Expert: Armenia Should Develop Its Domestic Tourism First Of All
30.11.2010,
02:46
Armenia should develop its domestic tourism first of all to reach progress in this are as a whole, Robert Minasyan, chancellor of Armenian Tourism Institute (a branch of Russian International Academy for Tourism), said at a news conference on Monday.
YEREVAN, November 29. /ARKA/. Armenia should develop its domestic tourism first of all to reach progress in this are as a whole, Robert Minasyan, chancellor of Armenian Tourism Institute (a branch of Russian International Academy for Tourism), said at a news conference on Monday.
He said that Armenia has no travel companies able to present local sights to tourists, infrastructure is underdeveloped and areas near these sights are in a desperate sanitary and hygienic state.
Minasyan also singled out the lack of tour operators specialized in domestic tourism among faults.
He said 95% of travel companies’ officers are not properly educated.
Arkady Sahakyan, director of Avarayr Tour Travel Company and a professor at Armenian Tourism Institute, said that prospects for domestic tourism in Armenia are very obscure, since tourists visit the most prominent sights leaving many other interesting places neglected.
He finds it necessary to boost sights.
“Another problem is that keepers of historical and cultural sights set too high prices for entrance and photography deterring tourists from visiting these places,” he said.
Sahakyan thinks that the government should set unified prices for visitors and tighten grip on the money collected from visitors and send them to the government budget.
According to official statistical reports, 487,902 tourists visited Armenia in Jan-Sept 2010 against 422,081 at the same period a year earlier (15.6% year-on-year growth). –0--
He said that Armenia has no travel companies able to present local sights to tourists, infrastructure is underdeveloped and areas near these sights are in a desperate sanitary and hygienic state.
Minasyan also singled out the lack of tour operators specialized in domestic tourism among faults.
He said 95% of travel companies’ officers are not properly educated.
Arkady Sahakyan, director of Avarayr Tour Travel Company and a professor at Armenian Tourism Institute, said that prospects for domestic tourism in Armenia are very obscure, since tourists visit the most prominent sights leaving many other interesting places neglected.
He finds it necessary to boost sights.
“Another problem is that keepers of historical and cultural sights set too high prices for entrance and photography deterring tourists from visiting these places,” he said.
Sahakyan thinks that the government should set unified prices for visitors and tighten grip on the money collected from visitors and send them to the government budget.
According to official statistical reports, 487,902 tourists visited Armenia in Jan-Sept 2010 against 422,081 at the same period a year earlier (15.6% year-on-year growth). –0--
