The Mongolian Professional Tour Guides Association called a press conference in Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday to demand an urgent meeting with the tourism, transport and industry ministries and the fuel importers. Shortages, it said, are reaching international and domestic flights, road transport, tour itineraries, camps and hotels, and a failing fuel supply could put both the sector and the country’s reputation at risk.
The season at stake is measurable. 568,989 foreign tourists had entered the country by 31 July, 18.9% more than a year earlier, by Montsame’s count.
July alone brought 150,257 visitors, the highest monthly count in four years.
The next arrival is institutional: UNCCD COP17 opens in Ulaanbaatar on 17 August, and the state news agency puts venue readiness above 90%.
The rationing those visitors will queue behind took force in the capital this week and runs to 15 August. Fuel is sold by alternating number plates, capped at 50,000 tugriks a visit, about $14. The operational headquarters under industry and mineral resources minister Gongoryn Damdinnam has also banned sales into loose containers and set aside 7,000 to 10,000 tonnes of diesel for the autumn harvest.
Supply is arriving in wagons and schedules. Fuel equal to roughly 2.5 days of national consumption, 22 rail wagons, came in over the weekend, by the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority’s count. The August import plan published Tuesday by the roads and transport ministry totals 270,910 tonnes from Russia, South Korea and China; the largest single line is 49,280 tonnes of Russian AI-92, with a further 9,700 tonnes of AI-92 Euro from Russia and 20,000 tonnes from South Korea.
On Wednesday the cabinet put every budget level under an austerity regime running to 31 December. Current spending falls 20%, vacant posts stay unfilled, meetings move online. Healthcare is exempt: Prime Minister Nyam-Osoryn Uchral said school health screening, vaccination and virus prevention stay on plan.
A state can meter petrol, freeze hiring and bring fuel in by the wagon. The calendar runs on its own: the busiest season in four years is already at the pumps, and the summit lands in under two weeks.