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Direct flights between Turkish Van and Armenia’s Yerevan to boost regional tourism

14.03.2013, 20:38
Direct flights between the Turkish city of Van and Armenia’s capital  Yerevan will facilitate development of regional tourism, said the chairman of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Armenia Arsen Ghazaryan.
Direct flights between Turkish Van and Armenia’s Yerevan to boost regional tourism
YEREVAN, March 14. / ARKA /. Direct flights between the Turkish city of Van and Armenia’s capital  Yerevan will facilitate development of regional tourism, said the chairman of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Armenia Arsen Ghazaryan.

The first flight between the two cities is scheduled for April 3. Regular flights between Yerevan and Van, which is one of the ancient capitals of Armenia, now in eastern Turkey, will be operated twice a week - on Wednesdays and Sundays. Two way tickets will cost 104,000 drams ($250). In the first two months they will be sold with a 20% discount.

The flights will be operated by new 68-seat aircrafts of Turkish Borajet airline. According to Ghazaryan, the opening of flights is the result of hard work by USAID. He said first Armenia-Turkey tourism association was created, which conducted several business forums, highlighting the need for a direct flight between Van and Yerevan, which  will develop regional tourism and establish business ties between the two countries.

The co-founder of the Armenian tourist company Narekavank Tour,  Armen Hovhannisyan, said direct flights between Yerevan and Van, will, apart from establishment of cultural and business relations, also contribute to the preservation of Armenian historical values in Turkey.

Hovhannisyan said flights have a set of advantages over bus tours in terms of convenience and time spent on the road: flying from Yerevan to Van takes 40 minutes, while buses travel around 1000 kilometers in 20 hours.

He said Narekavank Tour offers travel packages for 3, 4 and 7 days, costing  from 180 thousand drams including air tickets, meals, hotel and visits to  tourist sites in  Van,  Ani, Kars, Mush, Bitlis, and Erzurum. He said a four-day bus tour is worth $550.

Hovhannisyan also said that in addition to the development of outbound tourism the direct flights will contribute to an increase in tourist flows from Turkey to Armenia. 

Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic relations, the border between the two countries was closed in 1993 by Ankara in solidarity with Azerbaijan. -0-