Mongolia holds horse festival to boost winter tourism

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia will organize a horse festival in an effort to pass on the horse culture to future generations and boost winter tourism, organizers said Monday.
The annual "Horses of Mongolian Steppe" festival will be held for the fifth year in eastern Khentii province starting Friday.
Co-organized by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Governor's Office of Khentii Province, the festival will feature multiple activities, including horse racing and lasso competitions.
Mongolia ranks among the top worldwide in terms of horse population.
According to the National Statistical Office of Mongolia, there were over 66.2 million livestock animals in Mongolia as of the end of 2017, of which almost six percent were horses.
However, the Mongolian herdsmen prefer to ride motorcycles and cars to look for livestock animals instead of riding horses, which makes the preservation of the horse-riding culture a necessity.