ARMENIA RECEIVES 260.000 TOURISTS ANNUALLY
By Tamar Minasian

AZG Armenian Daily #173
28/09/2005

Tourism

These six months 108.517 people visited Armenia of which only 20.474
people stayed at the hotels. The rest of them preferred staying
at their friends and relatives or to rent apartments. The tourism
agencies are really concerned about this statistics. According to
the State Statistic Service, 32.7% of the tourists were from the CIS
countries, 28% from the EU and 19,5% from the U.S.

Yesterday was International Day of Tourism. Armenian tourism
agencies represented the current situation in the Armenian market
of tourism. “The Union of Armenian Tourism Operators” was created in
early 2005. This organization unites 13 tourist agencies. According to
the specialist, some progress has been fixed in the sphere recently,
but there is still much to do. “We need to enlarge the number of
specialists of the sphere. We need guides and administrators that
keep in line with the European standards,” Karen Andreasian, head of
“First Travel” agency said.

He added that large-scale investments are needed to make in the sphere,
including both the capital and the regions.

According to the research of international organizations, Armenia is
quite capable to receive 500.000 tourists annually, in case relevant
substructures are created. Today 260.000 tourists visit Armenia
every year.