Mongolia receives 290,400 foreign visitors in 2022
Mongolia welcomed a total of 290,400 foreign tourists in 2022, earning 350 million U.S. dollars from the tourism sector, its Ministry of Environment and Tourism said Tuesday.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of foreign visitor arrivals in Mongolia declined to only 33,000 in 2021, according to the ministry.
Mongolia has been taking various measures to promote the pandemichit tourism sector.
Particularly, the government recently made a decision to exempt citizens of 34 countries from visa requirements for up to 30 days until the end of 2025.
Mongolia has also declared 2023 and 2024 as "Years to Visit Mongolia," and is expected to organize more than 90 events in 2023 to promote the tourism sector.
The country has set a goal of welcoming at least 1 million foreign tourists and earning 1 billion U.S. dollars from tourism in 2024.
Türkiye is doing its part in the global fight against climate change, the country's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
"It's clear that the destructive effects of the climate crisis demand more collective efforts. Climate change and the problems it causes are common problems of humanity," Erdogan said in a video message to the special International Climate Conference hosted by the UN and Pakistan in Geneva.
Referring to devastating floods that swept through a third of Pakistan last year, leaving 1,700 dead, Erdogan said this disaster "once again revealed the devastating effects of climate change."
"The fight against this disaster and others like it must be conducted in solidarity within the framework of a strategy," Erdogan said. Climate-resilient reconstruction in disaster-prone areas and flood-affected areas in Pakistan will avert new suffering, he added.
Expressing Ankara's readiness to help in reconstruction by meeting urgent needs of disaster victims in Pakistan, the Turkish president said: "The Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) and our non-governmental organizations also show all necessary sensitivity in the delivery of humanitarian aid."
Türkiye has supported Pakistan in the past, as well as in these difficult times, and will continue to do so, he underlined. "We have dispatched 7500 tons of humanitarian aid materials on 15 flights and 13 trains."
He also noted that Türkiye has sent two ships carrying more than 1,630 tons of humanitarian aid, expressing hopes that "once those ships reach the ports, the suffering of our Pakistani brothers and sisters will be mitigated to a certain degree."
Erdogan once again conveyed his best wishes to the Pakistanis, condolences to families of victims, and a speedy recovery to those injured in the floods.