International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, Volume 7(2), ISSN: 2394-9333 www.ijtrd.com Branding Mongolia as Travel Destination to Taiwanese Tourists 1Bayarsaikhan Buzmaa and 2Baasanbat Bayarmaa, 1Department of Human Resources and Public Relations, Da-Yeh University, Changhua, Taiwan 2Department of International Business Management, Da-Yeh University, Changhua, Taiwan Abstract: Today, there are various specialty country branding camels. According to the latest count, the country has 4 million firms which rank countries based on their relative brand horses, 4 million cows, 0.4 million camels, 30 million sheep powers and consult national and city governments in building a and 27 million goats, and in total almost 66 million livestock. positive country/city brand for themselves. This research Around three-fourths of Mongolia’s land area consists of paper’s objective is to help improve Mongolia’s country brand pastureland and supports the large number of grazing livestock. by promoting its tourism industry to Taiwanese inbound Geographically, Mongolia has remarkable variety of scenery tourists. ranging from upland steppes, semi deserts, and deserts to forests and high mountain ranges. It has three cultural and two Keywords: Branding Mongolia, Travel Destination, Taiwanese natural properties inscribed on the World Heritage List by the Tourists United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural I. INTRODUCTION Organization (UNESCO). Cultural assets Great Burkhan Khaldun Mountain and its surrounding landscape was Country or nation branding is a relatively new concept, which inscribed in 2015, Orkhon Valley cultural landscape in 2004 started to be discussed more actively in academia since the and Petroglyphic Complexes of the Mongolian Altai in 2011. early 1990s. The term was first coined by a British consultant, Natural properties of Dauria and Uvs Nuur basin were Simon Anholt, in 1996 and the New York Times Magazine inscribed in 2017 and 2003 respectively5. The country, as a featured it as one of the most notable ideas in 2005 (Andrei, whole, is elevated an average of 1,580 meters above sea level 2017). Since then, the idea of country branding has been which makes it one of the world’s highest countries. It has studied and debated rigorously. To date, however, no harsh continental climate with long cold winters and short consensus have been reached among scholars regarding a warm-to-hot summers. common, unified definition of what country or nation branding is. In this paper, we follow the technical economic approach B. Inbound tourism overview and define nation branding as the application of the corporate Mongolia’s tourism industry developing during the 1950s. marketing and branding concepts to countries in order to Until the democratic revolution of 1990, the industry’s improve their strategic advantage with the purpose of operation was limited to one state-owned tour operator economic growth. According to Kaneva’s (2011) extensive “Juulchin”. However, since 1990 until 1998, various privately review of scholarly work attributed to nation branding, there held tourist facilities and camps opened at popular destinations are three different perspectives on the subject, which are and offered general attractions. During this time, tourism sector technical-economic, political and cultural-critical. Advocates was largely left on its own to develop without much investment of the dominant technical-economic approach perceive nation in the sector. Tourism products were unfocused, branding as a strategic tool to boost a country’s competitive undifferentiated and service quality was especially poor. advantage. According to Bell (2005) and Dinnie (2008), the However, due to growing inflation, poverty and economic purpose of both nation brands and nation branding is to ensure pressures following the political transitioning, the Government a favorable reputation with the target audience. Simon Anholt, of Mongolia started to identify tourism as one of the priority one of the most prominent scholars in the field, views nation sectors to stimulate social and economic development. branding as a “metaphor for how effectively countries compete with each other for favorable perception, be it with regard to C. Current polices exports, governance, tourism, investment and immigration, In recent years, Mongolia is emphasizing its nomadic culture culture and heritage, or people” (Anholt, 2007). and lifestyle in promoting international inbound tourism. In II. LITERATURE REVIEW January 2013, the Ministry of Culture, Sport, Tourism of Mongolia approved “Go nomadic, Experience Mongolia” as its A. Country profile new slogan for advertising Mongolia tourism sector. The Mongolia is a landlocked nation located to the south of the slogan was extensively used in commercials and fairs during Russia and north of the China. The country has total land area the year. of 1,553,560 km2 and population of 3.1 million people, which However, in February 2014, the slogan was changed into makes it the most sparsely populated nation in the world “Mongolia, Nomadic by Nature” in order to better capture and (Worldometers, 2018). Almost 45% of the current population communicate both the nomadic lifestyle as well as the pristine lives in the capital city while approximately 30% live as nature of Mongolia. The MCST’s overall strategy has been to nomadic herders in the countryside. Rest of the population focus marketing and promotional activities on Mongolia’s lives in smaller cities and provincial towns. The nomadic nomadic culture and history as well as one-of-a-kind outdoor population still lives moving from one pastureland to another adventure tourism products. Common outdoor adventure in search for suitable grazing land as the seasons change. The activities include trekking, hiking, fishing, hunting, bird- most common livestock are sheep, goats, cattle, horses and watching, horseback riding, mountain biking, etc. IJTRD | Mar – Apr 2020 Available [email protected] 210 International Journal of Trend in Research and Development, Volume 7(2), ISSN: 2394-9333 www.ijtrd.com D. Challenges III. METHODOLOGY Despite the government’s increased effort to further stimulate In order to come up with constructive proposals on how to international tourism in Mongolia, the industry is still facing improve Mongolia’s tourism brand, this study first examines multitude of issues. One of the main predicaments has been the Mongolia’s country profile including cultural, historical, lack of unified and stable tourism strategy and promotional political and geographic dimensions. Moreover, the study efforts (UNCTAD, 2012). While the government has tried to examines the country’s tourism policy up to today and get more of the private sector involved, it has not been identifies the industry’s current challenges. successful in establishing a close connection among the A. SWOT Analysis industry stakeholders. As a result, many private sector companies invest in individual, often times redundant and This paper examines strategic potentials of and methods to sometimes inconsistent projects with those pursued by the promoting Mongolia as a holiday destination to Taiwanese public sector, which undermines the creditability and leisure tourists. As examined in Chapter 3.1, most popular efficiency of the whole industry. international destinations for Japanese tourists are North America, China, and Korea. Other popular destinations within Furthermore, due to political instability in the Mongolian the Asia region include Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, government, the public and semi- public agencies responsible Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Macao. Many for formulating and implementing tourism strategies changed of the locations appeal to tourists with their beautiful beaches, several times over the past several years, which resulted in the sun and the sand. Others are prominent for their high-rise significant change of personnel, policies and projects all of buildings, hotels and casinos, department stores and night which contributed to inefficiency and loss of trust from entertainment. However, Mongolia is remarkably distinct from domestic and international stakeholders. Further challenges all those countries in the region. include limited availability of air transport connecting Ulaanbaatar (capital of Mongolia) to major international transit B. STP Analysis hubs, lack of convenient domestic transportation infrastructure, The analysis revealed that seniors in their 60s and 70s make up poor service quality, high seasonality, etc. the largest portion of incoming Taiwanese travelers. This There are currently only seven air carriers including MIAT demographic group is affluent and has time for international Mongolian Airlines with direct flights to/from Ulaanbaatar, travels since many of the Taiwanese fully retire at 60 years of connecting the capital city to 10 other international cities16 age, and the rest switch to a lighter job. Seniors aged more than abroad. For a list of the cities, please refer to Appendix 1. 60 make up 33%31 of Taiwan’s total population and are Moreover, during peak tourist seasons, the price of flights increasing. Since domestic transportation in Mongolia between sharply increases in addition to the overall higher-than-average destinations tends to be time-consuming, it is better to target pricing due to limited supply. senior travelers who have more time as compared to middle- aged professionals. Hence, the major target consumers, in this For instance,