Armenia has unique opportunity to develop combined tourism

An exclusive interview by Head of Tourism Department at Armenia’s Ministry of Economy Mekhak Apresyan with ARKA News Agency.

M. Apresyan- The Conference, organized in the framework and collaboration with World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), will be held in Armenia, October 18-19, on a high level. It will be quite a large-scale event , which will gather representatives of UNWTO state-members (ministers and other tourism high officials as well as representatives of international private organizations). The topic of the conference is “Universal Values and Cultural Diversity in the 21st Century: How can tourism make a difference?” Yerevan Declaration of International Importance will be adopted upon the end of the conference. 

Obviously, organizing an event of such format in Armenia may be considered as an important accomplishment for tourism industry of our country, and it will certainly foster Armenia’s image rise in the international tourism market. To some extent, this conference may lead to turning point in the development of Armenia’s one of perspective tourism varieties - MICE tourism. 

M. Apresyan- Preferences of either local or foreign tourists are quite different as they depend on a number of factors such as place of residence, age, gender, and interests. Thus, the preferences of local and foreign tourists may coincide because both, Armenians and foreigners are interested in visiting historical and cultural monuments of Armenia. Local tourists are also interested in both, familiarizing themselves with the history of the motherland and spending nice time. And certainly for foreign tourists visiting 

Armenia can be an opportunity to learn Armenian culture and traditions, making new contacts and friends. They can also come to Armenia on business trips to participate in some conferences or seminars, or just to see their relatives. Foreigners also prefer rural or advantageous tourism. 

Our goal is to diversify Armenian tourism, develop new competitive alternative tourism varieties as much as possible. And we conduct active work related to that. In particular, I want to highlight winter, health, MICE tourism varieties , which prolong tourist seasons and ensure tourism development in the communities. Moreover, together with the state structures and private sector representatives we organize annual wine, barbeque, dolma festivals, and constantly discuss the possibility of arranging new events. In present, together with Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin we are evaluating the options of organizing pilgrimage to Armenia. We think that we have a lot to tell the world, not only for tourist purposes but also for more complete representation of our country.

M. Apresyan – Indeed, we have projects on embedding new hotel brands and we are currently negotiating with some top branded hotels. But it is too early to talk about it now. The only thing I can say is that we hope to see new branded hotels in Armenia pretty soon.

M. Apresyan- Dynamic increase in tourist flow and income from tourist visits is one of the government’s main tourism goals – to foster sustainable development for the national economy, proportional territorial economic growth, rise in the population’s income and life standards. And this may be achieved through making Armenian tourism and Armenia as a whole attractive at the world arena while improving service quality ( infrastructure, personnel), presenting and marketing effectively our tourism industry in the world market, protecting the rights of consumers (tourists) and, the most important thing, showing hospitability. 

The number of tourists visiting Armenia has risen over 16 times since 2000, from 2006 to 2011 this number increased from 382,000 to 758,000, and if we compare 2011 to a year earlier, Armenia saw 10.3% upturn. 

What refers to states, which provide the main tourist flow, our research made in September 2006- October 2007 shows the following: 34.9 % of tourists come from Russia, the highest indicator, 28.1 %- from Georgia. These two countries are followed by EU states, Iran, the USA and others. I would like to note that tourist flow geography expansion is quite essential. The next analogical research is planned for this year. I am sure that this time we will see some changes in the flow structure. 

M.Apresyan- It’s not a secret that Armenia owns rich historical and cultural heritage. This means we have favorable resources for developing cognitive, historical and cultural as well as religious tourism. At the same time our country has unique opportunity to evolve combined tourist products. For instance, combining historical and cultural tourism with rural, eco-, gastronomic, advantageous and other tourism varieties. In general, most of historical, cultural and natural monuments are situated in Armenia’s regions, wh ere the tourists at the same time can get introduced to the Armenian cuisine, to enjoy the scenery as well as have opportunity to immerse themselves into the traditions. However, I would like to underscore the importance of tourism diversification and developing alternative tourism varieties. Nowadays, winter, health , culinary tourism, MICE and other kinds of tourism are dynamically growing in Armenia.

 

M.Apresyan- Tourists’ rights are protected in accordance with Republic of Armenia’s laws “On tourism and tourism activity” and “On protection of consumers’ rights”. I should mention, that our guests feel comfortable and are welcome warmly. And after adopting the laws I have already mentioned, there were no law violations in the sphere of outbound tourism. —0-