The Final Tourist Frontier: Mongolia Remote Land of Extremes Is Luring More Vacationers; A Genghis Khan Theme Park
For a few days earlier this year, 33-year-old Daniel Natoli rode around the Mongolian desert on the back of a camel and slept in a nomad's tent. It was hot, dusty and uncomfortable.
After the first 10 minutes on the camel, "I didn't think I could cope with ten more," recalled Mr. Natoli, a former corporate relocation specialist from London, as he hunted for souvenirs in Mongolia's capital, Ulaanbaatar, on a recent afternoon. Then again, "it was a real experience that I'll remember," he said. "I don't know anybody else that's been to Mongolia."
Photograph by Patrick Barta
These days, that's becoming less and less true. Once one of the world's most remote -- and least-visited -- destinations, Mongolia is enjoying one of the world's more improbable travel booms. The number of tourists, while still small at about 350,000 a year, is growing more than 10% annually. In the U.S., student travel agency STA Travel says it has seen a more than 35% increase in Mongolia bookings over the past year. Hilton Hotels Corp. is opening a 240-room hotel. Several other hotel and golf projects are in the works.
Investors are even building a 13th-century-themed Mongolian family park, complete with a towering monument to Genghis Khan, to capitalize on the latest influx of business and adventure travelers. The project will include a golf course, along with staff members who tote 13th-century weapons.
Photograph by Patrick Barta
Mongolia is only the latest in a number of remote countries that have seen a surge in tourism and vacation investment over the past few years. Investors are also showing up in Borneo (which is divided between Indonesia and Malaysia), Tibet (part of China), Cambodia and once-shunned parts of Eastern Africa -- places that were once too hard to get to, or plagued by political instability.
But now, after several years of a global real-estate boom, hotel and vacation properties have become too expensive in traditional hotspots like the Caribbean and Europe. Mobile phones, Internet booking services and budget airlines have made farther-off areas seem closer, increasing their attraction.
In Mongolia's case, the mini-boom has received a boost from a surge in mining investment, which has brought a number of expatriate managers to the country for the first time over the past three years. In Ulaanbaatar, developers are finishing work on a string of Western-style high-rise condominium projects for expatriates.
Mongolia is working hard to promote itself. Before the 1990s, Mongolia was a Communist nation that strictly regulated its tourism industry, discouraging large numbers of visitors. That started to change when Communism faded, and in 2000, Mongolia passed a law making tourism a new priority for the national economy. Among other things, the law created tax holidays for companies that made tourism-related investments.
Now, Mongolia draws a large number of academics and intellectuals who are serious students of the country's history, culture and wildlife. It's also pulling lots of adventure-seekers and eccentrics -- both from Asia and the West -- who just want to get far off the beaten track. Some travelers get to Mongolia via a train tour called "VodkaTrain" operated by Sundowners Travel, an Australian company. In marketing materials, VodkaTrain describes Ulaanbaatar as "the only capital city in the world where you can freeze, melt, survive a dust storm only to fall down a man-hole with no cover -- all in one day!"
There certainly are downsides to Mongolia -- that is, for people who are expecting it to be easy. To get anywhere, for instance, visitors often have to travel for hours across bumpy -- or, in some cases, nonexistent -- roads. Winter weather can be brutal. Ulaanbaatar isn't exactly St. Tropez, either. Pollution can wrap the traffic-choked city in a blanket of smog, especially during the bleak winter months. To get around, many visitors have to hail random cars from the street because taxis are hard to find.
Other services are spotty, too. Although ATM machines are common in Ulaanbaatar, many tourists are surprised to find they usually accept only Visa cards. To change money at the international airport, visitors are whisked into a room where a man in a dark suit pulls stacks of bills from a briefcase. Many hotel employees don't speak English.
But there are also big upsides to being in Mongolia. Many top hotel rooms are still running at $100 or less a night, and investors can pick up condos for less than $100,000. More important, visitors get to experience all that makes Mongolia unusual, including the chance to meet some of Asia's last nomads, drink fermented mare's milk, and eat ox tongue in Ulaanbaatar cafes.
Meanwhile, more amenities are on the way. Hilton's new project will be the first international-chain hotel in the country when it is completed in May 2008. The property is being developed by local investors but will be managed by Hilton.
"It is evident from the increasing inbound flights, especially from Japan and Korea, that Mongolia is a growing market for both business and leisure," said Koos Klein, president of Hilton International for the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions. Hilton officials add that the company was attracted to Ulaanbaatar by the opportunity to be a "trailblazer" in a "must-see" travel destination.
