Pan Armenian News
ARMENIA ATTRACTIVE FOR TOURISM FOR SECURITY AND STABILITY
28.04.2005 05:08
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `Armenian tourism develops mainly by means of the private
sector. However the Government in its turn does its best for the intensive
development of the sector and for our country to be visited not only in
summer, but also in winter. We make every effort to get integrated with the
international tourism,’ stated Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic
Development of Armenia Ara Petrosian when opening CTS 2005 international
tourism exhibition in Yerevan. In his words, the annual growth makes 20-25%
in the tourism sphere. Thus, 260 thousand tourists visited Armenia in 2004.
300 thousand are planned to be received this year. Ara Petrosian also
informed that 20 million drams (some $46 thousand) are annually allocated
for tourism needs from the state budget of Armenia. Meanwhile, a tourist
spends $800-100 a week. In his turn Lebanese Ambassador to Armenia Jebrail
Butros Jaara stated that Armenia is an attractive and peculiar country for
tourism, first of all through its security and stability. 33 companies from
Armenia, Belarus and Iran (2 air companies, 7 hotel complexes, 1 transport
organization, 13 travel agents, 1 insurance company, 5 NGOs, 3 editions, 1
information agency) take part in the CTS 2005 tourism exhibition organized
by the Yerevan representation of the American Society of Travel Agents
(ASTA) with the support of the Ministry of Trade and Economic Development of
Armenia. It should be noted that last December the Armenian Government
approved the annual program for development of tourism in 2005. 60-65% of
visits of tourists falls to the share of the Armenian Diaspora, while local
tourists number about 10%. The share of tourism in the GDP of Armenia makes
5-6%, Regnum news agency reported.