“Armenia is not advertised in Poland, meanwhile Georgia is advertised every 5 minutes. Unfortunately, Polish people are surprised today that Armenians are Christians, or that Armenia’s leader is not Putin. Assuredly it is ridiculous, but they are not to be blamed.
By the way, before coming to Armenia, I was talking to a friend of mine who is of a Polish descent and when I was representing Armenia, he suddenly told: “And then they say Russians do not have comfort.” When I looked at him surprised, he remembered: “Oh, sorry, right, you are not Russian.” This is not the first case… the second… the third… In Poland the old generation associates us with the Soviet Union, the new generation – with Russia. By the way, if in the Soviet period they understood that the Soviet Union is a multi-nation empire, meanwhile Armenians are now surely associated with Russians, they say – you live under the Russian rule. And that is perceived rather negatively in Poland”, tells Katowice (Poland) university professor, Hrayr Maghakyan.
As stated by him, unlike Georgia, Armenia is not able to “sell” its beneficial image in Poland.
“Polish people seek for new tourist places today, especially after the last developments in Turkey, when sultan Erdogan shifted the government another way, particularly after the chaos in the Near East and the fast speed of Islam development in those countries. They search for places they can go. The field was in a vacuum… Albania entered, although there were unpleasant conditions for tourists and Armenia’s quality is not in place there at all. Georgia also entered and the vacuum was full already. Instead of conducting a literate work, the Armenian tourist companies complain that the Polish people do not leave tips in the restaurants of Armenia, and, for example, the Russians do. In Poland they do not know that in Armenia such high quality and beautiful leisure time places exist, where one can organize cheaper and, without comparison, higher quality leisure time”, continues our fellow Armenian, residing in Poland.
He states: “Polish airlines offer affordable tickets, and eventually, charter flights are possible, especially when Polish people do not have visa issues for entering Armenia… And although particularly throughout the past few years when Polish tourists were seeking where to go to spend their holidays, Armenia did not react.
According to Hrayr Maghakyan, Polish and Armenian peoples have similarities – they like to communicate, consider themselves the center of the world, like Armenians, they like alcohol: “Then why do they not organize, for example, alcohol degustation tours? I do not mean alcohol abuse at all… Eventually, brandy, wine, I do not know what else, festivals are carried out. Is it not possible to organize all this for tourists as well, by representing the prices beforehand?”
Mr. Maghakyan finds one should not sit arms crossed and solely talk about tourism.
Gohar HAKOBYAN
