Misleading report by World Economic Forum

 The World Economic Forum (WEF) has recently issued its new report called The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013. Without a doubt, it was a huge project with tremendous volume of work and I believe that most of the facts and analysis  may be correct or close to be correct because of many sources of information they used. There was one thing I wanted to address though, and this is the fact that Mongolia was named as the unfriendliest country when it comes to foreign visitors. And this is ridiculous!

Overall Mongolia is  ranked  99th out of 140 countries with a score of 3.63 in a scale of 1-7  in 2013 report. Two years ago the rank was 101st.  Switzerland is  ranked first with an index (TTCI) of 5.66, followed by Germany, Austria, Spain, UK, US, France, Canada, Sweden, Singapore in the top ten.
(see for more: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TT_Competitiveness_Report_2013.pdf)

The following  key elements were used  to determine the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) for each country:
- Policy rules and regulations
-  Environmental sustainability
- Safety and security
- Health and hygiene
- Prioritization of travel and tourism
- Air transport infrastructure
- Ground transport infrastructure
- Tourism infrastructure
- ICT infrastructure
- Price competitiveness in the travel and tourism industry
- Human resources
- Affinity for travel and tourism
- Natural resources
- Cultural resources

In the category  called  "Affinity for travel and tourism" there are 4  subdivisions  like  "Tourism openness", "Attitude of population toward foreign visitors", "Extension of business trips recommended" and "Degree of customer orientation". One of them, the most interesting one maybe, is the "Attitude of population toward foreign visitors" and shockingly and to my great surprise, Mongolia "qualified" as one of  the worst country to visit. Or to be exact, Mongolians are the most unfriendliest nation among the 140  countries taken into examination.  Check below:

Attitude of  population toward foreign visitors:
 (How welcome are foreign visitors to your country?)
(Scale: 1= very unwelcome, 7= very welcome)

Countries with good  attitude

1. Iceland                           6.8
2. New Zealand                  6.8
3. Morocco                        6.7
4. Macedonia                     6.7
5. Austria                            6.7
6. Senegal                           6.7
7. Portugal                          6.6
8. Bosnia and Herzegovina  6.6
9. Ireland                            6.6
10. Burkina Faso                6.6

Countries with bad  attitude

1. Bolivia                        4.1
2. Venezuela                   4.5
3. Russian Federation     5.0
4. Kuwait                       5.2
5. Latvia                         5.2
6. Iran                            5.2
7. Pakistan                      5.3
8. Slovak Republic          5.5
9. Bulgaria                       5.5
10. Mongolia      5.5

What  a  disgrace!  Born to be a Mongol and raised as a Mongol, I know enough how we Mongols behave toward  "strangers".  As matter of fact, Mongols are well-known for their hospitality and friendliness toward strangers no matter whether it is an own country man or a foreigner. Food and drinks are offered, at no cost, and locals would help any way they can without demanding something in return. Countryside is the only place foreign tourists  would go because of the wild nature and unique nomadic culture, so foreigners would mostly get in contact  with  local population  during their  traveling. Tourists wouldn't stay in the cities since there are not much to see except some museums but  in cities foreign visitors are safe and welcomed too. On a very rare occasion  one might hear that a foreigner  (who may live and work in city)  would  robbed while walking late night alone and some poor or drunk person   was to blame.  Tourists never go alone at late night. Other than that Mongolia is a trouble-free country to visit. 

I wonder where the authors  of this report, put out  by the  WEF  , got the idea to classify Mongolia as the unfriendliest country to visit. There must be real bad experiences and facts related to foreign tourists who visited Mongolia in the past to prove that they were treated so badly, but I haven't heard anything  of that nature by myself.  So how come Mongolia ended up being among the last countries on the list?  Based on what?! 

Yeah, yeah, we are far away from being "Switzerland-type"  country where everything is so perfect. So I don't argue with all other outcomes (remember the 14 categories?) in different areas and the overall score (3.63) and the ranking (99th)  "pinned"  on  us because I know that  lot  of things need to be improved, beginning with air and ground transportation, tourism infrastructure etc. But I am talking about our attitude toward  foreign people and the fact being declared  as the one with bad attitude. That hurts.