Shangri-La Asia Ltd., the Hong Kong-based luxury hotel chain, has also expressed interest in building a hotel near the center of town. Ulaanbaatar is "obviously an area we want to get into because it's an up-and-coming" market, said a Shangri-La spokeswoman.
Mongolia's highlights include trekking through the Gobi Desert, riding camels and spending the night in a ger (a nomad's tent).
Some in the travel industry say Mongolia is already getting too crowded with tourists. Jan Wigsten, marketing director of a Mongolian travel company called Nomadic Journeys, said that in some places, tent camps and other developments are popping up everywhere, trashing the landscape. In one case, developers built a giant restaurant in the shape of a concrete tortoise in the middle of the Gobi desert. "That shows a lack of understanding of the kind of tourist here," he said. "It's a big country, but it's already reaching saturation point in some areas."
Government tourism authorities have responded by limiting the number of tourist camps that can be built within close proximity to one another. They have also tried to promote more winter activities so that not all visitors arrive during the crowded -- and short -- summer months. Among the offerings: A winter festival in which camels march around and compete in races.
Even with the latest surge in activity, most visitors still go home feeling like they went to the end of the earth. Laetitia Tardivat, 31, who traveled with Mr. Natoli, said she had dreamt of traveling to Mongolia ever since she was 14 and read about Genghis Khan. On the trip, she and Mr. Natoli also milked cows and set traps for marmots, a common Gobi rodent. Ms. Tardivat said she "fell in love with" her camel, which she nicknamed White Lightning, and enjoyed falling asleep with the sunset in the vast desert. "Being on a camel in the desert makes it feel much more real," she said.
Besides, she said, "it's nice to be somewhere out of civilization, where you're discovering something."
蒙古：世界旅游的最后一片疆土
2006年初，33岁的丹尼尔?纳托里(Daniel Natoli)去蒙古旅游了几天，骑骆驼游沙漠、睡蒙古包。那里天气炎热，沙尘漫天，很不舒服。
骑了10分钟骆驼后，“我觉得再也坚持不住了。”纳托里来自伦敦，曾经是企业迁址专家。那天下午，他在蒙古首都乌兰巴托闲逛，购买一些旅游纪念品，他说：“这真是永生难忘的经历，我认识的人里一个也没来过蒙古。”
