AKIPRESS.COM - The Mongolian government aims to attract tourists by rebranding its current tourism based on its rich nomadic culture and heritage, a top Mongolian official said on Thursday, reports Xinhua.

"According to a plan on sustainable development up to 2030, we envision that Mongolia will become a center of nomadic tourism," M.Enkhbold, speaker of the Mongolian parliament said at the opening of the International Silk Road Conference on Nomadic Tourism and Sustainable Cities held in Ulaanbaatar. M.Enkhbold noted that Mongolia has good potential to attract foreign tourists by virtue of its nomadic heritage and tourism can be a key pillar of Mongolia's sustainable development.

Sluggish commodity prices and internal political struggles have plummeted the Mongolia into a deep economic crisis. Tourism has caught much attention in this regard. Lack of tourism infrastructure and high cost of visits to Mongolia are also believed to have prevented the development of the tourism sector. According to official statistics, about 400,000 tourists visit Mongolia each year and income from the tourism sector accounts for around 3 percent of the country's GDP. Tourism experts estimate that this number can be increased if Mongolia improves the current situation of the tourism sector.

Representatives of the Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Tourism have emphasized that Mongolia plans to improve the competitiveness of its tourism sector and adopt about 30 standards to ensure a comfortable stay for tourists and attract them to Mongolia. One of the standards concerns building comfortable toilets in rural areas - the lack of toilets in rural areas is a real problem. The Mongolian government aims to increase the number of tourists that arrive in Mongolia to 1 million by 2020.