By the way, I want  also point out that  Mongolia is not a travel destination  for people who would prefer fancy and luxury tour with everything imaginable on hand, if that was the main reason to "punish" Mongolia. It could be. Tourists who got used to have everything handy when they needed and that wasn't the case when they came to Mongolia, and that is when they start complaining. That  is my guess. I couldn't think of any other  reason to call us as the bad ones. 

For those who choose to visit us, I say again that Mongolia  is a spot for those who like adventure, and would not fear any "outdoor-challenge" and "roughness". It is not a place to visit  for "soft" people. Having said that, I am afraid that this challenging and "raw" conditions  should stay intact because that is  the magnet to attract people who are "tired" of "robotic" city-life and wanted to be "out" even for a couple of weeks.

Anyway, the question was whether or not  Mongols were friendly toward  foreign  visitors and  the answer to  this question was  way too wrong and misleading! It is up to our readers whom to believe, us  or WEF, but  my advice is to make as many  researches as possible, like questioning people visited Mongolia in the past  and/or reading any available information online related to this matter , and make own decision based on information collected.  

It was not my intention to  "mess" with WEF, but, hey, this report was made by humans who could make mistakes because of the false information they got from somewhere, somehow and this is not unusual. So I try to correct this mistake "my way" to lessen the bad consequences coming from this report, in particular from this classification, declaring  Mongolia as one of the  "hostile nations" to foreign tourists. 

There is a saying, "Seeing just ones by own eyes is better than hearing thousand times", and if you are not so "fragile" and love "outdoor activities", you are welcomed to visit Mongolia and  experience  our hospitality and friendship while enjoying the wild nature. "Go nomadic. Experience Mongolia" is  our  slogan for advertising   Mongolia's tourism, so come and visit us! 

Mongolia's national IQ score

Mongolia is ranked fifth on this National IQ score list. (see below). Source: Richard Lynn, Tatu Vanhanen, Jelte Wicherds

One might wonder how come these nomads can make such high scores, but I assure you somebody so dumb and weak would never rule the half of the world for centuries and prove their  physical and brain power. This was not a job for dummies.

From the other point of view, Mongols can be called real "dumb"  if  you consider the situation we are now in. Once a nation made a name in the world history, Mongols ended up being the poorest and weakest place on earth without being able to protect themselves on their own.  And develop as a country, really!
What has led to this , let me call it tragic, situation? Nothing but the internal wars lasted for years and years after Mongol Empire's collapse. Chinggis Khaan  united all the warring Mongol tribes once, but his sons and grandsons and later khaans (kings)  ruined the country fighting against each other for power and wealth with a result losing all together at the end.

So what was left after all this? A country with a population near to extinction and plagued by stupid Tibetan Lamaism which brought nothing but "useless" lamas residing at many temples and for whom  marriage was a taboo, thus "contributing" their share to the reduction of the population. We should thank the God that we could keep the most part of the homeland today called Mongolia.  Now it is time to rise for us and despite the lower number of people, compared to many nations, we are able to  compete at the world level. And this ranking on National IQ score shows our capability.


The intelligence scores came from work carried out earlier this decade by Richard Lynn, a British psychologist, and Tatu Vanhanen, a Finnish political scientist, who analysed IQ studies from 113 countries, and from subsequent work by Jelte Wicherts, a Dutch psychologist.

Countries are ranked highest to lowest national IQ score.

