The Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism, the Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Mongolian Tourism Association jointly organized the “Tourism Forum 2021” on 26 October 2021 in a hybrid format. The event was attended by Batbold Sandagdorj, State Secretary and Mr. Gantulga Ganbold, Head of the Road Traffic Management Division of the Ministry of Road Transport Development of Mongolia.

Mr. Batbold Sandagdorj in his presentation on the “Current Situation of Tourist Transport and Key Issues to be Solved” highlighted the importance of transport in the tourism activities and mentioned that “air, rail and road transport are the key driving forces for the tourism sector. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the flights around the globe are severely restricted and the tourism industry came to almost a standstill.

It is estimated that an average of one billion people worldwide use tourism industry services each year. By 2030, that number will increase by 58 percent. In our country, the aviation sector's 2020 performance has decreased by 40-70 percent compared to 2019, and its revenue decreased by 67.1 percent.

However, in the future, the transport sector will support the development of not only foreign but also domestic tourism. One example of this is the upcoming opening of a road connecting Uliastai, the center of Zavkhan province with Ulaanbaatar city on 31 October. Furthermore, 106 soums and 5 border crossings are also going to be connected with paved roads under within the framework of road network connection of 21 aimags. This means that a road infrastructure network to support domestic tourism has been created. In the future, we plan focusing only air transport services but also paving roads and linking border crossings with the 2022 state budget” he said.

The session on “Tourist transport opportunities” was chaired by O.Enkhzul, Executive Director of the Asian Business Association and was attended by Mr. Batbayar Gurragchaa, Director of the Air Transport Policy Regulation Department of the Civil Aviation Authority, Mr. N.Batdari, Director of the Business Planning Department of MIAT Mongolian Airlines, Mr. Gantulga Ganbold, Head of the Road Traffic Management Division of the Ministry of Road and Transportation and Mr. Kato Takeo, CEO of New Ulaanbaatar International Airport as panelists. Mr. Gantulga Ganbold said that tourist drivers are trained and certified every two years. The training covers firstly, driver ethics, communication skills and attitudes and secondly, foreign language and emergency first aid training. At present, the training is organized virtually in accordance with Covid-19 restrictions. For the future, we are exploring the possibility of increasing the frequency of training, not twice a year”, he further explained.