On July 23, President Elbegdorj
received Taleb D. Rifai the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization
(UNWTO).

“Mongolia is one of the important members of the UNWTO. There are huge
opportunities in tourism. Mongolia is a unique country which has the pristine
nature, ancient history and tradition. Tourism is important, and in some cases,
vital for many countries. It creates opportunities for employment in local
area. I think your visit would make large contribution to our cooperation in
tourism sector.


Recently, the new Parliament of Mongolia was formed. I hope that the new
Government would pay more attention on mining industry as well as tourism
sector and infrastructure related to tourism” said the President.

In response Taleb D. Rifai said “The tourism brings in large amounts of income
in economy and creates many jobs, fostering economic growth. There are more
than one billion tourist arrivals worldwide, annually. I see there is a big
opportunity to expand ecotourism in Mongolia and need to pay attention to the
Ministry in this sector. I have met the Presidents and the Prime Ministers from
34 different countries, over the last 14 months and I handed the letter where I
called them to be a supporter of the tourism and travelling”. Also, the letter
was handed to President Elbegdorj.