Rank --------	Country -----------------------	% -------------
1	Singapore	108
2	South Korea	106
3	Japan	105
4	Italy	102
5	Iceland	101
5	Mongolia	101
6	Switzerland	101
7	Austria	100
7	China	100
7	Luxembourg	100
7	Netherlands	100
7	Norway	100
7	United Kingdom	100
8	Belgium	99
8	Canada	99
8	Estonia	99
8	Finland	99
8	Germany	99
8	New Zealand	99
8	Poland	99
8	Sweden	99
9	Andorra	98
9	Australia	98
9	Czech Republic	98
9	Denmark	98
9	France	98
9	Hungary	98
9	Latvia	98
9	Spain	98
9	United States	98
10	Belarus	97
10	Malta	97
10	Russia	97
10	Ukraine	97
11	Moldova	96
11	Slovakia	96
11	Slovenia	96
11	Uruguay	96
12	Israel	95
12	Portugal	95
13	Armenia	94
13	Georgia	94
13	Kazakhstan	94
13	Romania	94
13	Vietnam	94
14	Argentina	93
14	Bulgaria	93
15	Greece	92
15	Ireland	92
15	Malaysia	92
16	Brunei	91
16	Cambodia	91
16	Cyprus	91
16	FYROM	91
16	Lithuania	91
16	Sierra Leone	91
16	Thailand	91
17	Albania	90
17	Bosnia and Herzegovina	90
17	Chile	90
17	Croatia	90
17	Kyrgyzstan	90
17	Turkey	90
18	Cook Islands	89
18	Costa Rica	89
18	Laos	89
18	Mauritius	89
18	Serbia	89
18	Suriname	89
19	Ecuador	88
19	Mexico	88
19	Samoa	88
20	Azerbaijan	87
20	Bolivia	87
20	Brazil	87
20	Guyana	87
20	Indonesia	87
20	Iraq	87
20	Myanmar (Burma)	87
20	Tajikistan	87
20	Turkmenistan	87
20	Uzbekistan	87
21	Kuwait	86
21	Philippines	86
21	Seychelles	86
21	Tonga	86
22	Cuba	85
22	Eritrea	85
22	Fiji	85
22	Kiribati	85
22	Peru	85
22	Trinidad and Tobago	85
22	Yemen	85
23	Afghanistan	84
23	Bahamas, The	84
23	Belize	84
23	Colombia	84
23	Iran	84
23	Jordan	84
23	Marshall Islands	84
23	Micronesia, Federated States of	84
23	Morocco	84
23	Nigeria	84
23	Pakistan	84
23	Panama	84
23	Paraguay	84
23	Saudi Arabia	84
23	Solomon Islands	84
23	Uganda	84
23	United Arab Emirates	84
23	Vanuatu	84
23	Venezuela	84
24	Algeria	83
24	Bahrain	83
24	Libya	83
24	Oman	83
24	Papua New Guinea	83
24	Syria	83
24	Tunisia	83
25	Bangladesh	82
25	Dominican Republic	82
25	India	82
25	Lebanon	82
25	Madagascar	82
25	Zimbabwe	82
26	Egypt	81
26	Honduras	81
26	Maldives	81
26	Nicaragua	81
27	Barbados	80
27	Bhutan	80
27	El Salvador	80
27	Kenya	80
28	Guatemala	79
28	Sri Lanka	79
28	Zambia	79
29	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	78
29	Nepal	78
29	Qatar	78
30	Comoros	77
30	South Africa	77
31	Cape Verde	76
31	Congo, Republic of the	76
31	Mauritania	76
31	Senegal	76
32	Mali	74
32	Namibia	74
33	Ghana	73
34	Tanzania	72
35	Central African Republic	71
35	Grenada	71
35	Jamaica	71
35	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	71
35	Sudan	71
36	Antigua and Barbuda	70
36	Benin	70
36	Botswana	70
36	Rwanda	70
36	Togo	70
37	Burundi	69
37	Cote d'Ivoire	69
37	Ethiopia	69
37	Malawi	69
37	Niger	69
38	Angola	68
38	Burkina Faso	68
38	Chad	68
38	Djibouti	68
38	Somalia	68
38	Swaziland	68
39	Dominica	67
39	Guinea	67
39	Guinea-Bissau	67
39	Haiti	67
39	Lesotho	67
39	Liberia	67
39	Saint Kitts and Nevis	67
39	Sao Tome and Principe	67
40	Gambia, The	66
41	Cameroon	64
41	Gabon	64
41	Mozambique	64
42	Saint Lucia	62
43	Equatorial Guinea	59
	North Korea	N/A