Foreigners visiting Armenia prefer living in guesthouses, not only because they are cheaper than the hotels, but to participate in preparation of the meal, bake bread or lavash, communicate with people, also rest in rural environment. Today, in the conversation with Aravot.am, this was told by the Executive Director of “Guesthouses Development Association” NGO, Lusine Smbatyan. To our question of how the inflation of electricity and subsequent expenses will affect the guesthouse business, whether there would be rises in this area too, Lusine Smbatyan said that the representatives of this sector do not complain so far, they do not event plan increasing the price of the services, they prefer to be satisfied with less profit, but to have customers. As far as the guesthouses are mainly in the marzes, and this sector is a family business, often the family members have a problem of finding a job, hence, Mrs. Smbatyan said that being engaged in guesthouses businesses, even with less income, is an employment for people. “And even a small profit causes joy to these families, also they do not migrate. Years ago, these people were working even at a loss, just to have tourists, but now they make profit.” Lusine Smbatyan noted that year by year the number of people who prefer to stay and rest in guesthouses in increasing. “Many tourists prefer guesthouses because they want to understand Armenia through Armenians and ordinary people. This type of tourism was once typical to French, now Russians and generally people from different countries are visiting. If 10 years ago, many tourists were just accommodated to what the guesthouses were offering, now the requirements have been changed, if a person pays, naturally, he requires and the guesthouses are changed accordingly. For example, the toilets were always a problem. Today, there are advanced guesthouses, which provide a separate toilet and a bathroom to each living room.” As said by Lusine Smbatyan, today there are more than 100 guesthouses in Armenia, 32 of them are members of their organization, and one guesthouse from Artsakh has submitted a membership application, and the organization can suggest its foreign tourists a guesthouse rest in Artsakh. As for the competition, the people engaged in guesthouse business are very friendly and honest to each other. Lusine Smbatyan assured that if there is already a guesthouse in the marz or the village, and if a new one is opened, the owners of the old ones are urging the tourists to rest in the newly opened guesthouses.
Nelly BABAYAN
