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Where
have all the tourists gone?ON
the face of it, this seems like a daft question. Non-Asian-faces
have proliferated since the cold months have receded into the
past while a multitude of decidedly non-Mongolian dialects and
accents drift along the main thoroughfares of the capital. But
while the streets bustle, the guesthouses lie empty, exposing
the illusion. Many a tale I?ve heard of tour companies despairing
of the lack of foreigners. Sandwiched between the 800th anniversary
of the foundation of the Great Mongolian State in 2006 and the
Beijing Olympics in 2008, for 2007 the tourist cupboard is metaphorically
bare.
The Beijing Olympics has been signposted in tourist agencies
and western minds since 2001, when the city received the endorsement
of the International Olympic Committee. Many who might have
planned to visit Mongolia in 2007 may just have pushed such
ideas back one year to incorporate it as an addendum to an all-round
excursion to the XXVI Olympiad and the Chinese capital?s environs
in 2008. Certainly, the Olympic Games returning to East Asia
for the first time since 1988 will provide a positive ripple
effect that extends into Mongolia and its economy; but it rather
sucks out the tourist trade from 2007 and indeed 2009. Eight
hundred years on from Chinggis Khaan?s final unification of
the Mongol tribes, the call to visit Mongolia resonated less
with those not au fait with their medieval Asian history but
the travel companies were acquainted with the numerous missives
from the Mongolian government?s foreign envoys. Subsequently,
the agencies promoted it with vigor since a long journey would
increase the cut they would take in their percentage. So Mongolia
reaped a harvest of tourists to witness the Naadam festival
and auxiliary summer attractions laid on to celebrate the special
date last year.
Mongolia smacks of oriental mystique coupled with exceptional
remoteness, but while most are deterred, like-minded souls endeavor
to experience its delights. After returning from Mongolia last
year, I went to a house party and quite unexpectedly encountered
two western revelers who had themselves voyaged to Mongolia
in recent years, one on a week trip out from China for Naadam.
Even without the Olympics, the lure of Beijing?s attractions
plus the Great Wall pull in tourists, some of whom then indulge
in appending Mongolia to their itinerary.
Summer is usually a good time for enterprising Mongolians with
competence in foreign languages as after the lean winter and
spring months, all they need is a driver and a jeep to start
raking in those tourist dollars. But for such freelancers the
lucrative trade is especially tough in 2007, as those visitors
who do make the trip usually have prior arrangements with tour
companies in Ulaanbaatar. Wandering westerners out on a limb
for a whim are few and far between, probably with enough planning
in mind to postpone their peregrinations in Asia for one year
to coincide with the Olympian dream, choosing elsewhere off
the map this year. Like the fish up against the unsuccessful
angler, the tourists aren?t biting.
At the airport and the train station, the competing guides outnumber
the incoming foreigners by as much as three to one. Inevitably,
this leads to much undignified argument, squabbling over which
tourist is whose. The commonest words are not ?Need a guesthouse??
(pushed into second place) but ?This tourist is mine!? Thankfully,
for once, not too many travelers speak Mongolian. Such tensions
degenerate occasionally into fist fights on the concourse. For
all those first-time visitors, welcome to Mongolia.
Another deterrence for the aircraft set is the hike in airline
ticket prices to North-East Asia in anticipation of the Beijing
Olympics. People will fly for the Games but might have reservations
when that attraction is not yet on offer. Two to three years
before the Athens Olympics in 2004, prices went up steeply to
maximize revenues from the tourists (flush with cash) that the
increased exposure of Greece garnered, prompting angry Greek
natives to complain that they could not afford to live in their
own country. In Mongolia, the increase in comestibles pricing
has only inflation to contend with, but flights to the region
are rising rapidly in cost and as, except for those coming from
Germany, one needs a connecting flight to reach Chinggis Khaan
International Airport those westerners planning their trip may
just conclude that Mongolia is a bridge too far on their budget.
So what will Mongolians, accustomed to summer supplements to
shore themselves up, do? Turn to ninja work as temporary ronin
through illegal and damaging artisanal gold panning? Try their
hand at some seasonal construction work? Or just remain unemployed
and cut down on their meals? Whatever happens, the Mongolian
economy will take a hit and not solely because the tourists
aren?t coming but because the Mongolians aren?t spending either.
Written by Ch.Sumiyabazar |
Mongolia is one of the safest places in the world but like
in many other countries tourists need to be aware of the dangers
and apply common sense 