E-commerce in China and Mongolia, tourism creates buzz in a small town in the Gobi Desert

Fueled by steady demand for cashmere, bags, shoes and even camel wool, trade between China and Mongolia is booming through a bustling border town amid strong e-commerce orders.

In addition to Mongolia’s strategy to diversify its economy to boost growth after the coronavirus pandemic, the landlocked country is also enjoying a surge in tourism from its neighbor.

Round-trip trips on the Erenhot Highway and through railway ports increased 95 percent year-on-year to 1.75 million this year through Sept. 5, according to the information office of the regional committee in China’s northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

During the same period, 442,000 vehicles passed through the same ports of entry, twice as many as during the same period in 2023.

Erenhot is a county-level city located in the Gobi Desert along China’s extensive border with Mongolia, which has been particularly prosperous since April, after a trial opening of a 24-hour border crossing for goods as part of an effort to reduce truck congestion at the port, which is its largest land link on the Sino-Mongolian border.