Mongolia is Expected to Receive about 1 Million Foreign Tourists by 2024
On 18 August, the 2022 Asian Mountain Tourism Promotion Conference on Amity, Sincerity, Mutual Benefit, Inclusiveness, Cooperation, and Sharing —— Jointly Building a New Future for Asian Mountain Tourism was officially launched in Guiyang, Guizhou province. T. Bat-Orshikh, Counsellor of the Mongolian Embassy in China, made a presentation at the Asian Mountain Tourism Recommendation.
The following is the full text of the presentation.
With an area of 1.5 million square kilometers, Mongolia is the 17th largest country in the world and the eighth largest in Asia. Mongolia is 900 to 1500 meters above sea level and has the Altai Mountain Range, Kusugul Lake, Agra Mountains, etc., where the Altai Mountain Range of Mongolia is 4374 meters above sea level and is the highest peak in Mongolia. Please watch the promotional video of Mongolia below.
Between 2019 and 2020, 580,000 foreign tourists visited Mongolia, a 12% increase from the previous year. The Mongolian government plans to receive about one million foreign tourists and $1 billion in tourism revenue by 2024. In order to support the development of tourism in Mongolia, the Mongolian government has launched the "Genghis Khan Historical and Cultural Tourism Complex Project", which will create more than 400 jobs and benefit more than 3,000 people when it becomes operational.
You can't travel without a visa. Next, I'll briefly explain how to apply for a visa to Mongolia. After the Law on Contracting Foreigners in Mongolia was reworked in 2021, the number of Mongolian visas was changed from 11 categories to 66 categories. To apply for an information visa, you first apply at the Mongolian Immigration Office, which sends an invitation letter to Mongolia and then to the Embassy and Consulate, after which you can apply for a visa. For tourist visa, you can apply directly to the Embassy and Consulate.
Mongolia has six embassies and consulates in total, including the Consulate General of Hohhot, the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia, and the Consulate General of Hong Kong, in addition to the Embassy in Beijing. As I mentioned earlier, after the Law on Contracting Foreigners in Mongolia was amended, Mongolia started issuing electronic visas from October 1 last year, which are available for those who come to Mongolia for three or four days, including those who travel or attend cultural, artistic and sports competitions. E-visa can be applied online, and after applying online, the relevant department will give feedback to the applicant after 72 hours. In this way, applicants don't have to submit the original documents and materials to the embassies and consulates, but just apply online, which is much more convenient and also brings some help to the development of the tourism industry.
