N.Molor, Director of the National Tourism Center, has commented
that proper tourism has failed to develop in Mongolia. Visitors feel respect
for local culture and traditions only if these are competently and carefully
explained to them.  Molor feels most
tourist guides in Mongolia are ignorant of such aspects, with the result that
the increase in the number of tourists has only meant a rise in environmental
pollution and exploitation of natural resources. Local communities reap little
benefit from tourism in their area, and are thus unable to work for regional
development with the revenue that properly planned tourism should generate.

Molor would prefer more involvement of local citizens in
handling tourists, instead of leaving the entire work to tour guides who just
repeat information from books and the Internet, and are without any personal
knowledge of or commitment to local customs, culture, and lifestyle. The
problem is that local guides mostly do not know any foreign language. He urged
local administrations to work together with tourist companies in Ulaanbaatar to
organize tourist itineraries that stressed local color.

The Japanese development organization JICA began
implementing some eco-tourism projects in Mongolia about three years ago. These
had great potential but have not been successful, according to Molor, even
though the term is widely used by tour operators to sell their package.