Foreign traveler arrivals to Mongolia down 54.7 pct in 1st 3 quarters

Mongolia attracted 27,400 foreign visitors during the first three quarters of 2021, down 54.7 percent from the same period last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Statistics Office said on Tuesday.

China, Russia and South Korea were the biggest sources of foreign travelers to Mongolia during the January-September period this year, it said.

Currently, Mongolia’s economy is largely dependent on its export-oriented mining sector. Developing tourism is seen as the most viable way to diversify the economy. However, tourism has been among the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic.