"SODON" COVERS ANYTHING RELATED TO MONGOLIA

Sunday, March 17, 2013

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! 

Saturday, March 2, 2013

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 Republic98
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