Our SDG Achievements through Community-Based Tourism in Mongolia

At GER to GER, we have been actively advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for over two decades through our community-based tourism initiatives. Since 2002, we have designed and implemented sustainable programs that create long-term positive social, economic, and environmental impacts in Mongolia.

SDG 1 – No Poverty

• Up to 80% of revenue from humanitarian trips directly benefits rural nomads, drivers, and local communities, while the remaining 20% funds marketing and training programs to further their economic development.

SDG 2 – Zero Hunger

• We prioritize employing marginalized nomadic families, including those facing extreme poverty, ensuring they have sustainable incomes and food security.

SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-being

• We provide health and safety training to rural communities to reduce preventable diseases such as Hepatitis.
• Income from tourism helps cover medical insurance, doctor visits, medication, and even life-saving surgeries.

SDG 4 – Quality Education

• Through tourism-generated income and educational workshops, nomadic adults and children have gained access to schools, high schools, and universities.
• We have supported local schools and kindergartens by renovating classrooms and equipping them with educational materials.

SDG 5 – Gender Equality

•  Over 70% of GER to GER’s national managers are women.
•  In rural Mongolia, women play a crucial role in tourism-providing hospitality services while also taking part in guiding activities.

SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation

• We implement ‘Leave No Trace’ principles and train both nomads and travelers in responsible waste management to protect Mongolia’s watersheds.

SDG 7 – Affordable and Clean Energy

• We helped nomadic families open bank accounts, establishing credit histories that enable them to secure micro-loans for solar and wind-powered energy solutions.
• Many now use solar freezers to preserve food, reducing waste and improving food security.

SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth

• Over 90% of our workforce comes from rural areas, creating sustainable employment through community-based tourism and geotourism.
• We actively renovate and equip schools and kindergartens, installing heating systems to ensure children are warm during harsh Mongolian winters.

SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

• GER to GER revitalizes the ancient Mongol Empire’s kinetic supply chain, transforming it into a modern, sustainable tourism network that supports local economies.

SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities

• We actively combat financial and social inequalities, ensuring rural families have access to fair economic opportunities.
• Additionally, we track and mitigate online misinformation that can negatively impact developing nations’ tourism and economies.

SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities

• GER to GER integrates kinetic and static supply chains to enhance local and national economic development.
•  Our founder has contributed over 23 years to Mongolia’s post-Soviet economic transition, supporting key industries such as tourism, meat, and cashmere.

SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production

• We train travelers on subsistence nomadic lifestyles, traditions, and history to foster responsible tourism.
• We help nomadic communities find sustainable alternatives to overgrazing, promoting eco-friendly income sources.

SDG 13 – Climate Action

• We have conducted Nomad Relief Efforts during climate disasters and organized awareness campaigns on land degradation and desertification.
• Our network actively monitors environmental changes, including desertification, watershed health, and weather impacts on grazing lands.

SDG 14 – Life Below Water

• While Mongolia is landlocked, water conservation is critical.
• We educate herders and travelers on responsible water use, protecting Mongolia’s watersheds that sustain nomadic communities.

SDG 15 – Life on Land

• Our programs train herders and travelers on land conservation, waste management, and sustainable grazing practices to prevent desertification and overgrazing.
• We have established monitoring networks to track and report on land and environmental degradation.

SDG 16 – Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

• We actively promote human rights and social justice, raising awareness about extremism, racial hate crimes, and misinformation that hinder sustainable development.

SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals

• • GER to GER continues to expand its partnerships with local and international organizations to further sustainable tourism, community development, and environmental conservation.

Mongolia COMMUNITY BASED TOURISM INITIATIVES

Some Successes from 1000s include:

Hashuu’s Wife

“Ger to Ger saved my husband’s health in 2016… Ger to Ger paid for his entire hip replacement surgery/one month’s physical therapy treatment cost at the Korean Hospital. Today, he is working by himself and started to herd animals alone without requiring other people’s assistance; his backbone pain gone forever.”

Hashuu

“The benefits of working with Ger to Ger are countless.”

Battsetseg

“Income that my family earned from tourism sector has paid for my husband’s rehab and medical treatment for his liver.”

A Nomad States

“My additional revenue from tourism industry benefitted my livestock to grow sustainably as I had no longer kill animals to pay my four children’s tuitions and my wife’s liver treatment.”