其实，这种说法变得越来越不准确了。蒙古曾是世界上最偏远、游客最少的旅游目的地，现在这里的旅游业却方兴未艾。目前每年的游客人数为35万，虽然相对较少，但年增幅超过10%。美国的学生旅行社STA Travel表示，过去一年来预订前往蒙古的业务量增长了35%以上。一座有240个房间的希尔顿饭店(Hilton Hotels Corp.)将在蒙古开业，其它几个饭店和高尔夫项目也正在兴建过程中。
投资者甚至在兴建一个13世纪风格的蒙古家庭主题公园，中间高耸着一座成吉思汗纪念碑，以吸引最近涌入蒙古从事商业和探险活动的游客。该项目包括一个高尔夫球场，公园里的工作人员都将手持13世纪的武器。
过去几年来，不少偏远国家的旅游业都得到快速发展，假日投资也紧跟而上，蒙古只是其中之一。投资者还频频现身婆罗洲（一半属马来西亚,一半属印尼）、中国西藏、柬埔寨以及曾经让人避之唯恐不及的东非等地区──这些地方以前要么很难进入，要么政治局势动荡不安。
经过几年的全球房地产热潮后，加勒比海和欧洲等传统渡假胜地的饭店和渡假村的价格都变得过于昂贵。与此同时，手机、互联网订票服务和低成本航空公司使那些偏远的地方变得触手可及，提升了这些地方的吸引力。
在蒙古，采矿投资的热潮也为旅游业带来了小小的繁荣，许多外国企业的管理人士纷纷涌入蒙古，这在过去三年来还是头一次。在乌兰巴托，几栋专为这些外派人士修建的西式高层公寓建筑已近完工。
蒙古正在向外大力推销自己。20世纪90年代前，蒙古是信奉共产主义的国家，对旅游业实行严格控制，将大批游客拒之门外。随着制度的变更，这种状况开始改变。2000年，蒙古通过一项法律，将旅游业列为国民经济优先发展的行业。此外，根据这项法律，那些进行旅游相关投资的公司还将获得一定的免税期。
现在，蒙古吸引了大批有学识的游客，他们是对这个国家的历史、文化和野生动植物感兴趣的学生。蒙古还吸引了许多探险者和追逐刺激的人──来自亚洲和西方世界的都有──他们就想探寻人迹罕至的地方。有些游客乘坐一列名叫“VodkaTrain”的火车前往蒙古，这列火车由澳大利亚的Sundowners Travel公司运营。在宣传材料中，公司把乌兰巴托描绘成“世界上独一无二的国家首都，它能让你在一天内经历严寒、酷暑和沙尘暴，最后却掉进一个没有井盖的下水道中”。
这样的描述自然也暴露出了蒙古的种种不足，尤其是对那些没有心理准备的游客来说。举例而言，游客要去一个景点的话，经常得坐车在高低不平──甚至有时不存在──的道路上颠簸几个小时。这里的冬季非常寒冷，乌兰巴托并非渡假胜地圣曹菲(St. Tropez)。有时，污染形成的烟雾会把这座交通拥挤的城市裹得严严实实，特别是冬天的那几个月。要出行的话，许多游客不得不在街上招呼来往的车辆搭车，因为很难打到出租车。
其它服务也良莠不齐。虽然自动提款机在乌兰巴托很常见，但许多游客会很惊讶地发现，它们只接受Visa卡。在机场换钱时，游客挤在一个房间里，只有一个穿黑西装的人从皮箱里拿钱出来帮他们进行兑换。许多饭店的服务人员不会说英语。
不过蒙古旅游也有自己的优势。很多顶级饭店的每晚房费不到100美元，投资者购买一套公寓花费不到10万美元。更为重要的是，游客能获得不同寻常的经历，比如在乌兰巴托的小餐馆里和亚洲最后一批游牧民交谈，喝酸马奶，吃牛舌。
在蒙古旅游的感受会变得越来越好，新建的希尔顿饭店将成为蒙古第一家国际连锁饭店，预计于2008年5月建成。该项目由当地投资者开发，希尔顿集团负责饭店管理。
“来自全球各地、特别韩国和日本的进港航班正在不断增加，由此可见蒙古正成为商业和旅游业的新兴市场。”希尔顿国际公司(Hilton International)中东和亚太地区总裁库斯?克莱恩(Koos Klein)说。公司一些管理人员还表示，希尔顿对乌兰巴托很感兴趣，觉得这里将是未来人们“不可不到”的旅游热点，公司愿做市场开发的先驱者。
香港豪华酒店连锁集团香格里拉（亚洲）有限公司(Shangri-La Asia Ltd., 简称：香格里拉)也表示有意在乌兰巴托的市中心附近建造一座酒店。“我们当然想进入乌兰巴托，因为这是个正在兴起的市场。”香格里拉饭店的发言人说道。
但一些旅游业内人士说，蒙古的游客已有些人满为患。蒙古一家旅行社Nomadic Journeys的市场总监简?维格斯坦(Jan Wigsten)说，帐篷营地和其它渡假设施在蒙古一些地方随处可见，严重破坏了自然景观。举例而言，有开发商在戈壁沙漠用混凝土建造了一座乌龟形的大型餐馆。“这显示他们根本不了解游客的喜好，”他说，“蒙古是个很大的国家，但有些地方的游客接待能力已趋于饱和。”
政府旅游部门已就此作出反应，限制旅游帐篷营地的建造数量和相隔距离。政府还试着宣传蒙古的冬季旅游活动，以减轻夏季旅游旺季的压力，其中一个活动就是在冬季组织骑骆驼和骆驼比赛。
尽管活动日趋丰富多彩，但大多数游客去过蒙古后都觉得他们像是到了天涯海角。31岁的莱提亚?塔迪瓦(Laetitia Tardivat)这次和纳托里一起去的蒙古，她说自己14岁看过关于成吉思汗的书后就梦想去蒙古旅游。旅途中，她和纳托里都给牛挤过奶，设过抓土拨鼠的陷阱。塔迪瓦说，她“爱上了”骑着的骆驼，给它起名叫“白色闪电”，而且她很享受在大漠日落余辉的笼罩下入睡的感觉。“骑着骆驼游历沙漠给人一种更贴近真实的感觉。”
她还说：“很高兴能远离文明呆上一段时间，这里能让你发现一些新的东西。”
Patrick Barta
