Still Learning How To Report Our Impact
I say that because I think it matters. We are still learning how to report our impact in a way that feels useful, honest, and true to who we are as a very small Mongolia-based company.
We have decided to create and publish an annual Impact Report as a way of being accountable — to our guests, our team, our long-term local community partners, and ourselves. But this is still a new process for us. It is not perfect, and it is not meant to suggest that we have everything neatly measured or solved.
Why Publishing This Feels Complicated
Before you read it, I want to say something honestly.
Eternal Landscapes is a very small company. We work with around 200 travellers a year. We are not a large operator with a big office, sales team, or marketing department. In fact, we turn away almost as many enquiries as we accept — often because we are not the right fit, because expectations do not match the way we work, or simply because we choose not to grow beyond what feels responsible for our team and the communities we work alongside.
That is partly why publishing an Impact Report feels complicated.
A lot of time and thought has gone into creating it. It was written by me, Jess, with the support of Léa, our responsible tourism consultant. We wanted it to be useful, honest, and transparent. But I also worry that by publishing something so structured, we risk looking bigger or more formal than we actually are.
At the moment in Mongolia, there is a strong focus on hyper-local travel — travellers booking directly through relatives of friends, individual guides, drivers, or local contacts. We understand the appeal of that. Mongolia is a country where personal connections matter deeply. But for us, responsible tourism is also about long-term relationships, consistency, fair employment, and staying with people when things change.
Why Long-Term Partnerships Matter
In autumn 2025, one of our long-term local partners died. His death has changed the experience we offer in that part of the Central Heartland in Mongolia. Guests will no longer sit with him while he talks about his love of growing vegetables, or explains Mongolia’s cultural history through the tools and furniture he displayed in his small ger museum.
But his family want to try to continue the small camp he established. And we want to continue supporting them.
It will not be the same. It cannot be the same. But we do not believe in working with families only when their lives fit neatly into the experience travellers expect. We believe in standing by our partnerships as lives, families, and circumstances change.
That is one small example of why we publish this report.
Why We Publish Our Mongolia Impact Report
Not because impact is usually the deciding factor when someone chooses a travel company. We know it often is not. Most people choose a trip because the dates work, the itinerary appeals, the price feels possible, or because something about the company feels right.
But impact still matters.
It matters in the decisions made quietly behind the scenes. It matters in who is paid, who is trained, who is listened to, who is supported, and who benefits. It matters when things are difficult, not just when they make a good story.
So this report is not a claim that we get everything right.
It is our second attempt to record what we are trying to do, what we have learned, where our money, time, and energy have gone, and why we continue to believe that small, thoughtful tourism can still have value in Mongolia.
Thank you for reading it.
Jess
Founder, Eternal Landscapes Mongolia