Battsetseg Gonchigdorj

“After collecting my salary for couple years, I was able to pay for my two older daughters’ university tuitions. The oldest daughter fulfilled her dream as a pre-med student and the other one studied Korean language. The young two daughters are studying in English school and high school specialized in math.”

Jargalsaikhan Purevjal

“I used my salary to purchase more animals for my family and a horse cart so I don’t need to beg other families to lend us their cart so my family can move during seasonal migration.”

Amarjargal Dorjsuren

“In 2008, my brother was killed due to unsafe working conditions in the unlicensed Nalaih mines. If my husband and I were not working at Ger to Ger, my husband could have been killed too. It’s truly wonderful that Ger to Ger assisted my family and also saved my life for my children… I’m always Appreciative.”

Boogii

“In 2006, Ger to Ger invited my family to become a host family however we had no financial resources and no animals to transport travelers. Regardless of our challenges, Ger to Ger team extended their hands by recommending to rent animals and Gers from other families until we were able to procure our own.”

Zorig

“We used to herd for other families for many years because we did not have our own animals. But after working with Ger to Ger our livelihoods improved and we purchased our own animals; and herding them now. Also few years ago, one of my sons had heart problem and had to have urgent surgery. If we did not work with Ger to Ger and did not earn money from tourism sector we could not have afford to pay the surgery cost and save my son. Today my son is healthy and herding animals, next year he will start studying in University.”

The Challenges We Navigate

Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals Through Community-Based Tourism in Mongolia

Advancing ethical, community-based tourism in Mongolia in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is deeply meaningful work — and it also comes with real, well-documented challenges. Over more than three decades of field experience, we have learned that long-term community development requires not only strong partnerships and trust, but also resilience in the face of misinformation, market distortion, and inconsistent industry standards.

Sharing these realities transparently is not intended to discourage travelers or partners. Rather, it helps explain why GER to GER places such emphasis on integrity, accountability, and long-term community stewardship.

One of the primary challenges facing community-based tourism (CBT) in Mongolia is the growing lack of distinction between genuinely responsible operators and those who simply adopt the language of sustainability without practicing it. In recent years, many tourism businesses have branded themselves as “community-based” or “responsible,” even when their involvement with communities is minimal, extractive, or short-term.

This has led to several structural issues:

• Community projects originally developed through long-term, donor-supported or grassroots initiatives being repackaged without proper attribution or reinvestment;
• Local families and trained community members being approached opportunistically, rather than supported through sustained capacity-building;
• Confusion among travelers and institutions about what constitutes authentic community-based tourism versus conventional tour packaging.

True CBT development requires years of relationship-building, field testing, cultural understanding, and shared learning with nomadic families themselves. While theory, reports, and best-practice frameworks are important, they cannot replace lived experience or the responsibility that comes with having designed, tested, and refined community-led models on the ground.

For GER to GER, safeguarding this distinction is essential — not as a matter of competition, but as a matter of protecting community trust and ensuring that tourism genuinely contributes to rural resilience, cultural preservation, and economic sustainability.

A second challenge relates to the broader digital environment in which tourism now operates. Like many community-based initiatives worldwide, Mongolian CBT programs can be disproportionately affected by misleading or bad-faith online reviews. In some cases, reviews stem from travelers whose expectations were shaped by conventional tourism norms rather than an understanding of rural, family-hosted environments. In other cases, misinformation is amplified in ways that do not accurately reflect on-the-ground realities.

Because community-based tourism operates on thin margins and relies heavily on trust, sudden waves of misinformation can have immediate economic consequences for nomadic families and small rural enterprises. This makes transparency, expectation-setting, and traveler education critically important.

GER to GER addresses this challenge by:

• Providing clear pre-departure information so guests understand cultural context, living conditions, and mutual responsibilities;
• Maintaining direct relationships with host families rather than transactional arrangements;
• Encouraging constructive dialogue and learning rather than confrontation or blame.

Community-based tourism works best when travelers, hosts, and operators approach one another with patience, humility, and respect. Our role is to act as a bridge — translating expectations across cultures while protecting the dignity, livelihoods, and long-term wellbeing of the communities who open their homes to visitors.

Despite these challenges, we remain committed to advancing ethical tourism models that align with the UN SDGs and demonstrate that tourism, when done responsibly, can be a powerful force for cultural understanding, rural development, and shared humanity.