To the question of Aravot.am about the number of tourists reduced because of the April war, today, at the press conference organized at the Club of Economic Journalists, the Head of the Union of Incoming Tour Operators of Armenia, Karine Davoyan said that right after the war there were tourists who had temporary cancelled their visit to Armenia. However, Mrs. Davoyan believes that today, the existing problems in the tourism industry to Armenia are not related to the April war. The poor roads condition in Armenia, the lack of toilets, high ticket prices for the buses are number one obstacles for the development of tourism in our country, said Mrs. Davoyan. In her words, the tour operators have raised these problems thousands of times before the ministries of economy and transport and their responsible persons, but the mentioned problems are not solved in any way, “The roads are in terrible condition. We already feel uncomfortable to talk about the toilets, we walk with the tourists for hours and cannot provide with a toilet.”
Karine Davoyan also said that Armenia, unlike Azerbaijan and Georgia, is represented to the world very little, “Azerbaijan’s and Georgia’s ads are always broadcast by CNN, while Armenia – is not. If we say that tourism is the main direction in our country, we need to spend money for it.” The Chairman of the Union, referring to high costs of the tickets, said that it influences on the cost of the tour packages, “Because of the ticket prices, the package may vary by 200 euros. Very often it is explained that the plane is half empty in the directions to and from, but when the plane it full, anyway, the ticket does not get cheaper.”
Robert Minasyan, Rector of the Armenian Institute of Tourism, attending the press conference said that the tourism is a highly sensitive industry, and it quickly responds when there is a problem with security, “The neighboring Iraq is in war, many people think that Armenia is also in war.” According to Robert Minasyan, there are 7 billion people in the world, of which one billion is traveling. According to him, the wishes and requirements of the tourists have been changed, but we are not walking in tune with them, “We need to introduce new packages, but there are no new packages. More tourists travel to Azerbaijan, Georgia rather than to Armenia.”
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
