More famous as the birthplace of Genghis Khan, leader of the Mongol Hordes, than as a tourism destination, Mongolia in modern times has relied on mining as its main source of income, with 80% of its exports coming from the substantial mineral deposits found inside its borders.

However, due to increase in popularity of holidays with events like the annual Nadaam festival, where participants celebrate Mongolians’ rich heritage with horse races, archery contests and wrestling, the country is now seeing tourists from Russia, China and APAC as well as Europe and the States.

Mongolia is witnessing a slow, but steady increase in the number of international visitors, going up to 471,094 in 2017, marking a 28.3% increase from 2016.

One company seeking to take advantage of the uptick in interest to Mongolia is Hunnu Air, Mongolia’s second largest airline, who have announced a new deal with Sabre corporation which will see the carrier’s content rolled out via the tech provider’s marketplace platform used by more than 425,000 global travel agents.

“Hunnu Air has taken on a new direction, more committed than ever to providing convenient domestic and regional flight options to travellers. In conjunction with our growing fleet and numerous scheduling options, we are eager to leverage Sabre and the platform that we need to continue to grow our operations, and further anchor ourselves within the country’s travel landscape,” said Munkhjargal Purevjal, CEO of Hunnu Air.

During the two-day event, some 120 experts and officials from the three countries are expected to submit their proposals and exchange views on intensifying the establishment of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor and strengthen trilateral cooperation.

“The trilateral economic corridor, an important part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is related to not only the economy but also various fields such as culture, science, tourism and people-to-people exchanges,” Yadmaa Tumurbaatar, director of the National University of Mongolia, said at the opening ceremony of the forum.

Titled “China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor: Innovation and Co-Development,” the forum will hold three-panel discussions focusing on cooperation in energy, transportation, education, culture, science, technology, and socio-economic issues.

In 2014, Chinese President Xi Jinping first initiated the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor (CMREC) as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, furthering its goal to develop infrastructure and industrial projects to establish free trade and economic cooperation zones in cross-border cities.

Some of the more well-known projects include the China-Mongolia Cross-border Economic Cooperation Zone from Erenhot to Zamiin Uud and the Northern Railway Corridor which extends the national rail network to connect Mongolia with Russia and China.

During the two-day event, some 120 experts and officials from the three countries are expected to submit their proposals and exchange views on intensifying the establishment of the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor and strengthen trilateral cooperation.

"The trilateral economic corridor, an important part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, is related to not only the economy but also various fields such as culture, science, tourism and people-to-people exchanges," Yadmaa Tumurbaatar, director of the National University of Mongolia, said at the opening ceremony of the forum.

Themed on "China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor: Innovation and Co-Development," the forum will hold three panel discussions focusing on cooperation in energy, transportation, education, culture, science, technology and socio-economic issues.

The China-Mongolia-Russia Think Tank Forum was jointly established by relevant agencies and associations from the three countries in 2015.

The first forum was held in Mongolia's capital in 2015, with the second taking place in Inner Mongolia, China in 2016, and the third in Buryatia, a republic of Russia in 2017.

Within the visit, PM U.Khurelsukh is to hold meeting with top officials of the United States to exchange views on current state of Mongolia-U.S. relations and cooperation. Moreover, the PM will sign a declaration of the Second Compact Agreement with the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation. During the visit, the sides will issue a joint statement on Comprehensive and Extended Partnership, agreeing road map of expanding bilateral economic cooperation.

The PM also plans to meet representatives of Mongolians in Washington, D.C who are living in the USA, and address at the general debate of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly. During his attendance in the 73rd Session of UNGA, PM U.Khurelsukh will hold talks with Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, Achim Steiner, Administrator of the UN Development Programme and other high-level officials.

Furthermore, he will give remarks at annual meeting of the Socialist International Organization to be held in New York between political and economic leaders.

Japanese billionaire, entrepreneur and online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, 42, announced: "I choose to go to the Moon".

He is expected to lift-off on the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), a launch system unveiled by Mr Musk in 2016.

The mission will mark the first visit to the Moon by humans since Nasa's Apollo 17 landing in 1972.

The announcement was made at SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California, on Tuesday.

The company said the flight represented "an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of travelling to space".

Earlier on Twitter, Mr Musk had already hinted that the passenger would be from Japan.

Only 24 humans have visited the Moon - all of them Americans. Three of the Apollo missions - 8, 9 and 13 - orbited without landing, as this one will.

However, the timeline for this launch remains unclear, and it relies on a rocket that hasn't been built yet.

