Mongolia ‘looks to open borders to tourists by May’ www.news.mn
Mongolian Prime Minister L.Oyun-Erdene is reported to be considering plans to open the country’s borders to vaccinated foreign tourists by May. PM L.Oyun-Erdene has held a meeting with representatives from the country’s tourism and hotels sector. He noted that Mongolia could generate revenue of USD 450 million from receiving three million tourists a year by 2029.
D.Gantumur, President of Mongolian Tourism Association said that the country of three million has the capacity of receiving 7.5 million tourists a year. He asked the PM to open Mongolia’s borders to tourists from 1 May. According to him, Mongolia can still receive 400 thousand tourists the summer by opening its borders in May.
S.Munkhbat of the Mongolian Hotel Association explained that the number of hotels actively decreased to 430 in 2020 after 30 hotels closed and the number of employees in the sector was cut by 46 percent. Simultaneously, the number of visitors to hotels sharply decreased by 95 percent; only a few hotels were allowed to work as quarantine centres through the pandemic. Most hotels have been closed since January, 2020. The sector has received a body blow, from which it must urgently recover; hotels pay a whopping MNT 600 billion of taxes a year!
Published Date:2021-02-28
