Mongolia to hold "Tea Road" heritage festival to boost tourism

Mongolia will hold a heritage festival entitled "Tea Road" in western Khovd province next week to attract domestic and foreign tourists, the province's governor office said Tuesday.

"Khovd is home to multi-ethnic groups," Batsuuri Dugerjav, governor of the province, told Xinhua. "The event aims to develop the province's tourism sector by promoting tangible and intangible cultural heritage, folk arts and tea culture of minority groups," said Dugerjav.

The tourism event will include a camel caravan, mini Naadam festival, tea-making ceremony, horsemen competition, contortion performances and folk arts.

Mongolia has been striving to develop its tourism sector in a bid to diversify its mining-dependent economy, and has set itself a goal of receiving 1 million visits by foreign tourists and earning 1 billion U.S. dollars from tourism this year.

The number of foreign visitors to Mongolia exceeded 529,000 in 2018, up some 11 percent from the previous year, according to the tourism ministry.

The Tea Road festival runs from Aug. 13-16.