According to Director of the Hovhannes Shiraz Memorial House Museum, Ara Papanyan, there has been a boom in tourism in Gyumri after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s live videos in the city. There are long lines by the museum on the weekends, but Gyumri is not ready for this large flow of tourists yet.
Ara Papanyan believes that one of the biggest problems Gyumri faces is a lack of restrooms. The museum allows tourists to use its restrooms even though they are reserved for employees so that tourists can leave the city with positive impressions.
“We wait for tourists to come from Tuesdays to Fridays. It has happened that we only had two tourists visit the museum in October. However, there were days where so many people came that we were unable to serve them all, so we were forced to turn them away. Even though we did build a cafe by the museum, it is not operating yet. People go there to sit and relax, and if they want coffee, they make it themselves. We give them that opportunity because we are forced to make them wait. We also have a souvenir shop by the museum, which is necessary. At one point, it was difficult to accept that we needed to have a souvenir shop and cafe, but now we know that it is necessary. We shouldn’t look at tourists and assume that they can all go to restaurants to eat. There are students and other people who bring their food with them, but they have nowhere to eat or to use the restroom. The first thing I do is check to see that the restrooms are clean. Our janitor checks them every 20 minutes to ensure their cleanliness.”
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Ara Papanyan noted that the Prime Minister’s visit caused a large flow of tourists, but Gyumri is not prepared to accept them all. There has not yet been an active day where the museum did not end up turning away several tourist groups. Ara Papanyan has considered requiring tourists to pay for tickets on holidays because this will benefit both the museum and tourists. For example, the museum had 5,200 visitors on Independence Day, but it has far fewer visitors on other days. The museum is unable to accept all tourist groups on free days because tours last 20-40 minutes, but the museum’s halls are unable to fit that many occupants.
“The number of tourists we get increased three times after the Prime Minister’s visit. Someone asked me what I wanted from the Prime Minister during his visit, and I asked them what I was supposed to ask for. He came, officialized everything, and left. He saw that we’re working, praised us, and left,” Ara Papanyan said.
Nune Arevshatyan
