Following the announcement by the Mongolian Government that 2018 is officially 'Year of Tourism', active measures have been taken in supporting green-eco tourism. Under the projects, service in restaurants and tourist camps has been improved. As we reported yesterday, a tourist hotline has been sent up providing foreign visitors with an information service, and also the possibility to complain when service standards are not up to scratch. In addition, specific rules and regulations are being developed for nature travellers.

Mongolia is definitely taking improving service standards seriously. One huge area marked for improvement is providing modern toilets to replace the ubiquitous squat loos. The country is also benchmarking best-practice models, such as the eco tourism treks of South Korea's Jeju Island.

In the first quarter of 2018, Mongolia saw 705,000 foreign tourists, up 11 percent from the same period last year, according to the National Statistical Office of Mongolia. Government has a plan to increase to the number to 1 million by 2020.