regulations and zoning should consider existing settlements, traditional herding lands, and other livelihoods. Facilitating such dialogue is complex but necessary and requires the participation of government, civil society, and the private sector.
At the level of individual parks and reserves, establishing tourism councils can give civil society a voice in tourism and park management. Such councils include village representatives, civil society groups and local government, and aim to foster information exchange and trust between stakeholders.
With time and training, tourism councils can evolve to become “destination management organizations” responsible for managing a park’s tourism, and free up park administrations to focus on conservation.
Tourism concession manuals are another important institutional tool. They establish procedures and environmental and social standards that tour operators are required to abide by, such as minimum standards for waste management, and prioritizing local value chains and employment of residents (e.g. for food supply or guiding).
Improved clarity in the conditions for license application and renewal also provides operators a more stable business framework in which to invest and plan responsibly. UNDP offers detailed guidelines for tourism concession management in Mongolia’s protected areas.