In 2017, Mr Musk announced that he would be sending two paying passengers on a loop around the Moon - which was to have launched as early as this year.

At the time, SpaceX was to have used its heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket and the crewed version of the existing Dragon spacecraft.

But in February this year, Mr Musk said SpaceX would concentrate on the BFR for future crewed missions.

The BFR has never flown, but Mr Musk has released some technical details about it. The rocket is expected to stand 106m high and have a diameter of 9m.

By comparison, the Falcon Heavy is 70m tall and consists of a central rocket core surrounded by two boosters, each with a diameter of 3.66m.

On Monday, Mr Musk unveiled new artist impressions of the BFR and the spaceship which will carry passengers around the Moon.

It appeared to confirm some design changes to the spaceship, including three large fins near the back and a black heat-shield on the craft's underside.

Eventually, the BFR should be able to lift a whopping 150 tonnes into low-Earth orbit - that is more than the US Saturn V rockets that lofted the Apollo spacecraft.

The SpaceX founder has attracted some uncomfortable headlines of late - he recently smoked marijuana during a webcast with a US comedian.

Shares in Tesla have had a turbulent time after the entrepreneur said in a tweet last month that he wanted to take the carmaker private. He abandoned the idea about two weeks later.

Earlier on Monday it emerged that Mr Musk was being sued for defamation over his repeated claims that a British cave diver was a child abuser.

The lawsuit brought by Vernon Unsworth, who helped with the rescue of 12 Thai teenagers from a flooded cave in July, seeks $75,000 (£57,000) in compensation and an injunction against Mr Musk to stop further allegations.

It has informed Mongolian officials, representatives of the Tibetan Buddhist community and the press on the latest economic and social development of China's Tibet Autonomous Region and China's policies to protect traditional Tibetan culture.

"With vast territory, China is a united multi-ethnic state. Tibetan culture with unique plateau characteristics is an inseparable and important part of Chinese culture," said Hao Shiyuan, head of the delegation and member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, at the discussion with representatives from various fields of Mongolia at the Chinese Embassy here on Monday.

In the process of economic and social development, it is an important task for China to protect Tibetan culture and the cultures of other ethnic minorities, Hao said.

China and Mongolia have enjoyed a long history of religious and cultural exchanges. The cooperation and exchanges between the two sides have great potential, he added.

Yang Qingdong, charge d'affaires ad interim of the Chinese embassy, said in his speech that China-Mongolia relations have entered the fast track this year.

"The visit of the Chinese Tibetan cultural exchange delegation to Mongolia is a concrete measure for China to implement the consensus of the leaders of the two countries and to promote people-to-people exchanges between the two sides," he said.

He expressed the hope that such exchanges will help Mongolian academia, media and ordinary people better understand China and enhance the friendship between the two peoples.

Mongolia is the second stop of the delegation's overseas exchange trip. The delegation has already visited Japan, and will leave Mongolia on Tuesday for South Korea. Enditem

Eight hogs were dead and 14 were infected on the farm of 159 animals, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on its website.

The outbreak is China’s 16th since early August, and comes despite a series of tough new rules announced by Beijing last week to tackle the spread.

China has now banned the transport of live hogs and pig products from regions bordering provinces that have reported swine fever outbreaks, as well as those that have had cases.

It has also banned the use of feed derived from pig blood, and banned the use of feeding kitchen waste in 16 provinces.

The new outbreak also comes just weeks ahead of a national holiday, causing concern in Beijing about pork supplies.

Still, there are also signs that consumers may be avoiding pork, even though African swine fever cannot infect people. Poultry prices have risen in recent weeks, in part because of the disease, industry officials said.

In an article on Monday, the state-backed People’s Daily reminded consumers that people could not catch the disease, and urged them not to believe rumors.

“Pork bought through standard channels must all go through inspection, the public does not need to worry,” it added.

According to Seoul CityAdministration, of all the tourists who visited the South Korean capital to receive medical care in 2017, Mongolians accounted for the fifth-highest number with 9,600. With those figures in mind, the city is hosting a tour for major buyers and media representatives from Mongolia, which runs from Monday to Thursday.

According to a Korea Tourism Organisation report compiled in 2015 to assess medical tourists’ level of satisfaction with the services they received, Mongolian visitors stayed in Korea for an average of 35.6 days — far surpassing the average stay of 17.7 days for medical tourists of all nationalities.

The 2015 report found that the Mongolian visitors spent about 10.1 days sightseeing. For that reason, the Seoul City tour will include popular tourist destinations, or “wellness tour assets,” as well as health care institutions.