318 THOUSAND TOURISTS VISITED ARMENIA IN 2005

Lragir.am
30 March 06

In 2005 318 thousand tourists visited Armenia against the 45 thousand
tourists in 2000, stated the deputy minister of trade and economic
development Ara Petrosyan on March 29. The deputy minister assures
that the government does its best to develop the sphere. And not
only in Armenia. Every tourist traveling in Armenia visits Nagorno
Karabakh as well. Besides, Armenia is trying to develop regional
tourism as well. “Borders are erased, currency is unified, and a
tourist traveling in the country wishes to visit the neighboring
countries to save money and time,” says Ara Petrosyan. Generally,
a tourist is a person who stays in a country for 24 hours.

Consequently, this 318 thousand includes different foreign officials
and persons that accompany them, visiting our country.

The deputy minister assures that Armenia has experience in regional
tourism. There is cooperation with the companies of Iran and
Georgia in receiving tourists from the third world. “Iran-Armenia
cooperation in tourism is part of the greater program of the World
Tourism Organization The Great Silk Way. Armenia became member of
this program in 1999. 30-40 per cent of the turnover of the majority
of our travel agencies is connected with the neighboring countries.”