ArmenPress
Jan 4 2005

GOVERNMENT PLEDGES TO BOOST TOURISM DEVELOPMENT IN 2005

YEREVAN, JANUARY 4, ARMENPRESS: At its last session in 2004 the
Armenian government approved a special state program for tourism
development in 2005, pledging to promote Armenia as an attractive
tourist destination. Deputy trade and development minister Ara
Petrosian, who is supervising tourism development projects, told
reporters that the main goal of the new program is to aggressively
promote and advertise the country in international tourism markets.
Petrosian put the number of foreign citizens, who visited the
country in the past year to around 260,000, a significant rise in
comparison with 206,000 in 2003.
Around 60 percent of foreign tourists visiting Armenia are
Diaspora Armenians, including also those who left it in the recent
decade and now visiting it as foreigners.
The main obstacle to bringing more foreign tourists to Armenia,
according to the deputy minister is the insufficient development of
tourism infrastructure. Another obstacle is that many Westerns look
upon the South Caucasian region as a hotbed of instability.